Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele has admitted that the government has failed to deal with the scourge of crime in South Africa.
Post Cabinet Briefing
In a media briefing on Thursday morning in Cape Town, as a result of Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, Gungubele said the administration of President Cyril Ramaphosa is working to strengthen the capacity of the South African Police Service (Saps) to fight and prevent crime.
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The minister said this included increasing the number of police on the streets and creating special teams that would focus on specific types of crime.
“South Africa will also use more sophisticated data-driven methods to identify and target crime hotspots,” Gungubele said.
The cabinet’s response to the country’s high crime rate is due to an increase in gun violence and mass shootings in recent months in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Eastern Cape.
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The murder of rapper Kiernan Forbes, better known as AKA, and his long-time friend Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane – who were shot dead outside a restaurant on Florida Road in Durban – sent shockwaves across the country, highlighting the crime of crime in South Africa. .
Gungubele said Cabinet offered its condolences to the families of Forbes and Motsoane as well as the families and friends of those killed in the mass shooting.
“This horrific and cold-blooded attack, which is being investigated by law enforcement authorities, highlights the prevalence of gun violence and its impact on communities,” he said.
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Firearms and ammunition are illegal
Gungubele said Saps has stepped up operations to detect and remove illegal firearms and ammunition from the hands of criminals.
He said in the past 12 months, the police had removed 65 519 illegal firearms from circulation.
Despite this, the minister said Cabinet recognized there was still much to be done to tackle SA’s high crime rate.
“We accept that we failed to commit a crime,” Gungubel said.
He said since Ramaphosa took the helm at the Unions Buildings in 2018, he has strengthened the capacity of law enforcement agencies to fight crime and corruption.
“If you just checked it [and] follow the statistics, the arrest rate has increased in South Africa. Many kingpins are put in prison and we hope that it will be done and we will find a way to solve the problem of crime.
“If not, it hurts us all because it destroys the socio-economic environment for people to work.”
Gungubele added that the Cabinet called on residents to work with the police to banish crime from their communities.
PICS: Police destroy more than 18,000 illegal firearms to prevent gun violence