Cape Town — The Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN) Government will aggressively approach suspected criminals to decrease the growing crime rate in the province.
KZN has been hit by a spate of murders involving police and criminals. Last week, police killed three suspects following a shootout in KwaDenglezwa, which was followed by another shootout that left five people killed in Cato Manor.
The province held a crime summit on Friday and looked at how the province can prevent rampant crime that includes murders and robberies. The province’s new Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) has vowed it will approach the matter with serious urgency, EWN reported.
KZN has been plagued by rampant crime in the past few weeks, which police have said only occurs when the suspects refuse to surrender. According to KZN Premier, Thami Ntuli, he encouraged police to be aggressive with such criminals
“Yes, we quite support the aggressive approach in crime because even criminals are also aggressive to the community. We are losing many lives, many people are killed every day and even the police are not safe because when they approach police to arrest them, they shoot at the police,” Ntuli said.
Ntuli said police should defend themselves at all costs and if they could not fight fire with fire, it would mean the province would be unable to arrest crime issues in the province.
Various role-players came out in their numbers to attend the Social Crime Prevention Summit which was convened by KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli. The stakeholders engaged and analysed the crime situation in the province in an effort to come up with relevant interventions on… pic.twitter.com/SZYzM3objf
— KZN Provincial Gov (@kzngov) August 2, 2024
According to TimesLIVE, KZN’s police commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, did not give a positive outlook on the province’s current crime situation. He said that they cannot fight criminals by negotiating with them and they have to be aggressive. He said they need to face harsh penalties when coming out of court. He was also concerned about the high murder rates.
He suggested KZN might be the “murder capital of this country”, citing historical data showing that the province has long had the highest number of police-involved killings.
KZN reported 1 649 murder cases in the first three months of 2023, with Inanda declared the “murder capital” of South Africa, with 93 reported cases. It has consistently ranked as the worst province when it comes to crime statistics.
“We have a problem of a Black man in South Africa” KZN Police Commissioner -Mkhwanazi pic.twitter.com/uFF3Av5ZPY
— KingSA🇿🇦 (@KingSA01194686) August 2, 2024
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Picture: X/@SAPoliceService
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
Compiled by Matthew Petersen
