Months of oversight have exposed severe gaps in Nelson Mandela Bay’s policing units, from an understaffed anti-gang unit to an ill-equipped Flying Squad. Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia visits this week as questions remain over whether these issues will be addressed. The police in Nelson Mandela Bay will no doubt shine their boots and put their best foot forward in anticipation of the acting police minister’s visit on Wednesday.
But will Firoz Cachalia be briefed on the shortcomings plaguing crime-fighting efforts in the city, and will he give clear instructions for the implementation of crucial interventions which have already been adopted by Parliament as long as six months ago? This seemed to be the overarching concern of DA mayoral candidate Retief Odendaal when he once again raised his concerns over the deterioration of key policing units in Nelson Mandela Bay. “The visit by the acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia to Nelson Mandela Bay comes at a decisive moment for communities who continue to live under the daily threat of gangsterism, violent crime and organised kidnapping.
“Critical policing units remain hollowed out. The Anti-Gang Unit operates with severely limited vehicles and detective capacity. Crime intelligence capability is dangerously thin.
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The Flying Squad and K9 units, once vital pillars of rapid response and drug interdiction, are operating under conditions that make effective policing nearly impossible,” Odendaal said in a statement on the eve of Cachalia’s visit. The police said the ministry’s visit was aimed at improving community safety through building stronger ties between the police, local government, community policing forums and the private sector. Leading up to the visit, there have been several engagements, at both provincial and national levels, about the state of policing in Nelson Mandela Bay and the steps to be implemented to improve not only safety and security, but also business interests and investment opportunities in the metro.
In July last year, after a petition launched by DA MPL Yusuf Cassim, Parliament adopted a report wherein the South African Police Service was directed to address several crippling issues within crucial policing units, including the Anti-Gang Unit and Crime Intelligence. The report revolved around, among other key issues, ongoing gang violence that left residents of Gqeberha’s northern areas in a constant state of fear. Two months later, after no movement on the implementation of the report adopted by Parliament, Odendaal wrote to Cachalia, raising concerns about the seeming lack of urgency by the government and local police to act. Odendaal implored Cachalia to review the recommendations set out in the report, and raised further concerns about rampant theft and vandalism on municipal infrastructure, and a sudden spike in kidnappings of wealthy people across the city – both of which directly affected service delivery, private business and the overall economic viability of Nelson Mandela Bay.
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