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Lack of prioritization of crimes against women leaves no room to celebrate Women’s Day

On this Women’s Day, we are supposed to be celebrating freedom, but we should bow our heads in shame as our provincial government has failed the women of Gauteng, who are still the biggest victims of rape, murder, assault, and serious crimes.

The recent crime statistics showed an increase in crime against women, with a 48% increase in women being murdered, a 72% increase in attempted murder against women, 16,5% increase in rape, 37% increase in sexual assault and a 138% increase in contact sexual offences against women.

For a period from January 2022 to March 2022, at least two women were murdered every day and one woman was raped or sexually assaulted every hour. This is a tragic situation, where we should be mourning the suffering on a day that should be used for celebrations.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has in recent months as part of the #DAGautengPoliceWatch campaign visited various police stations, and part of this campaign is to inspect the Victim Empowerment Centers (VEC) at the stations.

The majority of these VECs are not funded by the department, and those which are functioning, are because of the funding and support received from NGOs.

At the Jeppe Station, the VEC did not even have a private ablution facility, a bed or a private interview area, whereas in Sophiatown, the VEC had a private ablution facility, but the light was filled with water, which is a safety risk.

Furthermore, in Soshanguve, there are also no private ablutions nor a bed and in some stations, the room was cold, dark, and impersonal with a lack of resources.

Rape does not occur during business hours, and these centers should be open 24 hours, yet due to the lack of resources and support from the Department of Community Safety, it is impossible for the police to keep these centers open for 24 hours.

Utterances by Minister Bheki Cele, “luckily they were only raped once” is a clear indication that crimes against women are not prioritized nor does the budget speak to these elements.

We need to find tangible solutions, for the police not having the resources to equip the centers as well as do a proper investigation as to why crime against women are on the rise, and why these crimes result in very few prosecutions.

The DA believes that the Department needs to open to a whole society approach, where experts, NGOs, faith-based organisations and various other stakeholders take up their hands together and be allowed to assist.

These VECs should be opened for “adoption” where communities and stakeholders can assist with the resources, operations and facilitation of support and assistance to victims of crime.

The DA calls on the MEC for Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko to establish a GBV advisory committee, with the task to investigate and interrogate crime trends against women and children within Gauteng.

The committee will also identify hotspots, challenges and contributing factors.

This committee should consist of experts in the field, both from the community safety department, police force, social workers, NGOs dealing with GBV and other relevant expert stakeholders.

We cannot continue to turn a blind eye to gender-based violence and the rising crime stats against women in our province. We need to get to the root of the problem and find tangible solutions.

 

 

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DA’s Community Safety Bill only solution to curb the spate of shootings in Gauteng

The only solution to curb the violent spates of shooting in Gauteng is to adopt the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Community Safety Bill, which will assist in improving police intelligence to be able to investigate and curb these incidents.

The Bill would give effect to an integrated approach to curb crime. It will include all stakeholders in the law enforcement agencies, such as the South African Police Service (SAPS), metro police, Community Policing Forum (CPF), security companies, neighbourhood watches and street patrollers.

Yesterday, a further 20 people were shot dead during these unexplainable and vicious attacks. Sixteen people were killed in a gang feud between two illegal mining gangs in Soweto, and the other four were killed in Lenasia.

This is the fifth incident in Gauteng within a week which makes the public wonder whether it is by an organized crime syndicate.

The Bill will also regulate the Gauteng Provincial Government’s powers and functions regarding its oversight function over the police services.

The residents of Gauteng no longer have confidence in our police system, and it is through this Bill that will rebuild the trust between residents and the SAPS.

Through the DA’s #GautengPoliceWatch campaign, we will be engaging with the police and community members to establish better ways that will assist the police in preventing and fighting crime.

The DA demands that the Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko, must liaise with the Gauteng Provincial SAPS Commissioner, Lieutenant General Elias Mawela, and the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele to deploy the public order police in the province. They should also deploy the under-utilised police resources in Gauteng to ensure increased police visibility in areas where there is an increase in crime.

