The EC Department of Community Safety in collaboration with the King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality hosted an Imbizo that seeks to address the crimes that are escalating in Mthatha. This resulted from extensive criminal activities that has spread throughout the area, particularly incidences of murder and gender-based violence.
The programme was graced by the presence of the political leadership from both the provincial and local spheres of government.
One of the issues noted to be a challenge in tackling the issue of crime was the lack of resources, inadequacy of intelligent services and low pace of detection services among other challenges.
Acting Executive Mayor, MMC for Human Settlements, Cllr. N. Sibeko, stated that as crime is a societal issue, government can only effectively combat crime with the support of communities. She urged community members to take the lead in supporting government and become integral partners in exposing criminal elements.
In her conclusion, MMC called on the provincial government to highly consider putting more resources within the municipality to capacitate KSD Law Enforcement.
MEC for Transport and Community Safety, MEC Xolile Nqatha mentioned in his address that government is very concerned about the freedom and dignity of the nation that has been pillaged by criminals. He stated that government is here to work with the people, to take responsibility to restore the dignity of our country and restore our freedom. He also urged the municipality to exert more control over maintaining order, adding that without law and order, our nation cannot survive.
On top of Imbizo, KSD Municipality has established a crime war room that involves various stakeholders in order to intensify the fight against crime in Mthatha. The war room is convened on weekly basis to monitor the progress of the action plan.
