Durban — The Police Ministry, eThekwini Municipality and KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport, Community Safety and Liaison have banded together to improve the safety of residents of Umlazi and Inanda.
Spokesperson Lirandzu Themba said the police ministry and municipality were teaming up to decisively deal with crime and causative factors of crime in some of the most violent areas in the municipality.
This weekend Police Minister Bheki Cele and eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda will lead two Crime Prevention Izimbizo in Umlazi and Inanda.
Themba said the Umlazi policing precinct had recorded the highest murder figures countrywide, with 83 people killed between April and June. During the same period, 66 people were killed in the Inanda policing area and both areas had reported high incidents of gender-based violence, carjacking, sexual assaults and other violent crimes.
“This weekend, residents of these two areas will get to engage the SAPS management at national and provincial level on policing matters and crime concerns,” Themba said.
“These engagements which will be attended by crime-fighting structures and sector representatives seek to build better community policing relations through strengthened policing and at the same time, working with local government, to put in place immediate and long-term interventions that will eradicate conditions that promote violence and crime in the two townships.”
Themba added that on Sunday, the police ministry and SAPS management would head to Clermont township to address a community safety stakeholders meeting. This engagement is also aimed at strengthening community-oriented policing.
KwaZulu-Natal Transport, Community Safety and Liaison MEC Sipho Hlomuka said he would also take part.
Hlomuka wants to reassure these communities that crime prevention and detection remain an apex priority of this caring government.
“On August 13, the minister convened an imbizo in Umlazi to address causal factors of crime in the area and to produce lasting solutions to that problem. In response to the outcry of the community members regarding living in constant fear due to roaming rampant criminals holding people ransom, the Department of Community Safety and Liaison and the Justice Crime Prevention and Security Cluster extended an invitation to the minister of police to hold more community engagements in crime hot spots within the eThekwini Metro.”
Hlomuka said as a government they could not sit while people were terrorised by thugs.
“As a government, we cannot sit idle while our people are terrorised by thugs. We are concerned by the rising number of cases targeting women, children and the vulnerable, especially in Inanda. We want to put an end to the increasing number of murders and car-jackings in Umlazi.
He said fighting crime remained a priority.
“It is also our responsibility as the Department of Community Safety and Liaison working shoulder to shoulder with our stakeholders and community crime fighting structures to improve the relations between law-enforcement and the community that they serve,” he said.
Hlomuka said during the first quarter crime statistics released by Cele, KwaZulu-Natal once again had the “dubious honour” of being home to several police stations that were leading in terms of contact crimes being reported in their precincts.
These stations include:
• Umlazi which is number one on the top 30 list of worst-performing stations in terms of murder cases. Their reported cases are up by 10 cases.
• Inanda is number four with an increase of three cases.
• KwaDabeka is number seven with an increase of 25 cases.
“As the Department of Community Safety and Liaison, these stats are not something that we are proud of and we strongly believe that we must put in place innovative measures to improve the standard of policing in KwaZulu-Natal, as we continue executing our role of monitoring police performance. Considering the shortage of physical and financial resources that are currently facing the SAPS, innovative tactics are indeed necessary for us to turn the tide against crime.”
The department will be visiting various districts in November, which has been declared “Safety month”, staging awareness campaigns with the aim of reducing crime in communities.
These programmes will be accompanied by intense multidisciplinary operations.
Details are as follows:
Day 1
Date: Friday, October 7, 2022
Time: 10:00 am
Venue: DR JL Dube Stadium, Inanda
Day 2
Date: Saturday, October 8, 2022
Stakeholder engagement
Time: 8.30am
Venue: Pinetown Civic Centre
Umlazi Community Imbizo
Time: 10:00am
Venue: King Zwelithini Stadium, Umlazi
Day 3
Date: Sunday, October 9, 2022
Time: 10:00 am
Venue: Clermont Hall
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