Durban - Parliament will bring role-players in the cash-in-transit industry together on Wednesday to examine measures to deal with heists that appear to be spiralling out of control.
This comes days after Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula called on law enforcement agencies to come together and closely look into the crime.
Police portfolio committee chairperson Francois Beukman said the aim of the public hearing was to bring all roleplayers in the cash-in-transit industry, especially in the security and law enforcement environment, under one roof and ascertain whether sufficient short-term and long-term measures were in place to deal with the crime.
“Cash-in-transit heists directly affect the safety of security officers, the SAPS and members of the public and the general perception of safety in the Republic and the portfolio committee needs assurances of the role players that the necessary proactive steps are in place to deal with the current challenges,” Beukman said.
There has been a resurgence of cash-in-transit heists with more than 180 reported country-wide since the beginning of 2018.
The heists are often carried out with military-style precision, and there is an increase in the use of bombs, a move that has prompted speculation that people with a military background may be involved.
This has also sparked fears within the government about the cost-cutting measures departments are expected to implement, including cutting down on compensation of employees even in the Department of Defence.
Reducing
This week, Mapisa-Nqakula warned about reducing the defence force.
Briefing the joint standing committee on defence, Mapisa-Nqakula said investment and economic growth was unlikely to happen because nobody would want to invest in a country which had instability.
“Some people think if you are to have a number of cash-in-transit heists between February and May and have such high number, we should ask ourselves are they indeed just criminal elements?
“We need to conduct an analysis which will give answers that go beyond just ordinary criminality.”
The minister said even though the cash-in-transit heists were a police matter, they were also a law enforcement matter.
“All of us should jointly come together, analyse the phenomenon we are dealing with, and find a solution to this phenomenon.
The minister said she shi- vered to think about the call that they release 4 000 defence personnel in the medium-term expenditure framework.
“Maybe we can but how do you release 4000 soldiers and allow them to go into the streets?
“These people are trained. My issue is are we not adding more criminal elements in the streets of South Africa?” Mapisa-Nqakula asked.
Beukman said the public hearing would focus on the intelligence and operational readiness of the SAPS as well as co-operation between the SAPS and the private security industry.
Vetting procedures in the police and private security industry; the role of the Private Security Industry Regulation Authority and the co-operation of the banking sector and law enforcement agencies would be looked into as well as technological innovations to curb the incentives to engage in cash-in-transit heists.
The portfolio committee previously called for crime intelligence and detection operations to be increased, and the relevant specialised units tasked to deal with the heists.
Close co-operation between Saps and the relevant private security companies had been emphasised to ensure that risk factors such as internal collusion between staff and syndicates were dealt with.