Police Minister Bheki Cele says he’s not convinced community patrollers should be on the streets during the ongoing lockdown to fend off South African communities from crime.
Cele told reporters in Pretoria yesterday that he has received numerous requests from neighbourhood watch committees who want to augment the work of the Police in fighting crime.
Some South Africans have been calling for community patrollers to be allowed to work in a bid to curb crime and the numerous burglaries at schools during the extended lockdown.
The Minister said the problem for him was the accountability structure of neighbourhood watches, essentially the lack thereof.
Cele said he does not have a problem discussing the matter further, but there are these shortcomings that are existing at the present moment.
He said he was also ready to engage with various community policing forums (CPFs). He said they were generally doing a good job but problems started arising when they ventured into politics.
