Police Minister, General Bheki Cele on Friday 29 May 2020, led a high level delegation comprising of the Deputy Minister of Police, Cassel Mathale, KwaZulu Natal MEC for Transport and Safety, Bheki Ntuli, the National Commissioner of the SAPS, General Kehla Sitole, Deputy National Commissioners, Lieutenant Generals Bonang Mgwenya and Silindile Mfazi, and Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Khombinkosi Jula on a fact finding mission in the Umzumbe municipal area.
This comes after Minister Cele received calls and complaints recently from community members, some of whom have either lost family members to shooting incidents, or have been victims of house robberies.
Police are investigating four separate incidents during which five people were killed during the lockdown. In one incident, an elderly woman and her daughter were fatally shot. Some murders were linked to house robberies while the motive in other incidents is yet to be determined.
To this end, two suspects have been arrested and are being profiled by the police to establish possible linkage to the other incidents after police recovered suspected stolen property in an abandoned house in the Qoloqolo area.
While en route to Umthwalume High School, Minister of Police and his entourage walked from Umzumbe municipal offices to a nearby shopping centre and taxi rank and observed with concern the low levels of compliance especially in relation to the wearing of face masks in public spaces during the COVID-19 disaster management lockdown.
General Kehla Sitole swiftly mobilised and arranged for face masks which were handed out to shoppers and commuters; while Minister Cele and his entourage used the opportunity to educate the public on the importance of wearing masks, maintaining a social distance and exercising even greater personal responsibility as Level 3 of the COVID-19 looms.
Meanwhile, exactly three months ago Police Minister, General Bheki Cele and the PSIRA (Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority) handed over 20 laptops to boost the computer laboratory at Umthwalume High School.
Minister Cele on Friday 29 May 2020 returned to the school for two reasons. The Minister and his entourage met with the families of the five murder victims to offer condolences and support. The families welcomed the arrest of two suspects and also raised their issues which highlighted the challenge of geographic demarcation that impacted negatively on policing the area. The second reason for the visit to the school was in response to reports of an attempted robbery, where unknown suspects allegedly attempted to demolish the wall of the school’s computer laboratory to steal the computers, the donated laptops and other IT hardware.
Police Minister, General Bheki Cele has since called on the National Commissioner, General Kehla Sitole and KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Khombinkosi Jula to give priority attention to the upsurge in murders in the Province since the lockdown.
“It is quite concerning that while most provinces have seen a decline in the contact crime category, KwaZulu-Natal appears to be leading with murders since the lockdown. This current state of affairs needs to be halted before it escalates,” cautioned Minister Cele.
“Police must be capacitated to ensure a balance between enforcing lockdown regulations and fulfilling their constitutional mandate of preventing and combating crime,” continued the Minister, emphasising the urgent need for the management of the SAPS and key government departments to work together towards bringing stability to the area.