President Cyril Ramaphosa and Police Minister Bheki Cele will on Friday launch the Anti-Gang Unit in crime-ridden Hanover Park, Cape Town.
The Anti-Gang Unit is made up of members from specialised units, who are tasked to dislodge and weaken the capacity of gangs, with the aim of disrupting the criminal economy linked to gangsterism, drugs, firearm supply lines and other identified commodities.
“The Anti-Gang Unit has been in operation from 8 October 2018, deployed in Nyanga cluster, Bonteheuwel and Bishop Lavis. The unit will continue to be in full operation in the Peninsula area until communities in the greater Western Cape experience a return to normality,” said Police Ministry spokesperson Reneilwe Serero.
Serero said the President’s participation in the Hanover Park launch indicates his commitment and that of government at large to ensure that communities are able to live in safety while criminals are subjected to the full might of the law.
Meanwhile, Cele and National Police Commissioner General Khehla John Sitole will on Thursday launch the National Safer Festive Season crime-fighting campaign in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape.
This year’s campaign, also referred to as ‘Quiet Storm’, is aimed at making South Africa a safe place during the festive season. Police officers across the country will conduct safety operations until January 2019.
“The focus will be on visible policing and conducting special crime awareness and prevention operations.
“The Safer Festive Season campaign will also focus on combatting aggravated robberies, crimes against women and children, enhancement of border security, enforcement of the Liquor and Second-hand Goods Acts, enforcement of by-laws, road safety as well as activities to combat the proliferation of illegal firearms,” said South African Police Service (SAPS) spokesperson Vishnu Naidoo.
The launch will commence with a Walk against Crime at 7am. A SAPS show of force demonstrations will follow at 9am before the formal programme begins an hour later at the NU2 Stadium, Motherwell, Port Elizabeth. – SAnews.gov.za