We will continue to monitor the progress concerning the allocation of additional SAPS resources in Gauteng by Minister Cele. It is long overdue, as for far too long, the DA’s plea for allocation of additional resources for SAPS has been ignored.

The DA would like to send its deepest condolences to all the families that lost their loved ones because of these shootings.

We also urge the community members not to be discouraged but to continue to speak up and share information with the police. Together we can win the fight against crime.

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Public Works breaks the law and leaves Ga-Rankuwa SAPS in the dark

The National Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) must account for the power outages that lasted almost 12 months at Ga-Rankuwa Police Station which has been hindering police service delivery to the residents. 

It has come to light that the DPWI removed circuit breakers from an Eskom substation that supplied electricity to both the pathology department and the Ga-Rankuwa police station due to an apparent devolvement of the station. 

Ga-Rankuwa Police Station has since been handed over to the SAPS which is now responsible for its maintenance. 

This information was revealed to the DA during the Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s (GPL) Community Safety Portfolio Committee oversight visit at Ga-Rankuwa Police Station this week. 

The fact that the substation remains the property of Eskom and the station will still be getting electricity supply directly from Eskom, means that Eskom must be responsible for all maintenance repairs and upgrades to the substation. 

According to the report presented during the oversight visit, the DPWI removed the circuit breakers without the involvement of Eskom and without notifying the police. 

This is illegal tampering with state infrastructure, a criminal act and completely unacceptable, which has left the Ga-Rankuwa SAPS in the dark for almost a year and hampered the safety of residents.

It is a relief that power has been restored at the police station, but it’s only an interim measure and according to this report, SAPS will have to procure a new mini substation to ensure that there is a stable electricity supply at the station which can only be done in the next financial year. 

The police station remains vulnerable because this is only an interim solution and could at any point be disconnected yet again. 

The DA believes that there is sufficient provision within the financial regulations to procure the mini substation as an irregular expense within the current financial year at an estimated cost of R500 000 to solve the problem permanently without taking any risks of future electricity failures or further delays. 

The DA believes in the rule of law and demands that an urgent investigation must be done to ascertain whether DPWI did tamper with the substation. Should it be found that these allegations are true, DPWI must be held accountable and face severe consequences for their actions. We will use all the mechanisms at our disposal to ensure that there is accountability so that such incidents never happen again.

Electricity supply is an essential service required for a police station to ensure its safety and to provide police services to the communities.

 

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Gauteng residents’ safety is under siege as 30 people are killed, highjacked or raped daily

According to the fourth quarter report of the 2021/2022 Gauteng Crime Statistics, there has been a 45.2 % increase in reported murder cases, a 31.7% increase in attempted murder, 26% in highjackings and a 11.6 % increase in rape cases which all implies that residents face a dismal future.

These percentages refer to a total of 2792 reported cases of either murder or attempted murder for 90 days which equates to 30 people either being murdered or victims of attempted murder in one day.

Sign our petition to urge Members of the Legislature to support the DA’s Community Safety Bill & ensure your safety: petitions.da.org.za/p/community-safety-bill.

Similarly, a total of 2936 cars were highjacked over 90 days equating to a total of 32 car highjackings daily and a total of 2267 people raped over the 90 days.

Each hour, more than one person is affected, ripped of their dignity and scarred for their life because of the above-mentioned crimes.

These statistics trigger fear for residents as they are scared, wondering if they will be the next victim; they have lost hope in the police services.

The crime statistics report should not only include the crime stats but should also reflect a detailed analysis of the reasons why these crimes were not prevented, what the shortcomings are at these police stations and the challenges in the communities that face these constant increases in crime.

The Gauteng MEC  for Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko and  Gauteng Provincial Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General, Elias Mawela should include their recommendations with these findings and table a proper plan as to how they are going to address this spate of crime in the next financial year.

