DA leads fight on crime in Kuruman
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape has made headway in their fight against crime in the Kuruman area, which recently came under the spotlight following the mugging of Mr Giep Niemann, in the central business district last week.
Successful meetings between Willie Aucamp, MP and DA Constituency Head of the Kalahari, DA councillor Braam van der Westhuisen and safety stakeholders, including General Johan Bean and Colonel Phete, of the South Africa Police Service (SAPS), as well as the chairperson of the Neighbourhood Watch, Mr Paul Marais, saw them agree on practical measures that will immediately improve accessibility to law enforcement and ultimately, also policing.
In this regard, it was decided that the SAPS function of certifying documents and the taking down of affidavits, which generally results in very long, slow moving queues in the Kuruman police station, would be shifted to an alternative building. This will make police services more accessible, and better encourage victims to report crime. This is of critical importance because if crime is not reported, statistics are skewed. This in turn affects the allocation of resources to police stations.
In addition, the DA has committed to assist with the recruitment of community members to sign up as police reservists. This is also important because, for every extra police reservist who can assist with tasks such as the answering of phones, there can be an additional police officer out on the streets, to combat crime and catch criminals.
The DA also pledged to continuously put pressure on National Police Minister, Bheki Cele, to ensure that vacant posts are filled as a matter of urgency, and that the dire shortage of operational police vehicles in Kuruman, and in the province, receives attention. I will expose these challenges by asking parliamentary questions and utilising other parliamentary channels to lobby for change in respect of policing.
In the meantime, we are also seeing how we can further improve cooperation between all sectors in the joint fight against crime. On this note, General Bean also agreed to arrange a meeting between us, the police and all security firms in Kuruman.
Due to the lack of enforcement of by-laws by the Ga Segonyane municipality, which in turn places an extra burden on the police, myself and Cllr. Van der Westhuisen, together with General Bean, are also busy scheduling a meeting with municipal management to see how this issue can be addressed. The DA appreciates the willingness of SAPS in the Kuruman area to join hands with the community and the neighbourhood watch groups, to collectively tackle crime. Crime is everyone’s problem and only by standing together, can we proceed to build safer communities.
