Mayor plans to engage with minister on illegal foreigners
JOHANNESBURG – It was revealed that 29 foreign nationals were denied bail for various crimes committed recently.
City of Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba announced that he was planning to engage with the Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi about the influx of illegal foreigners in the City.
Mashaba said this during the tabling of the June Performance Report of the Metro police on 22 July at the municipal council chamber in Braamfontein. The performance report revealed that 29 foreign nationals were still in police custody and denied bail for various crimes committed recently. It was revealed that six foreign nationals were arrested for possession of a hijacked or stolen vehicle, two for armed robberies, six for common robbery, three for being in possession of an unlicensed firearm, seven for business robberies and two for robbery. Two others are in police custody for murder in Diepsloot and one for possession of a hijacked or stolen vehicle in Diepkloof.
The suspects were remanded in custody pending investigation and verification of identity and proof of address. “These are serious crimes committed by illegal foreign nationals in our city and they are still in jail because they don’t have documents. It can’t be denied that we have a problem of undocumented people in the city. It is not okay and it will never be okay,” said Mashaba.
“I have spoken to the Minister of Home Affairs and asked to engage with him about this problem. Those who qualify to be in the country must be given documents so that they are traceable.”
The performance report tabled by the acting head of Public Safety David Tembe further indicated a constant high number of drinking and driving cases with 890 arrests made in June. The inner city recorded the highest number of arrests with 140 followed by Soweto with 136, region C with 97, Randburg and Rosebank with 94, Alexandra and Sandton with 89 and Midrand with 53.
Alexandra and Sandton were the only areas with reported cases of vehicles impounded for illegal dumping. A total of 13 trucks were impounded. “The issue of illegal dumping is a critical issue, especially in Alexandra. We need to intensify more by-law enforcement in the area to deal with the problem of illegal dumping,” said Tembe.
The Integrated Intelligence Operation Centre Reaction Unit based in Johannesburg has made 66 arrests in June. The number has increased from 40 recorded in the previous month. The unit arrested 19 suspects for malicious damage to property, 11 for possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition, 10 for robbery, 11 for business robbery, four for possession of hijacked or stolen vehicles, two for possession of drugs, three for possession of stolen goods and three for possession of dangerous weapons.
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https://northeasterntribune.co.za/237959/joburg-mayor-herman-mashaba-visits-jmpd-trainees/
