Durban - The recent surge of violent crimes in KwaZulu-Natal has placed into sharp focus the need to have an effective crime intelligence-gathering division within the SAPS.
This was the frank admission by KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala, who spoke exclusively to The Mercury this week.
His admission on police weaknesses comes in the wake of violent crimes including a tavern shooting in Sweetwaters and the rape and murder of two women and a girl in Sobantu Township in Pietermaritzburg in recent weeks.
The incidents have led to questions from opposition parties, including the IFP, over the state of policing in the province, especially the ability of the police to stop criminal acts before they get committed.
IFP member of the provincial legislature Blessed Gwala argued recently that lack of depth in the crime intelligence division within the police meant criminals were doing as they wished.
This week Zikalala said while they welcomed the arrest of suspects in the tavern shooting, they were concerned about the rise in violent crime across the province, insisting that something drastic should be done.
“One of the areas that we identified as a top priority at the start of the term of this government in 2019, was the area of crime fighting and the need to make people of KwaZulu-Natal feel safe and that is why it was important that there was stability at the very top of police management in the province,” said Zikalala.
He said while they had tried to solidify police leadership at provincial level, the weakness at operational level had been exposed.
“We need to work on policing itself; we must strengthen crime intelligence and have people that are able to detect crime patterns and the root causes thereof. We need to have people working closely on the ground and able to detect movements of criminals, stopping them before they commit those crimes.”
Zikalala stressed that while this appeared to be a massive task, it was achievable if police worked closely with communities.
“Community police forums are important structures with which the police will need to work so that all forms of crime are reduced,” he said.
He expressed confidence that in the long term, crime would be reduced in KZN. The premier’s sentiments on a close working relationship with communities as a crime-fighting strategy were in line with the view of provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, who insisted that if community members were the eyes and ears of the police, crime would be reduced drastically.
KZN violence monitor Mary de Haas said for the police to carry out their duties, politicians needed to refrain from interfering in operational matters within the police ranks.
She singled out Police Minister Bheki Cele for allegedly meddling in the work of officers. “It’s imperative that steps be taken without delay to clean up crime intelligence, which will never happen while Cele is minister, as his record speaks for itself and the new acting head of the CIS (Crime Intelligence Service) nationally does not even have experience in this field of policing,” she said.