Opening remarks by Minister of Police, General Bheki Cele on the One Year of Operation Shanela live media engagement hosted at GCIS in Pretoria

Tshwane

Deputy Minister of Police; Mr Cassel Mathale;
National Commissioner of the SAPS, General Fannie Masemola;
Representing the National Head of the DPCI; Lt General Mosipi;
Deputy National Commissioners Present;
All Provincial Commissioners;
Divisional Commissioners present;
Senior officers of the SAPS;
News Editors;
Crime Analysts;
Members of the media;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Good Morning.

I welcome you all to the special seating of the OPERATION SHANELA meeting.

This meeting takes place every MONDAY morning, and is virtually attended by the top management of the SAPS led by the National Commissioner of the SAPS, General Masemola, including Provincial Commissioners, Divisional and Component heads of the SAPS and the meeting is chaired by the Minister of Police.

Each week we come together on a Monday morning to scan the country, discuss in depth weekly crime picture and operational interventions on policable crimes.

This week marks one year of OPERATION SHANELA, a policing intervention of Increased Crime Prevention and Combatting Action plan. This constitutes of High Density disruptive actions and pro-active crime prevention operations by the SAPS.

OPERATION SHANELA is intensified from Thursday up until the early hours of Monday, this is guided by our crime pattern analysis which informs us that most crimes are reported to the police during these times.

For the first time in the history of this policing intervention, we have opened up this high level meeting to South Africans through this media engagement.

This morning, we are joined by Editors of some of the most reputable newsrooms in the country; I welcome you to our meeting.

We also welcome in this meeting, Crime Analysts who each day provide commentary to South Africans and the world; on the police’s ability to fulfil its constitutional mandate of preventing, investigating and combating crime.

OPERATION SHANELA has and continues to be rolled out across the country, led by the Provincial Commissioners of each province.

While the SAPS remains in the forefront of OPERATION SHANELA, the successes of OPERATION SHANELA are as a result of collaborative efforts through integrated operations.

We continue to collaborate and appreciate the role played by the;

SANDF;

National and Provincial Traffic Police;

Metro Police Departments;

Municipal Traffic;

The Department of Home Affairs;

The South African Revenue Services (SARS), and other government departments.

We would like to use this meeting to demonstrate to the country that a year since the inception of OPERATION SHANELA; SAPS remains intentional in its approach to fight crime.

The SAPS remains unapologetic in its decisive stance to fight crime and criminality.

The role of active citizen participation in the prevention and combating crime continues to gain momentum.

The Community Policing Forum and community patrollers, as well as private security have been very active in their support and are playing a crucial role in the overall success of OPERATION SHANELA.

It is in this note that I hand over to the National Commissioner to take the country through in depth look at OPERATION SHANELA from 8 May to date.