Community urged to expose criminals
24 August 2009
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Safety, Security and Liaison, Finance and Office of the Premier in Mpumalanga, Mr. William Lubisi has called on the community of Ehlanzeni to give vital information to the police in order to assist the police to fight against crime.
Lubisi was responding to some of the issues raised by the community on behalf of Safety, Security and Liaison MEC, Ms. Sibongile Manana at an Imbizo held at Daantjie outside Kanyamazane on Sunday, 23 August 2009.
He urged the community to expose criminals because crime happens in communities and suspects are known to them.
Lubisi said although government has plans to reform the Criminal Justice System in order to enhance crime prevention initiatives, community members remain vital in the war against crime.
“Although the province fully supports the proposed amendments to sections 26 and 49 of the Criminal Procedure Act of 1977, it does not mean that the community should sit back and not assist the police in the fight against crime,” said Lubisi.
“With amendments to these sections the police will be more protected when dealing with violent suspects especially when they apprehend them,” added Lubisi.
Lubisi urged the community to expose corruption in the police. He advised
them to make use of state organs such as Independent Complaints Directorate
(ICD), Office of the Provincial Commissioner and Monitoring and Evaluation of
the Department of Safety, Security and Liaison.
He also appealed to the FBI, a community structure that allegedly identifies
suspects and assault them to call the police after apprehending suspects and not
take the law into their own hands.
During the Imbizo the community criticized SAPS for not responding swiftly to
crime scenes.
They complained that the local police would cite non-availability of transport
as the reason for the delayed response to crime scenes while the police vans
were seen roaming the streets and doing personal errands.
The community also complained that sometimes when they have suspects, and call
the police, the police instead arrest them and not the suspects.
They also complained they feel unsafe because the suspects are arrested and are
seen roaming the streets after some few days. They have recommended that
government must not give suspects any bail.
It also emerged that some traditional healers give “muthi” to criminals so that
they can evade arrests or not face the law after having committed crime.
One of the CPF members suggested that uniform or some form of identification be
accorded CPF members so that members of the community can identify them when
they have complaints to raise.
Speaking at the same Imbizo, Kanyamazane Cluster Commander, Commissioner Nhlavu
Dlamini, has called on the community to participate in the naming of streets by
the municipality because this will improve police response to crime scenes. He
also warned the community not to accept any excuse related to the shortage of
vehicles from the police because vehicles have been allocated to all sectors
Dlamini explained that most of the times police are unable to arrive at scenes
on time because of non clarity of direction given to them by the complainants.
Dlamini said “timeous response of police to crime scenes is a critical part of
policing as it sometimes can save lives or suspects can also be arrested at the
scene. Swift arrest of suspects may sometimes lead to successful solving of
criminal cases and this will restore confidence the community has in our
police”.
Dlamini said the community must not accept excuses from the police they are
unable to respond to crimes because of non availability of vehicles because
vehicles have been allocated to sectors.
Enquiries:
Joseph Mabuza
Tel.: 013 766 4055
Cell:082 678 1450
Issued by Mpumalanga Department of Safety, Security and Liaison
