The SAPS in KwaZulu-Natal are taking a “no-nonsense” approach in addressing violent crime in the province.
This is according to Chad Thomas, an organised crime investigator from IRS Forensic Investigations, who was speaking in reaction to provincial Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s progress report on the state of policing in the province recently.
This comes as three suspects who were wanted for a string of murders were shot and fatally wounded in a shoot-out with police in Inanda, outside Durban, on Tuesday.
“The suspects were positively linked to the murder of a police sergeant who was a member of the KwaMashu Tracking Team.”
“Other murders include a double murder in Inanda in January 2024, as well as another two murder cases which were registered at Inanda in 2021 and 2023,” said provincial police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda.
Last year, The Mercury reported that based on crime statistics released by SAPS, Inanda retained its status as the country’s murder capital.
Chad Thomas said SAPS countrywide were making strides in the fight against crime through effective intelligence-driven investigations leading to the disruption and dismantling of criminal syndicates
“KZN in particular seems to be taking a no-nonsense approach to violent crime by sending in well-trained and well-armed police members to confront violent criminals head-on,” he said.
During the briefing, the commissioner said from April 1 to date, at least 31 suspects were shot and fatally wounded in shoot-outs with police.
“From April to date, the province has experienced 17 cash in transit robberies and police managed to foil five more which were planned,” he added.
Mkhwanazi said a total of 35 145 suspects were arrested for a variety of criminal activities, of which 11 192 were arrested for contact crimes including murder, rape and assault. In addition, “953 firearms and several thousand rounds of ammunition were recovered in the same period”.
Thomas said the fact that five CIT heists were foiled in KZN is testament to the collaborative efforts of SAPS crime intelligence, SAPS intervention units, the Hawks and the private sector counterparts.
Thomas said SAPS must capacitate their crime intelligence component to ensure that more intelligence-driven disruptive operations occur. “SAPS detectives and the Hawks must be properly capacitated to ensure effective investigations that lead to successful prosecutions,” he added.
Gareth Newham, head of the Justice and Violence Prevention Programme at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), welcomed the results, which he said demonstrate that a lot of good work is being undertaken to tackle serious and violent crime in the province.
He said the large number of firearms recovered was a very welcome sign. However, Newham said it was difficult to establish the impact of these activities on the overall levels of serious violent crime in the province from the presentation.
“We know that large numbers of arrests, while sounding positive, unless backed up by prosecutions, have little positive impact on crime,” he said.
He said ISS did not doubt that Mkhwanazi takes the crime situation very seriously and is doing the best he can under difficult circumstances.
Newham called for the NPA and the Hawks to be part of these briefings to demonstrate how they are working collaboratively to improve public safety in KZN.
“The proof of the impact of these activities by the KZN SAPS will be in the murder statistics. If they start going down, then we will know real progress is being made.”
The Mercury