Cele launches 2022 safer festive operations

Police Minister Bheki Cele has launched the 2022 safer festive operations under the theme “more boots on the ground towards enhanced police visibility.”

He launched the campaign in Thohoyandou, Limpopo, on Thursday.

The national launch serves as a precursor to the provincial launches, ushering in a season of heightened visibility countrywide; coupled with intensified, integrated crime prevention and crime combatting operations, as the South African Police Service (SAPS) strives to ensure the well-being and safety of all residents and tourists in our country, during the festive season and beyond.

With the campaign running through to the end of January 2023, the campaign aims to mobilise maximum resources with the view of stamping the authority of the State to ensure that communities are and feel safe and secure.

Speaking at the event, Acting National Commissioner of the SAPS, Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili, handed over the safer festive season operational plan to the Minister.

The plan entails six focus areas which will be prioritised by the SAPS throughout the festive season.

All nine provinces will conduct operations in line with the National Policing Strategy, focussing on these priorities:

• On the first focus area, the SAPS will intensify campaigns and police actions towards addressing the scourge of Gender Based Violence and Femicide which include, intimate crimes committed against women, children and other vulnerable. This will include the tracing of wanted gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) perpetrators.
• In the second focus area, the SAPS will intensify efforts to combat aggravated robberies, such as carjacking, robberies at residential premises and business robberies.
• The third focus area will be enhancing border security which will be characterised by search operations on suspicion of stolen property being smuggled out of the country; illegal crossing of borders; human trafficking; drug trafficking; and tracing of wanted suspects.
• The fourth focus area will centre on the enforcement of legislation in our strife to deal decisively with the proliferation of illegal firearms. We will also be enforcing legislation applicable to Liquor, Second-Hand Goods; as well as the safety of the sports and recreational events.
• The fifth and sixth focus areas will focus on enforcing by laws and ensuring the enforcement of road safety together with metro and national traffic law enforcement officers.

The Acting National Commissioner says heightened police visibility will be the order of the day.

“Blitz operations will be conducted across all provinces on days and times aligned to the crime pattern and threat analyses. These crime prevention and combatting operations will run through to the end of January 2023,” said Lt Gen Mosikili.

During the launch, the Minister of Police, General Bheki Cele, handed over 20 new motor vehicles and two mobile Community Service Centre’s (CSC) to the Limpopo province to ensure the province is well-resourced to respond to crime.

Tacking rape, business robberies

“These vehicles and mobile CSCs must assist in ensuring that you address rape and business robberies in areas like Thohoyandou. It is a concern that between April and June 2022, Thohoyandou Police Station was the fifth Police Station which recorded the highest number of rape cases in the country and provincially it was number one. This situation requires an all hands on deck approach and more boots on the ground to ensure increased visibility,” said Cele.

While the SAPS ensures heightened police visibility throughout this festive period, communities are also urged to remain extra vigilant of their surroundings in a bid to ensure they do not become victims of crime.