Ramaphosa: Violent crime takes heavy toll on every South African

President Cyril Ramaphosa also made emphasis on the effects of crime and how he plans to combat the scourge during his State of the Nation Address (SONA 2023) on Thursday, 9 February.

PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA ADDRESSES THE EFFECTS OF CRIME AT SONA

“Communities across our country live in fear for the safety of their families. This situation cannot continue.”

Ramaphosa

IMMEDIATE SOLUTION TO THE POLICING CRISIS

He said they are strengthening the South African Police Service (SAPS) to prevent crime and improving the capacity of the National Prosecuting Authority and courts to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice.
“This includes putting more police on the streets and setting up specialised teams that will focus on specific types of crime,” he said.

“Last year, we undertook to recruit 12,000 new police personnel. Since then, more than 10,000 new recruits graduated from police academies and a further 10,000 will be recruited and trained this year. The specialised police teams that are working on tackling crimes like kidnapping, extortion and illegal mining have had several breakthroughs, arresting dozens of suspects and achieving several convictions,” he added.
Ramaphosa further added that firm action is being taken to tackle economic sabotage and related crimes that are causing great damage to the economy.

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THE FIGHT AGAINST CABLE AND COPPER THEFT

“Multi-disciplinary Economic Infrastructure Task Teams are now operational in 20 identified hotspots. Last year I drew attention to the enormous damage caused by the theft of copper cable and metal from our electricity system, train lines and other public infrastructure. Since then, the police have been cracking down on cable theft. In December, Government introduced a temporary ban on the export of scrap copper cable and certain metals to disrupt criminal syndicates and enable a new trading system to be put in place. Just as we have embarked on economic reforms in electricity, water, telecommunication and logistics through Operation Vulindlela, we are embarking on a process of reform to improve the effectiveness of our fight against crime,” he explained, adding that they will use their competitiveness in call centre operations to support the proper functioning of the 10111 help line, partnering with the private sector.

“This is to ensure that when people call the police, their calls are answered and their emergencies are attended to. We will also use data-driven methods in a more sophisticated way to identify and target crime hotspots. Significantly more funding will be made available in this budget for the police, the NPA and the Special Investigating Unit,” he promised.

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