The provincial leader and Democractic Alliance (DA) Shadow Minister of Police, Andrew Whitfield, confirmed that they are on a mission to fight the high rate of crime in Mthatha and surroundings, by launching an anti-crime campaign in Mthatha.
According to Whitfield, they launched a petition against crime at the Mthatha Central Police Station, which will be tabled in parliament before the police portfolio committee, and will also announce a whole of society approach to fight the scourge of violent of crime.
He said that they also visited the management from this police station to voice their concern about the high rate of crime in Mthatha.
“Mthatha is the capital of crime of the Eastern Cape, and residents are murdered and some raped more in these areas than in any other in the province.
“The DA will conduct public meetings, meetings with Community Policing Forums (CPF) and neighbourhood watches, and perform oversight inspections at police stations,” said Whitfield.
He said that the first quarter crime statistics, for the period from April to June 2023, revealed that crime, specifically murder and rape, had spiralled out of control in Mthatha.
According to Whitfield, Mthatha needed a dedicated and co-ordinated strategic response from the police, supported at national level.
“This is why we will be petitioning parliament to get commitments from the National Police Commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, to deploy the additional resources required to fight crime in Mthatha.
“Police Minister Bheki Cele is known for his visits to the Eastern Cape and his crime-fighting promises that always go unfulfilled.
“Our mission is to make sure that not a single police station is in the top 30 when it comes to crime this time next year.”
He said that they will fight to make this a reality so that the people of Mthatha can live in a safe city, free from crime.
Provincial chairperson of the DA Women’s Network, Nomvano Zibonda, said that they had visited the Central Police Station because it is one of the police stations that have a high rate of crime. She said that they were there to ask the police officers to do better when it comes to fighting crime.
Zibonda said that since she is representing women, she wants more to be done by police stations to fight crime, including rape incidents.
“We are not talking about arresting the suspect when a crime takes place, but to fight with crime so that people should stop committing it.
“We are not interested in the number of people who are arrested but our main focus is that there should be no crime at all,” said Zibonda.
