50% of crime committed in Gauteng

2010-09-13 19:03

Johannesburg - About 50% of South Africa's crime is committed in Gauteng, the new Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant General Mzwandile Petros said on Monday.

"If we therefore win the fight against crime in Gauteng, we reduce crime in a big way nationally," Petros said at an anti-crime summit in Pretoria.

He said Gauteng produced the worst criminals and they sometimes moved to other provinces to commit crime there.

"We are being held (to) ransom by criminals in this province."

In his plan to reduce crime in the province, Petros said police visibility would be prioritised. Visibility resulted in crime prevention.

"Streets should not kill or rape our people. Police should patrol the streets that people use, some have to walk to bus and train stations as early as 04:00 to get to work."

Worrying

He said it was worrying that there were no police patrol vehicles on the dangerous sections of highways where robberies, hijackings and murders took place.

Petros planned to increase police accessibility particularly in townships and informal settlements.

"It is unacceptable that there is only one police station in Tembisa serving about one million people. People have to take two taxis to get to the police station to report crime and that cannot be right."

Monitoring crime on a weekly or monthly basis would help give a clearer picture of where the police needed to work harder.

"We are given R1.2bn to fight crime and we must deliver."

Accountability was important in terms of responding to people's complaints, said Petros, adding that Hillbrow and Pretoria central police stations were problematic.

- SAPA