Police Minister, Bheki Cele, has committed the South African Police Service (SAPS) to address all the policing challenges raised by Lusikisiki communities during a crime prevention imbizo which Cele hosted in the area on April 29.
The crime prevention imbizo came as Lusikisiki Police Station is battling the ever-increasing rape cases in the area which sees the police station currently occupying the first spot in South Africa on reported rape cases.
Inadequate policing resources such as police vehicles, unresolved reported rape and murder cases, corrupt police officials and pleas for additional police officers were some of the prominent issues raised by the communities who attended the crime prevention imbizo.
Cele was accompanied by National Police Commissioner, General Fanie Masemola, Community Safety MEC, Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe, Eastern Cape SAPS commissioner, Lieutenant-General Nomthetheleli Mene, and Eastern Cape Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture MEC, Fezeka Nkomonye.
“The only way we will win the fight against high crime rate in Lusikisiki is with cooperation between the police and the communities and establishing the eroded trust between them.
“Lusikisiki is not a big police station, when you compare it to other police districts, and it cannot be acceptable that a police station of this size is ranked number one in the country for rape cases reported,” Cela said.
Ingquza Hill Local Municipality Mayor, Ntombenkosi Pepping, said the high crime rate in the area needed to be speedily addressed as it was chasing investors away.
“The crime rate in Lusikisiki is unacceptably high and is chasing away investment that we desperately need to dent the high unemployment rate within the municipality.
“That is why we need all the assistance we can get to deal with the high crime rate in our municipality,” Pepping said.
Cele said additional police officers would be deployed to the Lusikisiki area from the recruits that are currently undergoing training, adding that they would make sure that the additional police were not originally from the area, in line with a suggestion raised at the imbizo for police officers from elsewhere to curb collusion between police and criminals.
