President Zuma takes fight against crime to Elsies River

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma is expected in Elsies River in Cape Town today, where he will meet with the community as part of the Fight against Crime Imbizo.

The Fight against Crime Imbizo is part of government's intensified programme of combating crime and building safer communities, the Presidency said.

The imbizo comes a few weeks after the President visited the Pieters family following the tragic killing of their 3-year-old daughter Courtney, who was found buried in a shallow grave in Elsies River.

Mortimer Saunders, who apparently rented a room in the family’s home, has been arrested and charged with Courtney’s rape and murder.

When President Zuma visited the family, he promised to return to the area to look into the many challenges of crime and murder, especially of children and how law enforcement authorities can improve their services to the community.

“The President has called on South Africans to unite against the recent attacks and killing of women and children, as well as human trafficking, following separate gruesome killings of women and children in some parts of the country,” the Presidency said.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister of Police, Bongani Mkongi, has extended his condolences to the family of Hannah Cornelius, the 21-year-old University of Stellenbosch student who was murdered over the weekend.         

Labelling the murder as “senseless and brutal”, Deputy Minister Mkongi commended the police, who have arrested three suspects in connection with the murder.

“We will leave no stone unturned to fighting against and defeat the madness and scourge against young women, girls and children,” the Deputy Minister said on Monday.

The Police Ministry, in partnership with stakeholders in the education sector, is hard at work organising and preparing for a National School and Safety Summit, which will take place at the University of the Western Cape on the 12-14 July 2017. - SAnews.gov.za