The DA has interrogated the Community Safety annual report and the list of police stations that were visited as part of the MEC’s oversight visits. These visits merely confirmed that they comply with legislative requirements, and do not drill into the challenges that stations are facing in curbing crime and carrying out their mandate.

In addition, the DA has done oversight inspections at several police stations over the last few months. We can confirm that our stations are not well equipped or maintained in terms of basic infrastructure and technological requirements, such as electricity, sanitation, and the internet. Hence, Gauteng is in the top 30 of every crime reported nationally. This impacts negatively on the functionality, performance, visible policing, and crime prevention.

The importance of the DA-sponsored Community Oversight Bill is highlighted by the Gauteng SAPS stations’ performance in that it is needed to fight against crimes such as hijackings, rapes, and murders. Criminals have exploited innocent communities due to the lack of a proactive plan by the MEC of Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko, to introduce 24-hour police visibility throughout the province.

The DA will therefore embark on its oversight inspections of all the police stations across the province to ascertain service delivery challenges and compile a comprehensive report of the real state of our police stations. This report will be used as a tool to find tangible solutions which we can table in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) to address crime within Gauteng going forward. The residents of Gauteng deserve to feel safe.

 

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Cele succumbs to the DA’s pressure to visit Ga-Rankuwa police station

Pressure by the DA has finally led the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele to conduct an oversight inspection at the Ga-Rankuwa Police Station today, Friday 17 June, to see for himself that the station has no electricity.

Minister Cele held a meeting at the station, with the engineers from the National Police Department, the Provincial Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General, Elias Mawela and other department officials to investigate what led to the Ga-Rankuwa Police Station being without electricity for almost 10 months.

The department and all relevant officials have been given one month to resolve the continuous outages and the Minister committed to visiting the police station again by no later than 17 July 2022 to ensure that the electricity outage is resolved, and power is restored.

This is all a result of the DA’s efforts by sending numerous questions and letters to the Minister demanding immediate interventions to restore electricity and police service delivery at the station.

The DA leadership in Gauteng, including the Gauteng DA Leader, Solly Msimanga MPL, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Community Safety, Crezane Bosch MPL, Constituency Leader, Adriana Randall MPL, and City of Tshwane DA Councillor Ofentse Madzebatela led a community picket outside the police station last week Wednesday evening.

This police station has been struggling for months without power, which hindered the staff from performing their duties fully and forced them to lock the gates as soon as it was dark.

The DA is relieved that there is the final action in this regard, as this is long overdue and should be prioritised. The Community of Ga-Rankuwa deserves to feel safe, and the DA will continue to monitor the situation daily to ensure that nothing is taken for granted and that the power is restored as a matter of urgency.

Furthermore, there should be a long-term solution between the SAPS, Eskom and the City of Tshwane to ensure that this police station has a sustainable electricity supply to ensure the safety of the residents.

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Fourth Quarter Crime Stats paint a bleak picture for Gauteng residents

The 4th quarter report of the 2021/2022 Crime Stats indicates that the safety and security of the Gauteng residents remain at risk, and they have a bleak future ahead of them.

Gauteng SAPS Stations are dominating in the top 30 of all crime stats across the country, with a severe increase in crimes like hijackings, murder, and sexual offences.

From January 2022 to March 2022, the following cases have been reported; 1403 murder cases, 2936 hijackings and 2267 cases of sexual offences.

This is devasting and shows that the lives and livelihoods are in danger, hence the DA’s sponsored Community Oversight Bill is going to play a crucial role in monitoring the performance of Gauteng SAPS stations across the province. This Bill will intensify the fight against crimes such as rape and farm murders.

Without a progressive plan by the Gauteng MEC of Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko, of implementing 24-hour police visibility in the province, criminals have seen the gap and will continue to take advantage of innocent residents in Gauteng. This is due to the lack of SAPS resources like vehicles, and human resources that should be prioritised by both MEC Mazibuko and Minister of Police Bheki Cele.

