The South African Police Service‘s newly appointed commissioner for Gauteng, Lieutenant General Elias Mawela, visited Midrand to address crime-related issues with community members and stakeholders on 8 June.
Midrand Sector 4, which is covered by the Midrand police, includes the suburbs of Glenferness, Blue Hills, Kyalami and Barbeque Downs, and falls within the distribution of the Fourways Review.
As part of his duties to fight crime, the commissioner has been visiting police stations in the province meeting with colleagues and the community.
In Midrand, he met with residents and members of Community Police Forums (CPF), security companies, businesses and Metro police as well religious leaders and commanders of neighbouring police stations. It was a solution-focused meeting with the sole purpose of ‘not just reducing crime but ending it’.
In crime statistics provided by the police, Midrand was ranked number 17 nationally, which for many raised concerns as to whether the battle to fight crime was being lost.
However, Midrand Police Station Commander Brigadier David Tsotsotso said that when he took office in 2017, the area had serious crime issues and ranked fifth nationally, with housebreakings in residential complexes topping the list.
“In my introduction [to the station], I sat with the station management and the CPF because we had to come up with plans to fight those specific crimes to move the area from fifth nationally but that is not enough as we are currently ranking 17th and there should actually not be any crime,” he said.
“We [appointed] 61 police officers and [received] 15 new vehicles this year and for that I would like to thank the Midrand SAPS management and the provincial management because we are well looked after in terms of resources…. this coming December our station will be [appointing] 21 new constables.
“So there is movement and a promise to the community that, with the resources availed to us, we will be making ends meet as far as crime is concerned.”
Photo: Ofentse Ditlopo
In his address, Mawela urged everyone to assist him in turning the state of crime in the province around.
He quoted Police Minister Bheki Cele who said, “If we are serious about addressing the levels of crime in the country, we first need to address the current situation of crime in Gauteng.”
Mawela added, “If we can’t change the picture of Gauteng we can’t change the picture of South Africa.”
We will not achieve the level of economic growth we want to achieve if we don’t ensure that we create a situation that is conducive for economic growth in the province because this place is the economic hub of the country.”
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