The Johannesburg Metro Police have released their performance statistics for May, with 700 people that were arrested on the roads in just one month. Drunk driving appears to be one of the city’s main problems.
Other prominent crimes include illegal dumping, hijackings and drug possession.
Johannesburg Mayor, Herman Mashaba, says people may not consider drinking and driving as a serious crime, but it can lead to road fatalities.
“If you look at the crimes that we are facing; someone might actually think that drinking and driving is not a serious crime, but unfortunately drunk and driving leads to fatalities on our roads. That’s why it is important that we deal with it effectively .We have cases of robbery and cases of counterfeit goods. I think that the question of counterfeit goods coming into our countries are at an alarming rate. Unfortunately, it kills our manufacturing capacity as a country firstly and secondly, it kills the legal retail outlets. ”
Chief of police, David Tembe, says efforts to make the city’s roads safer are underway.
“We are everywhere as JMPD unlike before. That’s why we have a higher number of people that are getting arrested for drinking and driving. Because you go to Soweto you find JMPD, you go on the freeway and there is JMPD on the main road. So people are very much aware of that. We have special operations we do; our operation from Thursday to Sunday, it’s specifically for drinking and driving.”
The JMPD will soon launch its new transport unit, to deal with reckless driving.
WATCH VIDEO BELOW:
