Cops are 'not scared' of crime

2006-06-29 19:20

Johannesburg - The shoot-out in Jeppestown on Sunday was an indication that police were "taking the war to the criminals", government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Thursday.

He was reacting to questions that government was not giving enough of an assurance that these types of violent crimes were being handled forcefully.

This follows after the director-general in the presidency, Frank Chikane, earlier said that cabinet has noted the shooting during its meeting on Wednesday.

"Government would like to re-affirm its appreciation of the role of the SAPS in fighting crime and to emphasise the message that crime should not and does not pay," Chikane said.

He also expressed cabinet's empathy and condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the four police officers killed in the shooting.

'We need to see the positive'

Maseko said the incident showed police were serious about tackling crime.

"The cops did not say there was a robbery in Honeydew and that was that, they followed through, they took the fight to the criminals," he said.

Sunday's shooting which left four policemen and nine suspected robbers dead started when police probing a robbery at the Pick 'n Pay in Honeydew on Sunday morning were led to the house where the gang was allegedly to rendezvous - by a person arrested on the scene.

"What led to the shooting in Jeppestown was essentially the police taking the war to the criminals," Maseko said.

"The cops shot back, they did not say 'there are 24 criminals we are walking away'. We need to see that something positive is happening the cops are not getting scared of the criminals."

He repeated a call by cabinet that the public should assist the police.

"These criminals were gathered in a house in Jeppestown, 24 of them, surely neighbours should have seen lots of people gathering and made a call to the police," he said.

"We are not going to fool the public and say we have solved the crime problem its still a long challenge, but slowly and surely getting on top of it," he added.

- SAPA