Residents of this province are living in constant fear of being the next victim of crime. These statistics are nothing but a trigger of fear and leave residents without any hope in the police services.

The DA has done oversight inspections in several police stations in Gauteng over the last few months and we can confirm that our police stations are not well equipped or maintained when it comes to basic infrastructure and technological requirements, such as electricity, sanitation, and internet. This is the reason why Gauteng is in the top 30 of every crime reported on the crime stats.

This impacts the functionality and performance of the police stations and has a serious negative impact on visible policing and crime prevention.

Community Safety should not just check on constitutional compliance but also look into the functionality of our police stations.

MEC Mazibuko must take action and ensure that residents no longer suffer from being turned away from stations. She must ensure that police respond swiftly to crimes and do a thorough investigation.

Minister Cele should not only present the crime stats in Gauteng, but embark on proper oversight with the MEC Mazibuko to address these issues. If he cannot provide the stations with the support and solutions to address the constant rise in crime figures, he should resign as a matter of urgency.

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Desperate job seekers are swindled, yet Gauteng Safety Department fails to fill vacant posts

Desperate job seekers have once again fallen prey to corrupt police officials who promised them job placements in exchange for money while the Gauteng Department of Community Safety sits on 279 vacant posts.

This is extremely worrying considering that the unemployment rate has increased in the province. Our people are struggling to put food on the table and have once again been let down by this department as filling these vacant posts will go a long way in alleviating poverty.

As of March 2022, the department had a staff establishment of 1761 while the headcount was 1725. This means that only 1482 posts were filled, leaving 279 vacant posts which translates to 15.8% of vacancies available. This information was revealed in the department’s fourth quarterly report for the 2021/2022 financial year.

Recent media reports have indicated that there are unemployed youth that have been made to pay about R5000 to corrupt police officials in exchange for job placements at the Gauteng SAPS Training College.

These allegations are serious, and the consequence management must take place as a matter of urgency.

It is high time that the Gauteng MEC of Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko clamps down on corruption within her department. The DA will be directly engaging with the MEC to ascertain if there is a plan of action to deal with such acts of corruption. We will also monitor every development on this issue and demand that MEC Mazibuko prioritises the filling of these vacancies.

We will not stand by as Gauteng job seekers are being taken advantage of by those in positions of power.

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85 funded vacancies while Gauteng’s roads continue to deteriorate, putting residents’ lives in danger

Gauteng residents are forced to use roads that are in very poor condition with potholes everywhere, roads that are in dire need of resurfacing and road verges that are not properly maintained. This is because there are currently 85 funded vacancies in the department that are yet to be filled.

The lack of consistent and regular maintenance on our roads puts the lives of our motorists at risk on a daily basis. Many motorists are flagged as high risk as they constantly claim from their insurance due to accidents caused by the bad conditions of our roads.

This information was provided to me in a written reply to my questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature from the MEC for Roads and Transport, Jacob Mamabolo.

Road reserves and verges that are not regularly cleared provides the perfect hideout for criminals who take advantage of vulnerable motorists which could lead to an increase in hijackings on our roads.

Now that lockdown restrictions have been eased, maintenance work must begin in earnest to ensure that our roads are always in tip-top shape.

It is unacceptable that tenders that needed to be awarded were stalled, because of constraints within the Supply Chain Management department.

Furthermore, no consequence management for this took place which once again highlights that no political will exists within the Premier Makhura-led administration to ensure that service delivery takes place.

If this situation is not remedied as a matter of urgency, then the state of our roads will continue to deteriorate, and we will see a spike in road accidents and fatalities on our province’s roads. I will be engaging directly with the MEC for Transport on this matter as we cannot allow this situation to continue.

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Delays in completion of Beverly Hills police station hinder service delivery

The Evaton police station officers continue to be exposed to terrible working conditions due to the delays in the completion of the new Beverly Hills police station.

