Crime management: the need to manage internal security threats

Crime prevention through environmental design includes community engagement and support for law enforcement, but municipalities need to co-operate by regular cycles of grass cutting, refuse removals, fixing streetlights and closing unnecessary pathways.

- SHAMEEN THAKUR-RAJBANSI

The care of open spaces, sports fields, parks and gardens is essential with mounted police who will be able to do wider patrols than police on foot and fill the gap of the shortage of patrol vehicles.

Last week, we have seen Gauteng children march to the Chief Justice Mandisa Maya, handing a memorandum for delayed cases leading to children not being placed in safety homes making social welfare more difficult as more resources are required for forensic laboratories to reduce DNA testing backlogs.

We have seen quick justice in the Western Cape on the Joshlin Smith case and in KZN the encounter killing of the murderer in the Olorato Mongale Johannesburg case yet no justice for the Verulam bus driver killed in cold blood last week. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Similarly, high road fatalities in KZN follows Gauteng where human factors makes our roads killing fields due to reckless driving.

The area of analysing culpable homicide is not consistently available in all provinces and needs to be done to give a true reflection of this crime data where justice is denied due to corruption in the licensing departments and at weighbridges.

Gangsterism is becoming mainstream with the likes of construction and water mafias due to corruption in municipalities.

Drive-by shootings, once pointed to political killings, is now an economic power struggle offshoot.

Community gangs remain a menace driving fear into residents and businesses. Premiers’ need to lead from the front to clean up provinces.