By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
SAPS National Commissioner, General Fannie Masemola says the recent successes in crime fighting shows that police are tightening their grip on serious and violent crime, thus putting them one step ahead of criminals.
Masemola held a briefing during Operation Shanela in Kempton Park on Thursday.
“Yesterday [Wednesday] we arrested eight people where we confiscated drugs in Fourways worth over R300m. That syndicate is also involved in kidnappings. We think we are arresting the right people,” he said.
He said police were liaising with their counterparts in other Sadc countries because some of the kingpins were in neighbouring countries.
“We are liaising with them so that they can assist to arrest those people who are responsible. We are indeed making inroads.”
In kidnappings where ransom was the motive, the teams in each province were able to make “commendable progress” in rescuing victims and taking down these syndicates, he said.
In the latest kidnapping, the Hawks rescued a Gqeberha businessman and investigations were continuing, while two weeks ago 14 suspects including three Chinese nationals, two Mozambicans and nine South Africans were arrested in various parts of Johannesburg. In this case, a Zimbabwean businessman was rescued in Diepkloof, Soweto.
In the past two years, more than 250 kidnappers of various nationalities have been arrested and more than 20 businessmen rescued.
On takedowns linked to serious violent crimes, Masemola said police have established and beefed up cash-in-transit task teams, particularly in the Eastern Cape.
In this province, there were several CITs in July. In the past month, 13 CIT robbers were arrested while six suspects were fatally wounded during a confrontation with police.
“In the latest incident, five suspects linked to a cash-in-transit armed robbery that happened on Monday this week were traced to their hideout in Keiskammahoek in the Eastern Cape a few hours after robbing a cash van of an undisclosed amount of money between East London and Macleantown on the N6,” he said.
He said they have also made a breakthrough with the arrest of at least 10 suspects linked to ATM bombings in Gauteng.
Responding to criticism of the shootouts between police and suspects, mostly in KwaZulu-Natal, Masemola said officers were often met with heavy gunfire and had to protect themselves.
“If criminals carry water guns, we will also respond with shotguns but when criminals fire with live ammunition, we have no choice but to defend ourselves and the communities that we serve. With this said, we will continue to use force that is proportional to the threat.”
“We have listened to the different views that continue to be expressed by ordinary citizens and experts within the field of policing in relation to the number of suspects that have been shot and killed by police in KwaZulu-Natal in recent months,” said Masemola.
It is important to clarify that, our mandate as the Saps (South African Police Service) is to bring perpetrators to justice by arresting them, but quite often in pursuit of arresting these often dangerous and heavily armed criminals, our police officers are more than often met with heavy gunfire and that leaves our officers with no option but to defend themselves and the communities that they serve.
Masemola said police were also working on being more visible in communities as a form of deterrent to crime.
“Our ears remain on the ground, and we are aware that communities want to see police officers on the ground.”
Masemola. said in the past two years, the Saps has recruited and trained 20,000 police officers. He said are already serving at the police stations and various specialised units including crime intelligence and the detective environment.
“We are also proud to announce that there are currently 4,500 recruits in training. The remaining 5,500 recruits will commence with training in January 2025,” he added.