Newly-appointed National Police Commisioner, General Kehla John Sitole, has outlined his plan to combat gangsterism and other crimes in the Western Cape.
Sithole addressed the media in Bishop Lavis on the Cape Flats on his turnaround vision for the South African Police Service (SAPS).
Sitole says there are various strategies in play which he believes will work to combat crime in the Western Cape. He has pin-pointed the migration of additional resources to areas in the Cape where crime like gangsterism is plaguing communities. He says for crime to be tackled head on, all police officers countrywide need to be part of one vision.
“With regard to the gangs – we have formally designed a combating and prevention strategy . It will be taking off the execution starting in March, and the focus is actually on the gang activity, and we are also focusing on the drugs which is part and parcel of the trade that we are looking at. On the side of the police, we formally introduced a concept that we refer to as the Simunye – and the Simunye concept is intended to nurture collective leadership and that is getting police united have a shared vision,” he said.
Sitole was questioned on the issue of deploying additional police officers to combat gangsterism on the Cape Flats. He would not be drawn into giving specifics on if and when the military would be deployed, but added that they would provide support through the police’s Operation Fiela Project. The Commissioner also indicated that unconventional police methods would be used to combat crime.
He also touched on the working environment facing police officers. He says he believes that for them to remain dedicated, the morale within SAPS needs to improve.
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