Deputy Police Minister Cassel Mathale said the government will recall some retired detectives to assist with more than 300 active crimes committed in Soshanguve’s Jukulyn area.
As part of a ministerial community imbizo, Mathale met residents in Block X community hall.
Several government authorities attended the imbizo, aimed at helping residents resolve crimes in their areas.
Some residents raised concerns that criminals are working with rogue police in the area.
They said several car hijackings, gang violence, and robberies occur in the area which don’t make them feel safe.
Elias Chauke said their area has been plagued with crime since a long time ago and called on the government to assist with the rise in crime.
“We need more police visibility in this area because now we cannot even order certain things online because we end up getting hijacked,” he said.
Sometimes the delivery people would need to be escorted by the police to make deliveries in the area, he said.
Eulenda Morudu said police interventions would help them as residents. She said they cannot use e-hailing services when they need to run errands because of the high crime.
“Bolt drivers are now scared to come into our area because they fear being hijacked by these criminals; the police need to do something about this crime,” she said.
Mathale also acknowledged that satellite police stations are not enough.
He admitted there’s a problem with rogue officers.
“I can’t say we don’t have elements within the police who work with criminals. They are there and we arrest them when we find them within the system. But generally speaking, the majority of police officers are good officers doing an excellent job and proud of what they are doing,” he said.
Mathale further said those rogue elements in SAPS who do wrongdoing will face the might of the law.
Tshwane SAPS district commissioner Brigadier Samuel Thine engaged with the residents about what his office and the province were doing to fight crime in the community.
He said Operation Shanela has identified suspects in the street and online robbers.
He said the team investigating the robberies consisted of the Tshwane Metro Police Department, SAPS crime intelligence, Tshwane Rapid Transit and the Public Order Police.
‘’They follow up on information given to them by the community,“ he said.
Thine said the initiatives established in June 2023 to fight online robbery were ongoing, and operations were yielding results.
Mathale added that the imbizo is part of his department's ongoing community engagement programme, not a cheap electioneering ploy.
Pretoria News