Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal government is pleased with the declining crime rate in the province but have every intention of stepping up crime prevention measures.
Premier Zweli Mkhize and MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Willies Mchunu, spoke at a press briefing on Tuesday about the recently released crime statistics by National Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa.
Mkhize commended the South African Police Services (SAPS) for their speedy handling of high profile murders cases, especially those of a political nature.
He was referring to the arrest of a suspect held for the death of eThekwini regional ANC boss, Sbu Sibiya.
"The premier hopes that the police will use the same amount of energy to investigate other crimes with a political nature. We don't want to ever see the resurgence of political violence in this province," said the premier's spokesperson, Reginald Khumalo.
Mchunu said the declining crime figures proved that the partnership between the police and communities is the only weapon to defeat crime and criminals.
"Even though KwaZulu-Natal is leading with murder cases in the country, we are however pleased with a reasonable diminution of such cases," said Mchunu.
Compared with the 2009/2010 stats, provincial murder cases dropped from 4 224 to 3 749.
"We are concerned that the areas of Ntuzuma and iNanda are leading in cases of murder... I will meet with all the station commanders with a high record, especial of murder cases, so as to devise a way forward and our intervention as a collective," said Mchunu.
The KZN government has appealed to communities to help fight woman abuse and sex related crimes.
"More still needs to be done with. Even though there is an improvement from 13 269 during the financial year 2009/2010 to 12 793 in previous financial year, we believe most cases of this nature are not reported to the police," Mchunu.
Communities are asked to report such crime because they have long term implications on victims.
Over 5 000 cases of illegal fire arms were recorded in the financial year under review.
"This indicates that people in KwaZulu-Natal are very armed. There is also another side of this because it says we are slowly winning in our campaign to collect illegal fire arms," said the MEC.
Government will also step up their campaigns by interacting with communities to voluntary return fire arms.
The MEC said it was unacceptable that 16 police officers, since the beginning of this year, have been killed in the province.
"We are calling all our communities to defend the police... We believe that community mobilisation and community structures, accompanied by people centred programmes, are key in fighting crime and criminals," he said.
Mhkize thanked the police for the hard work. He believes a safer and more stable province also means more opportunities for foreign investment, tourism and economic activities. - BuaNews
