Cape Town - As the extortion mafia set its sights on sanitation services in Cape Town, demanding Sanitech pay a protection fee for cleaning toilets in neighbourhoods, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu said a new crime prevention programme involving various spheres of government was being rolled out.
Addressing Parliament yesterday Mchunu outlined the measures taken by police to deal with threats posed by extortion across the country.
He said the Western Cape was one of the four provinces that accounted for 73% of crime levels in the country.
Mchunu said the modus operandi of the perpetrators was well-known.
“Most of them are individuals who do not want to work but choose to parade as armies of murderous parasites that must be fought and rejected by society as a whole.
“They are often heavily armed, operating in groups that instil fear and chaos.
“The relative ‘silence’ of communities and low reporting is all due to these fears,” Mchunu said.
The police minister told the National Assembly that some people who had received payouts from the Road Accident Fund were also extorted in other parts of the country.
“In the context of the whole government approach, we have initiated the signing of co-operative agreements with provincial and local government, with operational plans all seeking to integrate our resources against crime.
“Currently the operational plan is being rolled out in Cape Town with its new six sub-districts.
“The model will be replicated in all metros in the country.
“The operational plan will include Community Policing Forums and private security companies.
“The Eastern Cape and Nelson Mandela Bay have agreed on the operational plan and it is currently being rolled out. We will be launching it soon.”
As Mchunu delivered his address, in Kosovo, Philippi, Sanitech reduced its services due to threats by the extortion mafia demanding a protection fee.
The company’s spokesperson said: “This is not new to us, we have experienced this everywhere.
“In Kosovo, the threats happened over six weeks and we had to make the difficult decision to go into the area once a week and with the City’s security escort.
“Instead of cleaning the toilets four times a week, this has affected service delivery.”
The DA said yesterday that extortionists targeted six provincial government construction sites worth R390 823 630. As a result, it delayed projects by as much as three years.
These were mostly housing and schooling projects.
DA Western Cape spokesperson on Infrastructure, Dirk Wessels, said: “Extortion is not only a criminal attack on government projects but a direct assault on the communities waiting for these essential services.
“The DA is committed to working tirelessly to support the efforts of the Western Cape Government and ensure that these perpetrators are brought to justice. We will not allow criminal elements to derail service delivery.”