Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma has promised South Africans there will more visible police on the streets.
Government will be building on the successful pattern of deployments during the Safer Festive Season Campaign, which proved that police visibility is the most effective way to combat crime.
This campaign - centred around the back-to-basics approach - focuses on aggravated robberies, border security, taxi violence, illegal firearms, the enforcement of the Liquor and Second-hand Goods Acts, the enforcement of by-laws, as well as crimes against women and children.
Delivering the 2017 State of the Nation Address in Parliament on Thursday evening, President Zuma said the police "will also utilise certain specialized capabilities, such as the Tactical Response Teams and National Intervention Units, to assist in addressing problematic high-crime areas”.
He said police would focus on hotspots like Soshanguve, in Pretoria, where crimes such as hijackings and robberies are high.
“It is such communities that need to build stronger partnerships with the police to ensure that criminals do not prey on residents,” the President said, calling on the public to work with the police to ensure safer communities.
Other measures to fight crime nationally will include the establishment of Specialised Units, focusing on drug-related crime, taxi violence and firearms and the enhanced utilisation of investigative aids such as forensic leads.
The police will also enhance the utilisation of the DNA Database in the identification of suspects.
One of the strategies that government will adopt this year in the fight against crime, President Zuma said, will be ensuring that those who are released from prison do not commit crime again.
“The Department of Correctional Services continues to work hard to turn prisons into correctional centres through offering various services. As a result, compliance levels with parole and probation conditions have improved to reach a historic mark of 98 percent.”
The fight against corruption will also be intensified. In the last year, anti -corruption saw several success stories.
Within the National Prosecuting Authority, the Asset Forfeiture Unit alone, they completed 389 forfeiture cases to the value of R349 million.
They obtained 326 freezing orders to the value of R779 million.
A total of R13 million was recovered in cases where government officials were involved in corruption and other related offences in the past year.
Meanwhile, the promotion of access to justice was given added meaning last year when the High Court Division in Limpopo was opened in November.
This year, Mpumalanga High Court will be completed during this financial year, President Zuma said.
“The coming into operation of these two high courts means that we have now realised the goal of a High Court in every province of the country.” - SAnews.gov.za