The Evaton police station is small, ageing, and old in an environment that is not conducive for work. This is wholly unacceptable under any circumstances, considering that this situation is affecting the police station’s operational services and putting the safety of residents at risk.

In a recent incident, there was a burglary at the detective’s offices where electric cables and plugs were stolen. It is alleged that the thieves broke the ceiling to gain entry to the detective’s office, leading to the detectives being unable to do their work. This is affecting the rendering of the detective’s services to the community.

The work of a detective plays a crucial role in the criminal justice system as they are tasked with investigations of serious crimes. The fact that there was a burglary at the detective’s office means that the dockets are not safe at the Evaton police station.

There is a need for an urgent intervention to ensure the safety and security of our police stations are tightened.

Furthermore, according to the Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko, the Beverly Hills police station project was tentatively scheduled for completion in July 2021.

The DA conducted an oversight inspection at the Beverly Hills police station and was disappointed to discover that it is still incomplete. The electricity has not yet been connected, and toilets and windows still need to be fixed. No road leads to the main entrance of the police station.

The DA will engage MEC Mazibuko to liaise with her national counterparts Minister of Police, Bheki Cele to ensure that they speed up the completion of the Beverly Hills police station to ensure that the police officers have a conducive working environment and that our people have access to adequate police services.

We will also be tabling follow-up questions to MEC Mazibuko in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) to ascertain when will this police station be completed and what measures are being put in place to ensure the safety and security of our police stations across the province.
Delays in completion of this new police station are hindering police service delivery in Evaton.

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43 cases of robbery close to the Pretoria Zoo, perpetrators continue to terrorise people

There are 52 cases of armed robbery, common robbery, theft, business burglary and carjacking that have been opened at the Pretoria Central Police Station which occurred in an area close to the Pretoria Zoo in Tshwane.

Of these 52 cases opened from January 2019 to February 2022, 43 cases have been filed and remain undetected; only two convictions were made; four cases are still under investigation and three were withdrawn. This is a clear indication that innocent lives are at risk, yet the law enforcement agencies are not doing enough to ensure their safety.

This information was revealed by the Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko in a written reply to my questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL).

According to MEC Mazibuko, these opened cases occurred in the area close to the Pretoria Zoo in Paul Kruger Street, the mountain at Capital Park next to the Pretoria Zoo, from Struben Street to Venter Street.

The table below shows the different types of cases that have been opened at Pretoria Central Police Station that occurred in an area close to Pretoria Zoo:

Cases opened Number of cases opened
Robbery with a weapon other than a firearm 16
Armed robbery 12
Business burglary 7
Common robbery 5
Theft general 4
Theft out of motor vehicle and carjacking 3
Attempted armed robbery and attempted murder 2
Common assault and assault GBH 2
Kidnapping, robbery with a weapon other than a Firearm, Possession of Firearms and

Ammunition

 1
Total 52

There has been an increase in the cases in this area. In 2019, there were 12 cases opened, 16 cases opened in 2020, 22 cases in 2021 and two cases for January to February 2022. These include an incident of a matric learner who was attacked and stabbed four times by unknown people outside the school premises.

The fact that there has been an increase in the cases reported and only a few convictions, means that the perpetrators are continuing to terrorise and steal from the residents. This demonstrates that the SAPS’s current interventions are ineffective, and it is failing to ensure the safety of all people residing in the area and those using that route when travelling to various destinations.

Failure by the police to thoroughly investigate cases has resulted in many of these cases being undetected and taken off the court roll due to a lack of sufficient evidence to assist in prosecution.

More convictions need to be made but this can only be done through effective police intelligence and investigations as well as equipping the police with adequate resources.

The safety of all Gauteng residents is of utmost importance and the DA will continue to demand more police visibility in all the crime hotspots to ensure the safety and security of our people. We will constantly engage with MEC Mazibuko and the SAPS Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Elias Mawela to establish a mobile police station next to the Pretoria Zoo to make it accessible for people to report crime and to ensure police visibility.