KwaZulu-Natal premier Zweli Mkhize directed provincial police commissioner Mmamonnye Ngobeni to increase police visibility in the Highway area.
|||Durban - KwaZulu-Natal premier Zweli Mkhize directed provincial police commissioner Mmamonnye Ngobeni on Wednesday to increase police visibility in the Highway area.
He also instructed Ngobeni to increase the number of police vehicles in the area.
Mkhize was speaking at a meeting with residents of the Highway area to address their concerns about an increase in crime in recent months.
At the meeting, residents complained of a lack of police visibility and resources at police stations, drug abuse, and intimidation of community members who worked with the police.
Emolweni Community Forum representative Sibusiso Mhlophe said the police took five hours to respond when they were called to arrest a criminal who had been caught stealing.
Mhlophe said he had been robbed 20 times because he was a member of the CPF and had been called an “impimpi” (spy).
Mkhize said the issue of crime in the Highway area would be reported to the police minister.
He called on residents to work with the police to fight crime.
Provincial human settlements MEC Ravi Pillay said three vacant sites belonging to the public works department, which were overgrown and provided a haven for criminals, had been prioritised.
The sites belonged to the education department. The department would be asked if it was willing to release them so they could be used for other projects, Pillay said. - Sapa