| 2024/09/08 |
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We have just concluded a visit at our National Intervention Unit offices here in Mthatha following an attack at the specialized units base earlier this week. The National Intervention Unit is made up of police officers who attend to medium and high risk incidents including cash-in-transit heists, kidnappings and armed robberies. These highly trained members are also tasked with tracing dangerous and highly armed criminals who are involved in serious and violent crime including extortions. This is one of the SAPS units that leaves nothing to chance in ensuring the safety and security of all people living in South Africa and that is why when they are targeted, the SAPS will mobilize all resources to stamp the authority of the state, to firstly protect and defend communities, but also to protect our own members. Ladies and gentlemen, we are not going to fold our arms and allow a situation where our dedicated and hardworking police officers who are entrusted with investigating and tracing hardened criminals are targeted. For the mere fact that these criminals, went as far as tailing our members to their base, says to us that we are dealing with criminals who have no regard for the rule of law. I am therefore pleased and encouraged that when these armed criminals arrived at the NIU offices, they were met with operationally ready and tactically alert members who acted decisively when the situation called for them to do so and when the dust settled, three armed criminals were taken down and no police officer had lost their lives. Fortunately, only one of our members was grazed by a bullet, he was treated and immediately released from hospital on the same day. It is however of a concern, that two days later, the same NIU member who was targeted at the base on Wednesday, was also targeted again while on his way to work on Friday. Due to his alertness, skill and experience, the member who was shot at, was not injured, he fortunately managed to shoot back at the suspect who was later traced at his hideout. We can confirm that the suspect is under police guard in hospital where he is receiving treatment for gun-shot wounds that were sustained while trying to assassinate the NIU member. Ladies and gentlemen, September is police safety month. It is a period in which we intensify efforts to ensure the safety and security of our members. We also utilize this month to raise awareness on police killings and how this has a long term negative impact not only on the organization but also on families and the broader society. Just last week, we remembered 39 members who died in the line of duty in the past financial year. It is on this score that we will not tolerate attacks on our members who are doing all they can to put a stop to incidents of extortion. We continue to urge our members to act decisively when faced with danger. Our members have a duty to protect themselves and the communities that they serve. We have also met with the management of the Province led by the Provincial Commissioner of the Eastern Cape. I am however concerned, that the number of cases that have been reported since our visit with the Minister of Police three weeks ago, does not reflect the extent of the problem that has been reported through the media and during our engagements with communities. Simply put, there is underreporting of cases when it comes to extortion. This is indeed worrisome, because for police to ultimately win the war against these extortionists, we are going to require community members to report these incidents by opening cases with the police. We can only conduct a thorough investigation through the assistance of witnesses and victims of crime, in order to put these perpetrators behind bars. Since the launch of the hotline, two weeks ago, a total of 1180 calls were received. This number is made up of 688 prank calls and those who called verifying the line were 431. A total number of cases which were reported via the hotline which are related to extortion are only 38. We are assuring communities that a dedicated team of investigators and members from specialized units that are attached to the task team dealing with extortions are working on the information. Some of the cases that one can highlight that are extortion related include the case where our members were attacked at their base and three people were shot and killed including a local traditional leader who was being investigated on allegations of extortion. In that incident three firearms have been seized and taken for ballistics testing to determine if they can be linked to other crimes. In addition to that incident, two suspects have been arrested this week alone. One is linked to the attack on an NIU member on Thursday and the other is a suspect who was linked to an extortion incident at Mqanduli clinic on Friday, the suspect entered the clinic and claimed employees were not safe and demanded a protection fee. The suspect was arrested and is due to appear in court. I am extremely encouraged by the work that the police are doing in this province to restore law and order. You will recall that from mid-August, we have deployed additional members to support and augment the available resources and capacity in this province to deal decisively with extortion. To date, a lot of work has been put in through intelligence gathering on suspected syndicates linked to extortion and protection fees. Tracing operations, roadblocks, vehicle check points and searching of persons have been conducted. Since our visit, throughout the OR Tambo district, 100 dangerous weapons have been seized including 18 firearms and 99 rounds of ammunition. As we are all aware that when it comes to the crime of stock theft, the Eastern Cape is number one in the country when it comes to the province with the highest number of cases reported. It is thus encouraging that 240 livestock have been recovered during this period. In closing, we are sending a strong message out there to those who are involved in all forms of crime and especially those gangs, criminals and syndicates involved in extortion. We are going to deal decisively with you and we will not hesitate to assert the authority of the state where necessary. We have full confidence in our intelligence, detectives and specialized units who are fully equipped and ready to defend the communities that we serve. Either those extortionists hand themselves over or we will fetch them ourselves. All we request is the full cooperation of communities to come forward and report more cases to enable us to put an end to their suffering. We are encouraged with the response that is meted out to these extortionists throughout the country, in a space of two weeks, a number of them have been dealt with decisively so in various provinces. Just this week in KZN, six of them were fatally wounded in a shoot-out in Durban. In the previous week, four extortionists were also fatally shot during confrontation with Western Cape police, in Mpumalanga as well, one was fatally wounded during a tracing operation in Kwaagafontein. This should serve as a deterrent and send a strong message to those extortionists that their days of terrorizing communities is over and they should stop what they are doing or surrender when we come knocking at their doors. We will and we can win this fight with the cooperation of all stakeholders. Our work is cut out for all our men and women in blue on the ground, we are proceeding with vigour and determination to end this crime! To date, we have arrested more than 840 000 suspects for various crimes through OPERATION SHANELA, other crimes are also being dealt a blow including CIT armed robberies, just yesterday, six suspects were shot and killed during confrontation with police in Germiston in Gauteng. Four pistols and one AK47 automatic rifle was seized from that scene. Ladies and gentlemen Our fight continues…and we are more than ready for any eventuality!
I THANK YOU!
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