The Police Ministry has commended the zero-tolerance to criminality and illegality adopted by the Western Cape during the festive season.
The ministry said the South African Police Service (SAPS) in the Western Cape had adopted a “no-nonsense approach” to criminality and illegal activity, as the province welcomed thousands of visitors for the festive season.
In the latest instalment of the Safer Festive Season Inspection Tour hosted in Cape Town on Monday, Police Minister General Bheki Cele and his deputy, Cassel Mathale, alongside National Police Commissioner, General Khehla Sitole and his management team, joined police operations in and around the Mother City.
Ministry spokesperson Lirandzu Themba said the SAPS in the province was bringing police services closer to communities by shifting resources to where they are most needed, as part of its crime combating strategy during the holiday season.
“Over and above closely policing identified hot spot areas, the province is embarking on the destruction of illegal liquor, which – according to the latest crime statistics released by the SAPS – is one of the drivers of violent crime such as murder, rape and assault in the province and the country.
“As part of the Safer Festive Season Inspection Tour, the Police Minister and the SAPS top brass took part in the flushing down of over 20 000 litres of alcohol that was seized by the SAPS during various Safer Festive season operations that commenced in October 2021.”
Cele called on SAPS members not to hesitate to shut down illegally run liquor outlets.
“It is not that we are obsessed with alcohol, as many would like to think. We are aware that liquor is a social lubricant. Unfortunately, crime statistics show that it is also a contributor to crime. It is in and around liquor outlets where attacks on women are likely to occur and where people are likely to get into arguments, stab or shoot each other.
“The liquor that we are destroying today [has been] seized mainly from illegal traders located in policing precincts that have high cases of assault, rape and murder, and is an indictment on the dire effects of illegal sale of liquor,” said Cele.
The Minister commended the Western Cape for improving its crime picture. Although the volumes are still high, the province has recorded a decrease in its murder and contact crime figures.
“The combination of resources, energy and human capital between the Western Cape government and the SAPS is starting to bear fruit. I want to strongly urge that this partnership continues and grows in leaps and bounds.
“The rearranging of policing resources within the province to where they are most needed, especially moving more officers and vehicles to poorer areas of Cape Town, will certainly send a firm warning shot to criminals that everywhere you go, police won’t hesitate to make life extremely difficult for you.”
As part of the SAPS strategy to deal decisively with threats associated with the holiday season and beyond, the Police Ministry welcomed the handing over of a mobile police station to the community of Makhaza.
Over and above the mobile station, 50 SAPS personnel have been brought in to work in the policing precinct, alongside 10 more police vehicles to police the township and surrounds.
Source: South African Government News Agency