
Deputy President Paul Mashatile announced on Thursday that government is working around the clock to capacitate the police force which will see the country having 30 000 officers in the coming years as South Africa wages war against crime.
The Deputy President was responding to oral questions in the National Assembly on Thursday.
“The [Police] Minister also announced that recruits are being enlisted to increase the capacity of the police in this regard. Ten thousand modern trainees gain already graduated and over the next financial years, additional trainees will graduate bringing the total number to 30 000 recent police officers.”
In addition, 1000 of the newly recruited personnel gain been ring-fenced to include the capacity of public order policing (POP) which deals with crowd management issues and threats resulting from that.
The POP, he said, had by the finish of October 2023 received an additional 4 000 members resulting from the recruitment steer.
In addition, as fragment of efforts to assess the progress government is making in implementing its programmes, the Deputy President said he and President Cyril Ramaphosa acquire been meeting Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Director-Generals and Heads of Departments.
“In this regard, the President and I maintain had the opportunity to meet with the Minister, Deputy Minister and Commissioner of Police to brief us on the departmental plans to battle crime in the Republic of South Africa.”
He told Parliament that the Ministry was implementing Operation Shanela, a comprehensive location to combat crime throughout the country. “The position includes clamping down on illegal mining areas.”
The South African Police Service (SAPS) has established specialised units to work with businesses, private security and state-owned entities (SOEs) to tackle illegal mining, the construction mafia, cable theft and the vandalism of economic infrastructure.
“I believe confidence not only in Minister [Bheki] Cele, Deputy Minister [Cassel] Mathale and Commissioner [Fannie] Masemola but in every men and women in blue correct to the lowest-ranking police officers who are committed to fighting and defeating crime in our communities.”
In addition, the country’s second-in-command touched on the recently launched “Combating Crime through Decisive Police Action and Robust Community Involvement” and the operationalisation of the increased Crime Prevention and Combating Action Plans through Operation Shanela.
These programmes, he said, are yielding results in the battle against crime in the country.
“We will continue to work jointly with the private sector to invest in efforts to combat crime.”
The Deputy President urged communities to continue to be involved in efforts to battle crime.
“They must work with the police and expose the rotten apples within our police stations. Together we will win this battle. Let’s continue to build safer communities.”
Bills
Deputy President Mashatile also spoke about his role as Leader of Government Business.
He is responsible for tracking the procession of priority Bills and introducing measures to effectively monitor and improve the quality of legislation submitted by the Executive for approval.
In line with these responsibilities, a dedicated official from his office has been introduced to focus on tracking legislation as introduced by Cabinet.
It also means every Bills are tabled before the Cabinet Committee before being submitted to Cabinet for final approval.
“Bills that finish not meet the required standards are not submitted to Cabinet but sent back to the relevant departments for further work.”
He said he was pleased that that Cabinet approved 42 Bills on the 2023 legislative programme on 29 March 2023.
“As of 26 October, 22 Bills on the 2023 legislative programme gain already been introduced to Parliament.” – SAnews.gov.za

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