Notable difference by safer festive campaigns in fight against Western Cape crime, says Bheki Cele
Police Minister Bheki Cele said that the safer festive season campaigns have made a significant difference in preventing crime over the holiday period.
The minister visited several crime hotspots in the Cape metro on Friday, including Mitchells Plain and Junxion Mall in Brown’s Farm.
In one week, over 460 people were arrested in the Western Cape for various offences, with 108 people nabbed for drinking and driving.
Cele said there’s still more work to be done, and the police cannot do it alone.
“Almost all community structures are important, as the police we cannot win this war alone. They are raising issues about crime, pickpocketing, and violent crime sometimes. They were making some suggestions on what they think we can do for instance in Brown’s Farm,” said Cele.
The minister added that the Cape Town townships would be added to his point of focus by adding more resources to reduce crime.
The Philippi Community Policing Forum (CPF) echoed the same sentiments, saying that Minister Cele’s safer festive season campaigns and heightened police visibility in communities have strengthened the fight against crime.
“You know once you start to interact with community members, you start to understand the challenges in the community. Remember for SAPS [South African Police Service] to be able to understand community dynamics, they are to be within the community. That’s why we are bringing them closer to them now,” CPF secretary Dumisani Qwebe said.
“Brown’s Farm, they talk about us bringing some police there, of which we are working with the municipality to get some buildings and send some people there. But one major problem is that people pickpocket people on the street, but one major solution to that is the visibility, hence we are training more and more police,” Cele said.
-EWN
In other news – RIP: Actress Leleti Khumalo pays tribute to her ex-husband Mbongeni Ngema
Mzansi writer, lyricist, composer, director, choreographer, and theatre producer, Mbongeni Ngema’s ex-wife Leleti Khumalo has shared a tribute to the late veteran playwright.
Ngema died shortly after being attended by doctors at Adelaide and OR Tambo Memorial Hospital in Mbizana in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday after following a car crash involving a truck on the R61. Khumalo shared an official tribute statement on her social media platforms sending her condolences to the Ngema family. Read More
