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The police need to deploy more specialised units to deal with taxi violence and the current scourge of cash-in-transit heists.
This was the call from Francois Beukman, the chairperson of the portfolio committee on police, following the death of a nine-year-old girl when she was caught in the crossfire during an incident in KwaZulu-Natal on Monday morning.
Also on Monday, a private security officer was shot in the leg following another heist in Centurion.
“More crime intelligence assets should be allocated to those industries being held ransom by a small band of well-armed and resourced criminal syndicates. The National Development Plan is very clear that technology should be used optimally by the police service to deal with crime effectively,” said Beukman.
Beukman also highlighted to the taxi-related violence in Cape Town, in which at least 10 people died, four of whom were taxi drivers.
Following the surge in gun violence, law enforcement had been beefed up at taxi ranks across the city.
The SAPS Task Team, Tactical Response Team and National Intervention Unit should be strategically deployed to ensure that the increase in taxi violence and cash-in-transit heists is dealt with comprehensively.
Close cooperation and collaboration between the police and security companies was also of vital importance, said Beukman.
“The killing of an innocent school learner in KwaZulu-Natal in the cross-fire of a cash-in-transit robbery this morning is an indication that unconventional and extraordinary steps are required from law-enforcement agencies to deal with the current situation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Limpopo police established a task team to hunt down the group of men who were involved in a cash-in-transit heist along Matlala Road outside Polokwane.
Police said the men were driving a white Isuzu double cab and a blue Rav4, firing at the security vehicle until it stopped.
“The culprits held the security officers at gunpoint and used unknown explosives to blast open the safe before fleeing the scene with an undisclosed amount of money,” Lieutenant-Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe told News24.
Two security officers were injured and were taken to hospital for treatment.
Meanwhile, the men who blew up the cash-in-transit vehicle on the East Rand, only to escape empty handed after police officials responded quickly, appeared in the Boksburg Magistrates’ Court on Monday morning.
The case against Paul Sibanda, Thato Gaopapwe, Sibusiso Khumalo, Collin Hadebe, and Thabo Molefe was postponed to June 13.
Beukman called on members of the public who had information about the actions of criminal syndicates to contact their nearest police station or submit the information to the toll-free crime line, as this is key to combatting crime in South Africa.
– Additional reporting by News24
