The KWAZULU-NATAL government and the police have hatched a tight security plan, including tough and stringent plans to curb crime and the proliferation of illegal firearms in the province before, during and beyond the festive season.
Details of the plan were announced in Greytown today by the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Willies Mchunu and Provincial Police Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Mammonye Ngobeni, during the official launch of Safety Month (November) and the launch of a campaign against illegal firearms.
The tight measures will include raids across the province while the key focus will be given to ATM bombings, police visibility in shopping malls and the detection and recovery of illegal firearms.
Both MEC Mchunu and Ngobeni unanimously agreed that illegal firearms were the key drivers of crimes, mainly murder cases in the province.
It was revealed that the security plan will also include various law enforcement agencies, including the HAWKS, backed up crime intelligence and special detectives, private security industry and community structures.
Addressing stakeholders at the launch today, Mchunu explained that Safety Month was launched in the greater uMsinga area because there was a concern about the high number of illegal firearms in the area. However, Mchunu stressed that he was content with the work of the police, revealing that in May this year, police made a number of arrests and recovered over 80 firearms, including AK-47 automatic rifles and ammunition around Muden and around Greytown.
Mchunu added that last month, police arrested an 81-year-old suspect in the Greater uMsinga area for possession of two unlicensed firearms: a 9 millimeter pistol and a shot gun plus 83 rounds of ammunition – which he defined as the menace to society.
Recent crime statistics also showed that uMsinga has the highest number of illegal firearms cases, with 159 cases in the 2014/2015 financial year. The 159 cases show an increase, as they were 127 cases in the 2013/2014 financial year. Already in the 2015/2016 financial year, police have recovered 3021 illegal firearms around the province in the first two quarters.
“Working with the communities and police officers, we will be intensifying and redoubling our efforts to recover these illegal firearms through various campaigns aimed at detecting and recovering these tools of anarchy.”
“The Safety Month campaign will be a wide ranging one, focused at placing the communities at the forefront of fighting crime. As part of Building a United Front Against Crime, we will be placing the communities at the centre of fighting this scourge.”
“Another aspect of the Safety Month, will focus on the disturbing trend of murder and maiming of police. As far as government is concerned, attacks on the police are tantamount to the attack against the people and its state,” said Mchunu, adding that a number of Safety Structures will be launched during Safety Month to bolster the fight against crime.
Ngobeni declared that police would be in “full force” during Safety Month and beyond, urging communities to continue working with the police. “We call on communities to be vigilant and continue working with us. As the police, we will do everything we can to ensure that that the communities are safe,” she said, appealing to communities to continue reporting crime.
