The National Commissioner of the South African Police Service (SAPS), General Fannie Masemola, says the police’s festive season operations are in full swing in all provinces.
“The work of organised crime syndicates is being dealt a blow, and we remain hard at work in increasing the speed with which we proactively deal with criminals,” Masemola said at a briefing in Pretoria on Monday.
His remarks come as the country approaches the holiday season in December.
Masemola said through ongoing crime combatting high-density operations, known as Operation Shanela, police have arrested over 900 000 suspects since its inception in May 2023.
Through Operation Shanela, police have seized and confiscated illegal firearms, which are being used in serious and violent crimes across the country.
“Just this past week, 132 firearms were seized and in the previous week, 138 firearms were seized. From April 2024 to date, police have seized more than 4 400 firearms during operations across the country.
“We continue to stamp the police’s authority through increased police visibility, coordinated bold and decisive law enforcement operations and most importantly, improved community participation in the fight against crime,” he said.
Masemola commended the overwhelming support and improved active citizenry displayed by South Africans from all walks of life in assisting the men and women in blue with information to track down wanted criminals.
“We have witnessed increased cooperation and unity displayed in working closely with communities on various cases, including the recent arrest of six suspects linked to the Lusikisiki mass shooting, and the arrest of Phethe Simiao, a Mozambican national, who has been arrested in connection with the rape and murder of six-year-old Amantle Samane.
“I take this opportunity, on behalf of the men and women in blue, to thank our communities, the social media community and media houses for playing their role in broadcasting and sharing information rapidly with all South Africans. This ultimately led police in the right direction to apprehend these cold-hearted criminals,” Masemola said.
He called on communities to continue to work with the police, saying more criminals, more firearms and more drugs will be seized.
“The ongoing mass shootings in provinces like the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Western Cape are a concern, and require us, as the police, to ramp up our efforts to put a stop to these shootings that are often perpetuated with illegal, unlicensed and high caliber firearms.
“These recent incidents have seen us constantly refining our crime combatting strategies. It is encouraging that in most, if not all, mass shootings, arrests have been made,” Masemola said.
He said their operational focus remains on the tracing of known wanted criminals, and the detection and removal of illegal firearms from the streets.
“In all these areas, we have beefed up and reinforced deployments, and also deployed specialised teams, inclusive of intelligence and organised crime detectives.
“It is important to note that these four provinces -- the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape -- are always prioritised, and always receive the largest number of newly trained police officers each year to heighten and increase police visibility in a bid to reduce incidents such as these,” he said. – SAnews.gov.za
