Ramaphosa urges unity in fight against crime amid police successes – SABC News

President Cyril Ramaphosa says that South Africans can beat crime if they work together. He made the statement in his weekly newsletter on Monday.

It follows last week’s SAPS update which has resulted in the arrest of more than 700 000 suspects in the past year through Operation Shanela.

The President has praised the efforts made by the South African Police Services through Operation Shanela in dealing with crime hotspots and organized crime syndicates.

Operation Shanela, which has been described as a multi-sectoral collaboration, was launched last year and has led to the arrests of close to 700 000 suspects in the past year.

Ramaphosa says that South Africa’s crime-fighting has had to evolve in response to new types of crime which include illicit mining, construction site extortion and kidnappings. He says that the successes of Operation Shanela have shown the benefits of multi-sectoral collaboration and the value of specialized task teams.

Transnational organized crimes

Meanwhile, security strategist and retired Interpol ambassador, Andy Mashaile says South African law needs to be harsher when it comes to sophisticated transnational organized crimes such as drug dealings.

This comes after the Hawks raided a massive illicit drug lab valued at over R2 billion at Thaba Monate farm in Groblersdal, two weeks ago.

Three Mexican nationals and two South Africans have been arrested in the matter.

Mashaile says criminals find it easy to target South Africa because its laws are lenient.

He says, “In other countries, drug doing is death. In South Africa, we will negotiate, we will be nice, we’ll give you food and get you food that is not harmful to you and we will allow you to watch TV, we will allow you sometimes to a certain number of telephone calls to make a home.”

“Here the roughness will see us being taken to the Human Rights Commission and many other stories that, we are not treating criminals nicely, they deserve all the nice breakfast in the morning that you and I are having.”

PODCAST: Interview with Security strategist, Andy Mashaile on SA fm’s First Take Programme: