Joburg metro police attended 79 protests in six months this year

The Johannesburg metro police department (JMPD) made 3,291 arrests and attended 79 protests from January to June this year.

This was revealed on Wednesday by Mathokoza Kgaswane, director in the JMPD’s office of the chief of police, who delivered the public safety’s JMPD Buya Mthetho performance report.

Protests attended within Johannesburg, included issues regarding electricity, industrial action, crime and water. About 83 land invasion operations were conducted during the period.

In internal affairs cases, about 13 cases of fraud and corruption were recorded from January to June and eight employees were dismissed.

The report highlighted that two JMPD officials and one member of the public were arrested for theft and illegally dealing in JMPD firearms and ammunition.

“Eight suspects were arrested in possession of stolen copper worth about R1m in Jeppestown. Two suspects were arrested for human trafficking in the Johannesburg CBD. Two suspects were arrested for suspected human trafficking in Meredale,” reads the report.

MMC for public safety in the city, David Tembe, speaking at the press conference, said the city was under siege.

“Criminals are roaming our streets, threatening livelihoods and killing innocent civilians. As the multiparty government, we are all determined to transform this city into a safe and habitable place for our residents to live, work and play,” he said.

Tembe said though they operate on a shoestring budget, they won’t give up on keeping residents safe.

“Recent killings around Gauteng have left us all shocked and saddened. We condemned in the strongest terms possible those killings. But is that enough?” he asked.

He said when he took office in December last year he made sure that Operation Buya Mthetho was reintroduced.

“With Operation Buya Mthetho and in the spirit of transparency, my department will be able to self-evaluate, even in public, and give you a breakdown of our successes, failures and challenges.”

The report highlights all arrests, impoundments, traffic citations and all types of violent and contact crimes JMPD officers deal with, including robbery, vehicle hijacking, rape and assault.

The report provides the following highlights to demonstrate the effectiveness of Operation Buya Mthetho in fighting crime in the city:

• the deployment of 1,800 officers in the inner city in February;
• officers received their infrastructure numbers and are now hitting the ground running;
• officers were provided with tools of the trade, such as guns and bulletproof vests;
• traffic pointsmen and women were also deployed at major intersections;
• finalisation of the recruitment of 80 to 110 traffic wardens;
• an elite search and rescue team from EMS was deployed to Durban during the floods in KZN; 
• the same search and rescue team assisted in the recovery of seven-year-old Khayalethu Magadla from Soweto;
• JMPD officers saved three children in Hillbrow, who were trapped in a third-floor apartment;
• recently an additional 66 officers were deployed in Alexandra; and
• smart roadblocks collected almost R20m as part of revenue collection.  

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