Durban — Violence and crime monitor Mary de Haas has cast doubt on KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube’s crime-fighting plan, which she announced in her maiden State of the Province Address (Sopa) on Friday.
Delivering her Sopa at The Oval cricket stadium in Pietermaritzburg, the premier promised decisive action against crime.
Outlining the provincial crime-fighting plan, the premier said given the latest crime statistics released by Police Minister Bheki Cele listing Inanda and uMlazi police stations as among those with the highest number of murders in the country, it was important that decisive action was taken to ensure that the province’s residents were safe.
The premier called on residents to refuse to have their province defined as the rape and murder capital of South Africa because of the killing – with impunity – of ordinary citizens, artists, Amakhosi and Izinduna. The statistics showed there was a need for fresh and re-energised approaches to tackling crime, she said.
Top on the premier’s crime-fighting plan was curbing the proliferation of guns in the province and a call for a review and tighter regulation of the possession of firearms and ammunition. She said the number of rounds a person could purchase should be limited and those contravening the law must face harsher sentences.
“We must deal decisively with unlicensed guns, fake gun shops, and guns in the hands of illegitimate firearm owners due to deceased estates.
“We must implement plans to remove all illegal guns terrorising our communities and used in the killing of our policemen and women,” said the premier.
She welcomed the announcement of more boots on the ground following the passing-out parade and the allocation of 1 800 police officers to the province.
The premier added that to win the war, the government needed to attend to the axis of criminality involving sophisticated networks of criminals who worked with corrupt individuals in the criminal justice system.
She said she had directed the Department of Transport to revive Operation Shanela to focus on violence and crime on the roads and to strengthen the fight against crime.
The premier also announced that the province would progressively invest in technology and artificial intelligence to deal with crime, which would include the wide installation of CCTV cameras and microchips to end stock theft and a strategy to deal with illegal liquor trading.
“We will mobilise businesses to sponsor cameras and other technologies as part of their contribution to this fight. The province is deploying drones in policing to increase safety and ease of data collection.”
De Haas said the use of CCTV cameras had never worked at Glebelands.
She did not know what difference these cameras would make now.
The only people who would benefit would be tenderpreneurs linked to the governing party who would get tenders to do the work, she said.
Most cameras were not working in Durban and could not identify criminals who were wearing hoodies and sunglasses as well as driving stolen cars, she added.
“She (the premier) talks of using technology and cameras but she does not say how that will work in dark rural areas – the most vulnerable of all.
“What the government must do instead is to improve access to police stations by building satellite police stations or bringing mounted police in for bad rural roads,” said De Haas.
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