Johannesburg - There has not been one single arrest as a result of the Joburg metro police department’s much-vaunted Operation Ke Molao, aimed at ridding city intersections of beggars and window washers.
At a monthly city council meeting held last week, City of Joburg member of the mayoral committee responsible for public safety Sello Lemao said 470 people had been chased away from hotspots, but that no arrests had been made.
The JMPD has 121 officers deployed in the operation, six unmarked BMWs, 33 marked BMWs and two marked trucks.
In addition, the department intends buying four new bakkies to transport those who have been apprehended.
Now the DA is questioning the logic in spending so much time and money on an operation which has not resulted in a single arrest.
DA councillor Michael Sun said: “My main concern is that if the operation is only there to remove or chase transgressors away from the hotspots, we will simply be moving them from one area to the next, thus defeating the purpose of the operation.
“They are not going to go away, they will just find new spots.”
However, Lemao said the operation had received positive feedback and not one complaint.
“Motorists are beginning to feel safe. Our undercover operations are paying off. There is less harassment and the intersections are clean.
“We have removed 470 people off the hotspots, and in the next two weeks we will diminish the number to zero.
“We have also noticed that there is compliance among the beggars and window washers, who are not returning,” he pointed out.
In reply to written questions by Sun, Lemao confirmed the number of vehicles involved in the operation and that four bakkies would be bought to remove the transgressors.
He said there had been no negative impact on other police departments or regions, or on budgets, as a result of the operation.
JMPD spokesman Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said no arrests had been made as these people were not classed as criminals.
“The beggars were removed to shelters, illegal immigrants were dealt with by the Department of Home Affairs, and others were taken to police stations where they were issued with fines of R300 for contravening by-laws such as jaywalking and loitering as well as smash-and-grab incidents,” he said.
The Star