Krugersdorp and Kagiso Police Stations are among the priority stations which contributed significantly to high crime levels in the province.
The Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane, held a routine performance review meeting yesterday, 26 September, with the Provincial Law Enforcement Agencies to deliberate on their quarterly performance. The meeting, which took place at Avianto Conference Centre in Muldersdrift, was attended by the leadership of the Provincial South African Police Service, Metropolitan Police Departments of Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg and the Gauteng Traffic Police.
The MEC raised concerns about the high murder rate which has increased by 3,2 per cent, particularly in the eight under-performing police stations in Gauteng. She also expressed a concern about the number of cash-in-transit heists as well as police visibility as she believes that these factors contribute to the high levels of crime. Furthermore, she highlighted the importance of effective utilisation of by-law enforcement particularly in the cities of Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni to address the volumes of crime.
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These stations are Dobsonville, Akasia, Krugersdorp, Honeydew, Kagiso, Kempton Park, Ivory Park and Tembisa.
The province recorded 132 more murders in the 2017/ 18 financial year compared to the previous year. From murders recorded in the last financial year, 2 330 suspects were arrested from 1 543 cases, with successful convictions in 726 cases.
Furthermore, 88 cases of cash-in-transit robberies were recorded in the past financial year compared to 33 cases reported in the 2016/ 17 financial year.
“I had a fruitful engagement with the leadership of the law enforcement agencies in the Province. While I acknowledge that the crime levels are still unacceptably high in the province, I am delighted that Gauteng has recorded some improvement in the number of under-performing police stations from thirteen to eight police stations. It is encouraging to note that a significant amount of work is being done in this regard. We continue to monitor and assess the performance of the 40 priority police stations in the province, with specific focus on the deployment of resources relating to personnel and vehicles in the identified crime hotspots,” said the MEC.
The MEC commended the work done by the law enforcement coordinating structure, Gauteng Law Enforcement Agencies Forum (GLEAF), particularly the number of successes as a result of Operation Buya Mthetho conducted in the previous quarter.
All the law enforcement agencies committed to focus their energies and resources on ensuring that they deal effectively with the crime levels to protect the communities in the province.
“Furthermore, we have agreed as the law enforcement agencies in the province that particular focus needs to be placed on addressing weaknesses in by-law enforcement in the cities of Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni. I have made an observation that Metro Police Departments use by-law enforcement operations as a revenue collection method instead of using them as pro-active crime prevention measures,” the MEC said.
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