Police Minister Bheki Cele has urged officials of the South African Police Services (SAPS) to enforce the law and fight crime to the best of their abilities.
Cele was speaking during the launch of Operation Shanela, a multi-disciplinary tactic aimed at intensifying the fight against crime, in Durban on Saturday.
“Your job is to be an asset, not to be a liability to the people of this country,” the minister said warning SAPS members to focus on protecting communities and to refrain from engaging in criminal activities themselves.
He stated that Operation Shanela required collaboration and teamwork, asking the police to join forces with the community policing forums (CPF).
Cele commended community structures that continued to fight crime in collaboration with the police, revealing that for the first time ever a budget of R70-million had been set aside to assist CPFs.
“It is true. If we do not work with communities, we are not going to win the war,” Cele said.
The launch of Operation Shanela follows closely on the heels of the minister’s conveyance of the national crime statistics.
On Friday, Cele, joined by police Commissioner Fannie Masemola, announced that there had been a slight drop in murder and sexual crimes in the three-month period between April and June.
The statistics showed that the murder rate decreased by 3.1%, while sexual crimes fell by 2.1% in the reporting period.
The Inanda and Umlazi police stations in KwaZulu-Natal reported the most murders, followed by Delft, Gugulethu, and Harare police stations in Western Cape.
The statistics also show that almost half of the reported murder cases, 2 756, were as a result of shootings, while 862 people died because of stabbings.
During the launch, Cele encouraged the police to face crime head-on and be firm about their purpose. He added that they should also clamp down on illegal migrants.
“We are not here to kiss and romance the criminals. We won’t ask, ‘Please can I arrest you and take you to a police station’.
“This Operation Shanela is for you to sweep on behalf of South Africans, these criminals must not be comfortable.
“Whether it is xenophobia or not, you have no right to be in any country illegally. Police, go and sweep out everybody that is in the country illegally.”
Closing his address with a plea, the minister urged the police to work diligently to ensure that all citizens feel safe and secure. He also condemned the rampant killings, particularly of women by men.
“I am making a clarion call. You go out and protect the people of this city, of this province, and of this country. Be assets, be good to them. I would love all of us to create a community where a young woman, in the middle of the night, can walk alone without the fear of attack and rape by any man. A community where, when a young woman sees a man on this side and an animal on the other, would run towards the man,” he said.
“So, I am making a call and my call is extra on the men, to say create an environment where our children and our elderly will enjoy life and be in the space of safety.”
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