THE Executive mayor of Joburg Clr Herman Mashaba, alongside the MMC for Safety Clr Michael Sun, and Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) chief David Tembe, revealed the latest crime statistics on November 16, which once again demonstrated the effectiveness of Operation Buya Mthetho in fighting crime in the city.
The statistics reflect the operations carried out by the JMPD for the month of October.
Fifty-eight stolen or hijacked vehicles were recovered during the past month, which means 195 vehicles have been recovered by the JMPD’s K9 Narcotics Tactical Unit over the past four months, while the unit also recovered six firearms in October.
A total of 691 arrests were made for people driving under the influence – down from the 929 of the same period last year. This means 2 729 arrests have been made between July and October for this particular crime.
Specifically for October, the biggest culprits were motorists in Region E (Sandton/Alexandra) with 129 arrests for driving under the influence, followed by Region B (Randburg) with 118 arrests, and Region F1 (inner-city) with 108 arrests. It should be seen as a positive that fewer drivers were arrested in October 2018 compared to October 2017, as it may suggest that the visibility and enforcement of the law by our JMPD officers during the various operations in the city are bearing fruit. However, we should still be concerned by the number of drink-driving cases.
Mashaba said, “We want to warn motorists against taking chances and driving under the influence, as it not only puts their lives and those of fellow motorists in danger, but it will likely result in arrests. The holiday season is upon us and our JMPD officers will not hesitate to ruin your festive mood should you refuse to heed the warnings to abstain from driving under the influence.
“For our roads to be safer, we must come down hard on both unfit drivers and unfit vehicles. In the month of October a total of 228 212 AARTO infringement notices were issued – 27 049 of those being for unroadworthy vehicles, and 33 851 were because of unfit drivers, and 167 312 were for to moving violations. The past four months, therefore, has seen 750 480 AARTO infringement notices being issued. Various operations were carried out, including on bad buildings, where our officials also conducted six raids, making 21 arrests of property hijackers.”
In terms of disciplinary cases received for investigation, 24 cases were received – of which seven were for bribery and corruption, while six were for the misuses of council vehicles.
“There are many positives to extract from these numbers, and we are very proud of the work of our officials and the effectiveness of Operation Buya Mthetho. We will continue to do all that we can to make sure that not only are all these cases rigorously investigated but that those who are found to have committed crimes are prosecuted by our law enforcement authorities,” he said.
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