KZN police plea to business: 'We need your help to fight crime'

KwaZulu-Natal police have reached out to the provincial business community in a bid to boost crime-fighting efforts to offset severe budget cuts.

Provincial commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi told business leaders in Durban on Tuesday they are going into the new financial year in April with a disadvantage.

“Last year we were allocated R1.2bn but this year it’s less. We were given about R260m less than what we budgeted for.”

Mkhwanazi said most of the challenges are associated with the lack of resources, emanating from the countrywide cost-containment measures.

He said police don't own a shooting range, they don't have a conference venue and they were recently evicted from their Ugu vehicle pound by a businessman.

“Please go soft on us in litigation, we can do better. There is so much risk of execution that we have to deal with and so much of our assets that are being attached.”

He said their books showed they were spending too much on wages and staff compensation.

He is also concerned they have ageing personnel which could leave in large numbers and deprive the service of much-needed institutional knowledge.

“An issue I’m struggling with is attracting the race groups to reflect the demographics of the province. There are certain race groups that I just can’t get to join our fold, no matter how hard I try.”

Another big cost is vehicle-related expenditure. He said they spend around R250m every year on vehicle procurement in a contract that is ending this month.

Mkhwanazi raised the issue of ageing SAPS technology and the need for IT modernisation. He said they still use desktop computers — only detectives use laptops; their vehicles don’t have dashboard cameras and body-worn cameras are at concept stage.

However, he said there were a number of initiatives they were working on to improve crime fighting which would need support from the business sector.

Among those is Project Sibusiso which they want to roll out this year. As part of the project, Mkhwanazi has worked with all 11 district commissioners and identified one police station per district to modernise with specific targeted facilities.

“We would like to have all those police stations which have been identified as priority to also receive support from business so they look and feel the same,” he said. “In a way, we are looking for police-business partnerships, be it a CSI initiative or a deliberate business strategy to adopt a police station.”

They want to relocate the current provincial office which is near Durban's beachfront to consolidate all their leases.

To do that they want to embark on a public-private partnership (PPP) or a build, operate and transfer (BOT) model. “We are looking for someone to come in and say ‘I will take this, consolidate your leases (and) you pay me'.”

Mkhwanazi called on businesses to support their annual fundraising initiatives, including the provincial commissioner's race, which attracted 2,000 participants last year, and a Golf Day which raised about R1.2m for the SAPS Trust Fund.

Durban Chamber of Commerce CEO Palesa Phili said the business community was in full support of police initiatives to create a safe environment for businesses.

On the PPP or BOT for the SAPS building, Phili said they were engaged in serious talks pertaining to similar issues.

“One of the key issues that we’re pushing with the eThekwini Presidential Working Group is the need to have a financial model for PPPs that will happen quicker. We need a quicker model, we have been requesting this from the working group, especially for infrastructure.”

She also called on businesses to support police initiatives.

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