As the festive season ramps up, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has expressed satisfaction with the progress made on safer festive season operations across the country. Picture: Jacques Naude / Independent Newspapers As the festive season ramps up, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has expressed satisfaction with the progress made on safer festive season operations across the country. Picture: Jacques Naude / Independent Newspapers
Image: Picture: Jacques Naude / Independent Newspapers
As the festive season draws momentum, with road travels increasing, some resulting in crashes, and criminal activities, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has assured the public that there will be no Christmas without the South African Police Service (SAPS) officers on duty.
“We are just a few days away from Christmas. Some of you may be lucky to get a day off or so, but there's no Christmas without South African police on site,” Mchunu said.
He said even those who will be enjoying braais during family gatherings, want to see the men and women in blue, stating that their presence reassures them of safety.
“Even if they don't share whatever they are doing with you, when they see you, they enjoy it more because they know they are safe.”
Mchunu made those remarks, in the Eastern Cape while conducting oversight on the effectiveness of the Safer Festive Season Operations, which was launched on October 11, in Gauteng.
With only two days before Christmas day, Mchunu expressed satisfaction with how nationwide operations are unfolding.
“Our police officers are on the ground implementing bold and decisive strategies to clamp down on all forms of criminality,” he said.
He said the addition of 2699 newly trained police constables has bolstered efforts across the country to ensure safety of South Africans and tourists during festive season.
“526 constables have been deployed to stations and various policing units in the Eastern Cape to bolster our crime combatting operations in this province.”
He said these additional boots on the ground would significantly enhance crime fighting efforts across the country.
Mchunu said the safer festive operations focuses on nine key areas, including combating Gender Based Violence and Femicide, armed robberies which include car hijackings, and robberies at residential and business premises.
He said other priorities include enhancing Border Security, and increasing police visibility along major routes, joining forces with traffic and metro police officials.
However, Mchunu voiced concern about the rise of the death toll on Eastern Cape and nationwide roads, adding that the police ministry is working with the Department of Transport and other key stakeholders to increase roadblocks on all major routes.
He said since the start of the festive season operations in October, police in the Eastern Cape have shut down 337 unlicensed liquor premises.
Mchunu said a total of 13 679 suspects have been arrested for various crimes ranging from murder, rape and assault.
“Of those arrested, 485 were arrested for murder in this province alone,” he added.
He said during the same period, a total of 351 firearms were seized including more than 4700 rounds of ammunition.
Police also seized 351 firearms, with more than 4,700 rounds of ammunition during the same period.
“An encouraging 298 vehicles that were either hijacked and stolen were also recovered during this period.”
A major concern in the Eastern Cape, Mchunu said, is the insurance related murders.
“Through intelligence and skilled detective work, the police in this province have been able to identify an emerging crime trend which involves the murder of people for insurance related payouts.”
According to him, police have identified stations where a high number of these insurance related murders have been reported, in which through the investigations they have been able to link at least sixty seven murders to insurance related cases.
“Simply put, during analysis and investigation of each of these cases - evidence at hand does point out that these 67 people were murdered by either friends, family members or acquaintances who stand to gain monetarily - to cash in on large sums of money from banks and insurance companies,” he said.
Mchunu expressed concern that the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro in which several hotspot areas have been flagged, with Kwanobuhle is leading with 28 cases and Kwazakhele with 23.
“Other areas like New Brighton, Kwadwesi and Despatch have been flagged by our crime intelligence and detective teams that are on the ground.”
He said 145 persons have already benefited from these murders, with cash pay-outs have already been made to them by insurance companies and banks.
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