Cele focuses on crime hotspots
2009-09-08 09:48
Johannesburg - A police chief for each of the country's six crime-stricken metro councils - Cape Town, Nelson Mandela Bay (Port Elizabeth), Johannesburg, Tshwane (Pretoria), Ethekweni (Durban) and Ekurhuleni (East Rand) - is on the cards.
The national chief of police, Commissioner Bheki Cele, will meet with his top managers this week with the aim of compiling a new five-year crime plan for the police.
"Strategic priorities" and a new, proactive communication strategy are on the agenda.
Die Burger was told that top management would meet on Thursday and Friday at a strategic workshop in Limpopo, apparently to decide whether provinces with serious crime levels should have more than one chief of police.
Gauteng is a crime hotspot
In August, Cele was on a fact-finding mission to all nine provinces, during which he met with provincial chiefs and commanders.
Die Burger learned he was surprised that a crime-hit province such as Gauteng only had one provincial police chief.
According to crime statistics for the 2007-'08 financial year, up to 80% of vehicle hijackings, 75% of home robberies and 71% of business robberies took place in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
Most South Africans are murdered in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal en the Western Cape.
Strategic plan
These were the very same provinces where the six metro councils were - Johannesburg, Pretoria, Ekurhuleni, Ethekweni (Durban), Nelson Mandela Bay (Port Elizabeth) and Cape Town
Nonkuleko Mbatha, Cele's spokesperson, didn't want to give further details regarding the workshops in Limpopo.
"The purpose is to determine the strategic plan for the next five years. The decisions will be communicated once that has been concluded."
The office of Nathi Mthethwa, Minister of Police, confirmed that the fight against crime in the country's metropolitan areas was a priority.
"It's in our cities where the most crime happens, and thus it's obvious that we should concentrate our resources there," said Hangwani Mulaudzi, ministerial spokesperson.
His own vision
According to him, Cele had visited the nine provinces for the precise purpose of "coming up with his own vision and plan for the fight against crime".
Meanwhile, in answer to a parliamentary question from the DA, Mthethwa said Cele was expected to sign off on an achievement deal with the minister's office by the end of October. This would be reviewed annually.
According to Mulaudzi, the finer details of the working contract were confidential. "Basically it related to how he managed the police."
But Cele would at the very least be expected to lead the police service in such a manner that priority crimes such as armed robberies and serious violent crimes such as murder and rape decreased annually by between 7% and 10%.
- Beeld