A collobrative task team has been established to deter crime and prevent the ongoing damage and theft of economic infrastructure.
On Monday, deputy provincial commissioner for policing, Major General Phumelele Makoba, officially launched the Specialised Multi-Disciplinary Economic Infrastructure Task Teams (EITT’s) in KZN, with one of the three teams based in the King Cetshwayo District.
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These teams will deal with crimes in the eThekwini and Umgungundlovu, where they’re most prevalent.
The teams consist of various disciplines from the SAPS, government departments, other law enforcement agencies, state-owned entities, cellular telephone providers and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (also known as the Hawks).
EITT will ensure the integration of operational processes, resources and intelligence across all operational environments under a single command. The aim is to successfully address economic infrastructure-related crimes and extortion in a synergised manner.
The move follows after February’s State of the Nation address which highlighted how these crimes damage confidence and constrain economic growth, investment and job creation.
The issue was also raised of criminal gangs invading construction sites and businesses to extort money from companies.
Major General Makoba urged all role players to work, stating: ‘We are convinced that the perpetrators of these crimes are repeat offenders.
We need to strike a blow to these criminal syndicates and bring an end to the theft and destruction of our essential infrastructure.’
The EITT’s focus will be on:
• Non-ferrous metal theft (such as copper cable theft);
• Essential infrastructure crimes (such as tampering, damaging or destroying of infrastructure related to energy, transport, water, sanitation and communication services);
• Critical infrastructure crimes (such as pipeline fuel theft);
• Extortion at construction and or economic sites;
• Combating of illegal mining and illicit trafficking.
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