Today, 24 August 2023, the DA launched a campaign at the KwaZakhele police station in Gqeberha to highlight and fight the scourge of violent crime, which is spiralling out of control in Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB).
(See pictures here, here, here and here)
The campaign not only includes a petition that in due course will be tabled in Parliament before the police portfolio committee, but also stakeholder engagements, public meetings, meetings with Community Policing Forums (CPFs) and neighbourhood watches, and oversight inspections at police stations.
The recent SAPS crime statistics highlighted that four of the top 30 murder stations in the country are in Nelson Mandela Bay. This is a clear indication that Nelson Mandela Bay needs a dedicated and coordinated strategic response from the police, supported at a national level.
This is why we will be petitioning Parliament to get commitments from the National Police Commissioner to deploy the additional resources required to fight crime in Nelson Mandela Bay. These resources include bolstering our visible policing unit to make sure that we have more boots on the ground.
SAPS must get vehicles out of the workshops and back on the streets to make sure that we expand and capacitate the anti-gang unit and strengthen crime intelligence so that we can tackle violent criminal syndicates and gangs.
Police Minister Bheki Cele visits Nelson Mandela Bay often. He makes promises and when he leaves, crime gets worse. What we need is less politics, more tangible solutions, a proper coordinated strategic response and interventions. The minister cannot simply make promises and then leave.
The DA will be calling on the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality to re-deploy the ShotSpotter technology that was launched by the DA and its coalition partners when we took over government in 2016. ShotSpotter was very effective in pinpointing gang violence in certain communities.
We will also be calling on the Department of Community Safety at a provincial level to capacitate CPFs and neighbourhood watches.
This unchecked violence cannot continue, people cannot live in fear that they will be the next crime statistic.
Our mission is to make sure that not a single police station is in the top 30 murder stations this time next year. And we will fight to make this a reality so that the people of Nelson Mandela Bay can live in a safe city free from crime.
The DA is in your corner fighting for you. Together we can make Nelson Mandela Bay a safer place to live.