Cape Town – President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on citizens to collaborate with law enforcement to tackle crime.
In his weekly newsletter, Ramaphosa emphasised the collective responsibility of government, business, labour, and civil society in restoring safety and security.
“Crime, even if it has not affected us directly, is everybody’s problem. If we continue to work together as government, the business community, labour and civil society, we can restore the safety and security that is critical to economic activity and the creation of jobs,” the president said.
Ramaphosa said that Operation Shanela, the government’s comprehensive crime-fighting strategy, was steadily gaining traction.
“Through roadblocks, stop and search operations, foot patrols and business compliance inspections, Operation Shanela’s teams have made important progress in dealing with crime hotspots and organised crime syndicates.
“The update delivered by the SAPS [South African Police Service] last week noted that solid police work over the past year had resulted in more than 700 000 arrests for various crimes, including murder, cash-in-transit robberies, vehicle hijacking and sexual offences.
Crime, even if it has not affected us directly, is everybody’s problem. If we continue to work together as government, the business community, labour and civil society, we can restore the safety and security that is critical to economic activity and the creation of jobs.… pic.twitter.com/Nbwe2sJsnc
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) August 5, 2024
“Over the past two years more than 20 000 firearms have been seized, including several homemade guns and rifles. More than 3000 firearms were seized in the Western Cape, where gun violence amongst warring gangs is particularly rife,” President Ramaphosa said.
He also said that crime did not only cause trauma and instability but also hindered South Africa’s economic growth.
“During the sixth administration, we established specialised task teams to deal with economic sabotage such as cable theft, the vandalism of power installations and railway lines, illicit mining and extortion in the construction industry.
“These crimes are highly organised and run by syndicates. As such, we have taken a multi-pronged strategy to combat them. Over the past five years, 722 so-called construction mafia suspects have been arrested for extortion at construction sites. Fifty-two have so far been convicted and sentenced to terms ranging from 7 months to 89 years imprisonment,” he said.
Ramaphosa added: “Our approach to crime-fighting has had to evolve in response to new types of crime. These include illicit mining and construction site extortion, and, more recently, kidnappings for ransom and more sophisticated drug manufacturing and smuggling operations.”
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
