Deputy Minister Cassel Mathale, together with the management of the South African Police Services in the North West, is expected to meet with communities of Taung on Saturday, as they embark on a Ministerial Stakeholders Engagement on Rural Safety and Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF).
Stakeholders expected to be in attendance at the engagement include commercial and subsistence farmers as well as community policing structures. The aim of this engagement with stakeholders is to create awareness of criminal activity affecting the Taung communities.
Spokesperson of the Police Ministry Lirandzu Themba says the police will also use the opportunity to address policing and safety concerns, around the Taung area which forms part of the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District of the North West.
Local leaders from the traditional and religious fraternity will also be in attendance at the event, which will be taking place at the Taung Depot Hall in Taung.
#PoliceMinistry [MEDIA INVITATION] Deputy Minister of Police, Cassel Mathale and management of SAPS to embark on a Ministerial Stakeholders Engagement on Rural Safety & Gender Based Violence and Femicide on 05/11 at Taung Depot Hall, North West. NPhttps://t.co/010PTqaFQt pic.twitter.com/wHG74hl5ah
— SA Police Service 🇿🇦 (@SAPoliceService) November 3, 2022
At the end of October, residents of Kokemong in Taung expressed regret and remorse for torching their local police station during a service delivery protest in 2018, calling for the refurbishment of the station which used to serve 12 villages when it was still operational.
SAPS launches national safety campaign for 2022 festive season
On Wednesday, the SAPS launched its nationwide #SaferFestiveSeason operations in Thohoyandou, Limpopo. This year’s festive season crime-fighting campaign is themed “More boots on the ground towards enhanced police visibility”. The campaign will run until January 2023 with the objective of the SAPS being to mobilise maximum resources in order to stamp the authority of the State to ensure that communities feel safe and secure.
At the launch of the festive season policing programme, Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikilithe, acting National Commissioner of the SAPS, handed the safer festive season operational plan to Minister of Police Bheki Cele, which contains six focus areas that the police services will prioritise during the festive season.
The National Policing Strategy will prioritise these four focus areas:
- Intensifying campaigns and policing of the scourge of GBVF.
- Combat aggravated robberies, such as carjacking, robberies at residential premises and business robberies.
- Enhancing border security which will be characterised by search operations on suspicion of stolen property being smuggled out of the country; illegal crossing of borders; human trafficking; drug trafficking; and tracing of wanted suspects.
- Enforcing legislation dealing with the proliferation of illegal firearms, liquor, second-hand goods as well as the safety of the sports and recreational events.
Cele handed over 20 new motor vehicles as well as two mobile Community Service Centres (CSC) to the Limpopo province to ensure that they are equipped to respond to crime this festive season.
“These vehicles and mobile CSC must assist in ensuring that you address rape and business robberies in areas like Thohoyandou. It is a concern that between April and June 2022, Thohoyandou Police Station was the fifth police station which recorded the highest number of rape cases in the country and provincially it was number one. This situation requires an all hands-on deck approach and more boots on the ground to ensure increased visibility”, said Cele.
On Friday, Gauteng Provincial Commissioner Lt Gen Elias Mawela launched the province’s festive season safety campaign in Vanderbijlpark, joined by Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, Ms Faith Mazibuko and the Premier of Gauteng Panyaza Lesufi.
