Major crimes down in KZN
2009-01-02 14:05
Durban - All major crimes in KwaZulu-Natal decreased over the festive season except for house and business robberies, Minister of Safety and Security Nathi Mthethwa said on Thursday.
"The preliminary report for Operation Festive Season is quite encouraging...and all in all we are on track."
He was addressing journalists at SA Police Service provincial headquarters in Durban before visiting the Durban Central police station and thereafter participating in a walkabout at roadblocks in Umlazi.
Mthethwa said reports from police had shown an 11% decrease in crimes such as cash-in-transit heists and ATM bombings in KwaZulu-Natal but that other offences such as house and business robberies had not dropped.
"For us to have a breakthrough, we need to strengthen our intelligence...and these are our challenges," he told a room-full of senior policemen.
He also revealed that no bank robberies had been reported in the past three months. Mthethwa's spokesperson Bayeza Lesufi explained that the department had unveiled a new strategy to fight crime over the December holidays and was now visiting each province to get a report back on it.
The North West province was next on the visiting list for Friday.
Lesufi did not elaborate on what the "new strategy" was but stressed that crime intelligence was a big part of it.
"We are checking for gaps and areas with challenges so that we can provide immediate intervention."
The department said it prioritised safety of South Africans, cash-in-transit heists, and taxi violence during the festive season.
Lesufi said the preliminary report showed that "greediness and power struggles" were "core driving force" behind taxi violence but "this crime has been controlled and stabilised this season".
"The report received is that all major crimes including murder, truck hijackings, and car hijacking were declining...and we know that crimes such as house and business robberies are not sporadic, it's organised," he said.
The ministry could not release the feedback on other province's operations nor could he make comparisons to KwaZulu-Natal. "Police have been tasked to respond adequately to all crimes".
Asked whether the ministry had looked into the number of suspects being fatally wounded by policemen in the province, Lesufi said: "We have received reports of that, it has been noted but we did not go deeper because there is specific legislation that deals with that."
- SAPA