Durban - KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala has called for the revival of community policing forums to help fight rising crime in the province.
Closing a two-day crime summit in Durban recently, the premier said crime in the province was escalating so the revival of community policing forums in all areas of the province was important.
He added that people had a tendency to leave crime-fighting to the police.
The premier also called on the victims of crime to report their problems. As part of the measures to combat crime, the premier also called for a review of the operating times for liquor outlets, saying alcohol consumption was contributing to rising crime in the province.
Zikalala lamented the reputational damage to the province by it being regarded as the home of hitmen and political killings.
The summit was also attended by Police Minister Bheki Cele and various stakeholders, including anti-gender-based violence activist Hlengiwe Buthelezi, who called on the government to hold a referendum on the death penalty. She said since 2019 the queer sector had been calling for the reinstatement of the death sentence.
“Government must start the referendum on this; I know for a fact that the positive response will be overwhelming. I know that now more than 80% of South African citizens want the death penalty,” she said.
The summit took place just after Cele released the quarterly crime statistics, which again declared the province as the country’s crime capital. Umlazi and Inanda (Durban) and Plessislaer in Pietermaritzburg, where most of the violent crimes were reported, were again declared the most dangerous areas in the country.
Opposition parties weighed in on the latest crime statistics for the province, saying the government had failed to protect citizens.
The IFP said the figures were a confession to South Africans by Cele that the SAPS was broken, and citizens should brace themselves for the worst. In a statement issued by the party’s member of Parliament’s police portfolio committee, Zandile Majozi, the IFP said the minister and SAPS had once again spectacularly failed to keep people safe, adding that it was shocking and tragic that more than 6 000 people were killed in just three months.
She said what compounded the matter was that of those killed 898 were women and 306 were children. Majozi also said that within three months 10 818 women were raped.
“The 22% increase in the murder rate, 25% increase in the attempted murder rate, as well as a 13.7% increase in the sexual offences rate, are sending shockwaves throughout the country. These statistics reflect what could be perceived as a serious breakdown of moral and ethical values among some South Africans and it will take much moral regeneration and introspection to safeguard our families and communities,” said Majozi.
DA spokesperson on policing matters in the provincial legislature, Sharon Hoosen, said the statistics showed there was no relief for the province’s citizens when it came to serious crimes, including murder, rape, GBV, LGBTIQ-related crimes and taxi violence, and that other priority crimes continued to increase.
Daily News