MEDIA STATEMENT

MEDIA STATEMENT ISSUED BY MR B CELE, MEC - TRANSPORT COMMUNITY SAFETY AND LIAISON - KWAZULU-NATAL

1. The influx of tourists, visitors and the return of migrant workers to KwaZulu-Natal during the Festive season will no doubt pose a huge challenge to the Security, Intelligence and traffic agencies. Security planning for the festive season has commenced months ago in the form of joint plans between SAPS, SANDF, Metro Police and the Road Traffic Inspectorate and other government departments. The plan makes provisions to deal with every type of scenario from crowd management to any other threats against life and property. More than eight thousand members of security agencies will be deployed throughout the province to ensure the safety of our communities.

This number is over and above the normal day to day policing. The main object of the plan is to create a safe and secure environment through the use of risk management principles by

• Establishing uncompromising security measures
• Limiting the probability of critical incident from occurring and
• Limiting the impact of any critical incident through contingency planning.

Intensive air, foot, vehicular and horse patrols will be undertaken at the various centers expecting an influx of tourists and rapid response teams will be placed at strategic places to deal with any kind of situations.

The popular tourists destinations will be beefed up with additional personnel and reservists will be called upon to supplement existing human resource.

2. We have made arrangements for very restricted number of police officers to be on vacation leave during this period , so as to ensure maximum protection to our communities. This was made possible by spreading vacation leave across the entire year.

The Golden Mile has been identified as an area where there will be a hive of activity and to this end we will intervene with maximum deployments.

The beachfront will be beefed up by a further seventy SAPS members with specialized skills from outside Province. The members will be involved in providing high visibility on the beachfront stretching from North to the South Beach on a 24 hour basis. During peak times the beachfront and other tourist destinations will be saturated by security personnel to ensure the safety and security of our communities.

It can be expected that thousands will throng on to the beach on certain identified days and during peak days such as Christmas, Boxing Day and New Years eve and New Year's day where, the total deployment on a single day can exceed 500.

Parents are urged to take care of their children and avoid being separated from each other. Each year hundred's of children are left on the beach by parents, forcing civic and security agencies to take care of the children.

Some parents miss their children for days even weeks and fail to collect them from the temporary shelter of the Durban Metro. The SAPS together with a private company have been marketing the " Hi Mom - Hello Dad " project where children are provided identifying tags with full details of their parent, so that when lost they can be reunited with their parents.

3. During this season there is generally an increase in cash and other financial transactions been undertaken at banks and retail outlets and one can expect criminals to take advantage of the situation. To address this problem, Operation Greed was implemented to focus on specific crimes such as armed robbery, cash in transit heists , bank robberies and hi - jacking.

High Performance vehicles will be deployed to strategic places in the central business districts and areas that have been identified as vulnerable in terms of our crime threat and pattern analysis.

The availability of firearms in KwaZulu-Natal and perpetration of violent crimes is of grave concern to me and a concerted effort is being made to rid our society of firearms. To this end we have been conducting massive road blocks throughout the main and arterial roads to prevent firearms from entering into the Province. We have identified specific roads which we will focus upon in accordance with out crime threat and crime pattern analysis.

The use of firearm for purposes other than self defense has also shown a tendency to increase during the festive season and I appeal to all lawful gun owners to secure their firearms in a manner prescribed by law.

The SAPS will be on hand to deal with Domestic Violence and I have directed them to deal with the matter firmly. The SAPS and other government departments have and are still continuing with various programs to create awareness on family related violence.

The number of complaints related to Domestic Violence is sure to increase during this time of the year and urge victims not to withdraw cases but allow the criminal justice process to take its full course.

4. Should the victim decide to withdraw the criminal cases then they run the risk of being exposed to more violence in the future.

The tactical operation plan will see roadblocks set up in virtually all roads leading into major cities and towns where more than one thousand members will be deployed. The recent deaths on our roads has demonstrated once again the reckless and negligent manner in which our roads are being used. We need to create a safe road for the citizens of this country and we will enforce traffic laws to the full extent. In all roadblocks there will be full and absolute co-operation between SAPS and Road Traffic Authorities.

We are also co operating with other Provinces in setting up roadblocks.

The technology of the SAPS and the Road Traffic Inspectorate will contribute significantly by arresting those that are wanted for serious crime as well as traffic offences. Warrant of Arrest for traffic offences will also be executed. The Arrive Alive campaign is very much a priority of this Department and drinking and driving will not be tolerated. I want to warn anyone getting behind the wheel of a motor vehicle whilst being under the influence of liquor or drugs be prepared to go to jail or have your motor vehicle confiscated. We will ensure the safety of our motorists and pedestrians at all times.

I have also noted , with concern the number of crimes committed during the festive season associated with the excessive intake of alcohol. This type of behavior places additional burden on the police who are often called upon to intervene in fisticuffs and serious violent incidents.

5. The availability of alcohol will be restricted through a number of measure that we will implement in coming days. We will not tolerate any deviant behavior from anyone.

   While I do not want to place a damper on the festive mood the SAPS will certainly not tolerate any civil disobedience I take this opportunity of wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

   Safe driving means no drinking and driving, no speeding. Drive like lightning and you will crash like thunder.

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