STREET COMMITTEES KEY TO THE FIGHT
AGAINST CRIME
Media Release
23 June 2009
The MEC for Community Safety, Security
and Liaison, Ms Sibongile Manana is
adamant that the establishment of Street
Committees will come handy towards the
fight against crime.
According to MEC Manana, these
committees will ensure the involvement
of all citizens in hindering criminals
from terrorizing the community. This
emerged during the regularly joint
management forum (JMF), which is a
meeting between the Department and the
management of the Mpumalanga South
African Police Services (SAPS).
Manana further briefed the Forum on the
key priority areas emphasized by the
Minister of Police, Mr Nathi Mthethwa
that required urgent and special
attention by all the sectors in the
Justice Crime Prevention and Security
cluster (JCPS).
The priorities include the establishment
of a boarder management agency; the
fighting of IT and cyber crime;
corruption and the manipulation of
tenders; lost docket (prevention
thereof); detective and forensic
investigative capacity; community
partnerships and the establishment of
the Community Safety Forums (CSF);
performance management within the
police; the speeding up of the
transformation process of the SAPS; and
programmes aimed at curbing violent
crimes.
She stressed the fact that the
department will also play its part in
ensuring that these priorities are
realized in order to enhance and
strengthen policing in the province.
The MEC also highlighted the concerns
raised from the youth parliament held at
the provincial legislature last week,
where young people from areas in the
province mentioned, amongst other
things, that most police reservists
committed crime because they were not
employed permanently. According to the
MEC, this matter was raised sharply by
the youth because it affected them on a
daily basis, as it increased the number
of unemployed youth.
Acting Provincial Commissioner,
Assistant Commissioner Rex Machabi
responded by saying that the police
management will look into this matter.
He further reported that when appointing
police officers, SAPS ensures that their
recruitment is water-tight to avoid
recruiting people who are not suitable
to be police officers.
The Joint Management Forum Meeting is a
strategic meeting between the management
of the Department of Community Safety,
Security and Liaison, the ICD and the
Management of the SAPS – Mpumalanga. The
meeting is chaired by the MEC.
This was the first meeting of the JMF
since the MEC joined the Department with
the purpose of allowing the management
teams of the Department, SAPS and the
ICD to brief her on key projects and
priorities aimed at reducing the crime
rate in the Province, which is targeted
at between 7 to 10 percent.
Presentations made at the meeting
included the provincial crime overview,
the clustering of police stations in the
province, the provincial 2010 integrated
safety plan; the MEC’s Annual Excellence
Awards; the Tourism Safety Monitors
Project and the AFRIKA Concept.
SAPS also provided reports on challenges
affecting the Wakkerstroom, Ermelo,
Ogies and Mashishing policing precincts.
The challenges were linked to rogue
reservists and farmers, dysfunctional
CPF structures and service delivery
protests in various municipalities.
Manana was happy with regards to
policing, particularly in areas where
service delivery protests erupted. She
commended police officers who ensured
that members of the community who
participated during the protests were
calmed and those who broke the law
arrested.
However, he warned them to be careful
and to use minimal force when dealing
with protesters in order to avoid loss
of lives.
Issued by the Department of Community
Safety, Security and Liaison, Mpumalanga
Provincial Government
Enquiries: Joseph Mabuza
013 766 4055
082 678 1450
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