Criminologist believes police could have acted before July unrest

Criminologist Guy Lamb says police could have acted swiftly before the July unrest that swept KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. This follows Police Commissioner Khehla Sitole‘s admission during the SAHRC hearings that he only received an intelligence report after the unrest. Lamb says this proves there’s a crisis in crime intelligence.

“I think in these kinda circumstances and crisis you do have to be visible, be on the scene and sound like you’re going to try make a difference and address concerns whereby the minister was very visible,” he said.
“So the commissioner may have been doing things to deal with the crisis, but the public didn’t see him do it.”

Lamb said the evidence given by Sitole and Police Minister Bheki Cele has shown just how broken down their relationship is.

“The minister has approached the president and the president previously requested that Sitole should provide explanations as to why he should keep his job and there’s been speculation that he’d be dismissed or removed and that hasn’t happened yet but this ongoing relationship is not good for South Africans and not good for safety and security,” he said.

What would have been useful to hear would be about; this is what really happened, we dropped the ball not that we don’t have enough money and resources and what we plan to do to fix that into the future? It’s a bit like what happened after Marikana, about this is what police should do, and certainly after this incident there hasn’t been any responsibility taken so that’s a bit frustrating.

Source: eNCA

In other news – Boity Thulo launches foundation to fight GBV

Rapper and TV presenter Boity Thulo is joining the fight against gender-based violence (GBV).

She has officially launched the Boity Thulo Foundation, that will see her supporting victims of GBV and providing them with shelter in her home town of Potchefstroom, North West. Learn more