Department of Community Safety to reward tipoffs on gang-related cases

The Minister of Community Safety, Albert Fritz, hereby announces that as of today his Department of Community safety will reward citizens up to R5000 for information which leads to the arrest and successful conviction of perpetrators in gang-related killings.

Minister Fritz said, “The Department of Community Safety will provide rewards of up to R5000 to anyone who provides information which leads to the arrest and successful conviction of perpetrators in gang related fatalities.”

Information can be given confidentially to the Department at 021 483 5220. Alternatively, members of the public can also email Police.Oversight@westerncape.gov.za(link sends e-mail). The information will then be passed on to the South African Police Service.

This initiative will further support the Province’s response to the scourge of gangsterism facing our vulnerable communities.

On Tuesday, the Department of Community Safety and the South African Police Service jointly hosted a workshop on the Provincial Response to the National Anti-Gang Strategy.

The Western Cape Safety Plan and the Recovery Plan already incorporates elements of the Provincial Response, and this is currently being implemented through the Area-Based Team approach in priority police precincts. There is also much synergy with the Safer Cities Initiative currently underway.

The workshop brought together key criminal justice and provincial role-players and included senior representatives from the SAPS, the National Prosecuting Authority, the Department of Justice, the City of Cape Town (Metro and Law Enforcement), the South African National Defence Force, the Department of Correctional Services and the provincial departments of Health, Education, Human Settlements, Transport and Public Works, Cultural Affairs and Sport, and Economic Development and Tourism.

The workshop supported an integrated response involving key stakeholders, including civil society and the business sector. The approach aims to deal with gangsterism through effective criminal justice and law enforcement, as well as focusing on community upliftment, social cohesion, urban and environmental planning and design.

Minister Fritz concluded, “the time for us to come together as a whole of society is now. We need to fight this scourge of gangsterism and violence together. I appeal to anybody with information that will assist the SAPS to please come forward.”

Source: Government of South Africa