Siyabonga Sesant
The leader of the Democratic Alliance John Steenhuisen said the ongoing political bickering in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has plunged the municipality into 'absolute chaos'.
He was speaking following an oversite visit to the Chatty police station in Gqeberha on Friday, where there's been a recent surge in gang-related shootings and violence.
Community Policing Forum chairperson Deon Magwala, who was also present at Steenhuisen's visit, said another concern is the uptick in mob justice incidents in the area, sometimes a direct consequence of loadshedding.
“When there’s no power and it’s loadshedding, these guys steal our copper, our cables which angers the community and that’s when the mob justice happens because people are angry,” Magwala said.
Steenhuisen said he understood residents’ frustrations.
He said in some cases police were unable to respond to crime timeously because they had the same problems – namely insufficient resources, shortage of vehicles and a lack of personnel.
Steenhuisen said he does not believe the government’s excuse that there’s no money.
“I don’t buy that because they spend billions every year for VIP protection services for politicians. That money should immediately redirected to a station level, or at least a district level.”
The official opposition has also called for the establishment of another gang unit that will have a special focus on the northern areas of Gqeberha.
DA MPL Yusuf Cassim said another gang unit could bolster crime fighting efforts in some of the most crime-ravaged areas of Nelson Mandela Bay.
“For the northern areas as a whole, the DA has called for the doubling of the number of personnel for the anti-gang unit [because] there’s only one gang-unit in the province,” Cassim said.
“So when the anti-gang unit is in Humansdorp, it means there’s no gang-unit in the northern areas.
“This is a crisis – it cannot be business as usual.”
