Acting police minister to visit Nelson Mandela Bay while key units struggle with resources

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. 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.

In November, MP Ian Cameron, chairperson for the parliamentary police committee, conducted an oversight visit to Nelson Mandela Bay’s Anti-Gang Unit, Flying Squad and K9-Units – the proverbial tip of the spear for crime-fighting in the metro – and found that a critical lack of resources was drastically hampering the efficacy of these specialised units.

Read more: Parliamentary oversight visit reveals shocking state of Nelson Mandela Bay’s elite police units

During the visit, it came to light that the Flying Squad, supposedly the police’s rapid response unit, was down to only one vehicle. And while the dwindling number of Anti-Gang Unit members received no specialised training, the K9 Unit lacked proper vehicles and personnel to handle the specially trained dogs.

However, NMB district police commissioner Major General Vuyisile Ncata countered Cameron’s observations, saying crime fighting in his district was improving.

While he admitted that there were many challenges, Ncata said resources were allocated to where they were most needed and that violent crimes, such as murder and truck hijackings, were on the decline due to the smart allocation of limited resources.

Read more: Nelson Mandela Bay police chief Ncata claps back after policing criticisms

And while Ncata’s sentiments were supported by crime statistics released in November, Cameron clapped back, saying that Ncata’s “windgat” (arrogant) response, that he was looking forward to the release of the crime stats, did nothing to improve the situation for the ailing police units.

“[NMB] remains one of the most dangerous cities in the world, even with the new stats, with no rapid response capacity whatsoever,” Cameron posted on Facebook in December.

Read more: Murders decrease in Nelson Mandela Bay — but kidnappings and rape on the rise

Also in December, the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature adopted a motion that a permanent, 24-hour Joint Operations Centre (JOC) be established in Nelson Mandela Bay, where the police, the Hawks, Metro Police and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) could share intelligence and collaborate in real time to improve law enforcement capabilities.

In his statement on Tuesday, Odendaal implored Cachalia to take all these engagements over the past several months into consideration and make tangible commitments for improvement in NMB.

“Nelson Mandela Bay does not need more diagnoses. It needs action: properly resourced anti-gang units, functioning crime intelligence, and a permanent Joint Operations Centre capable of disrupting organised criminal networks before more lives are lost.” DM