Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele reassured citizens that the South African Police Service (Saps) is being strengthened to prevent crime and is also intensifying operations to detect and remove illegal firearms and ammunition from the hands of criminals.

Gungubele briefed the media on Thursday on Cabinet outcomes, where he said crime undermined the socio-economic environment in the country, making it difficult for citizens to work.

He said government had accepted that it was failing on crime, however, there were improvements recently where the rates of arrests have increased.

He said heinous and cold-blooded attacks, which were being investigated by law-enforcement authorities, highlighted the prevalence of gun violence and its impact on communities.  

He said that the Saps would place more police on the streets and set up specialised teams that would focus on specific types of crime.

Data-driven methods would be used sophisticatedly to identify and target crime hotspots. 

In the past 12 months police permanently removed 65 519 firearms from circulation, Gungubele revealed.

Cabinet expressed condolences to the families and friends of those killed in recent mass shootings in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape and more specifically, to the family and friends of hip-hop artist Kiernan Forbes, popularly known as AKA, and celebrity chef Tebello Motsoane, who were recently gunned down in Durban. 

Forbes’s memorial service will take place on Friday at the Sandton Convention Centre and he will be laid to rest on February 18.

Cabinet also expressed its sympathies to the family and friends of anti-crime activist Ayob Mungalee, who was recently shot dead in Eldorado Park, in Johannesburg.

Mungalee was the national director of the People Seeking Justice Action Group, a movement which mobilised community members to take a stand against gangsterism and drug dealing. 

Meanwhile, Gungubele acknowledged that school safety in the country was also a top priority for government and reports of violence between learners and educators were a serious cause for concern.

“While the Department of Basic Education has put mechanisms in place to combat this scourge, it is the responsibility of parents and guardians to collaborate with school authorities and learners to ensure that schools remain safe places for our learners to develop and become responsible citizens. The safety of our educators at schools is also of paramount importance,” he said.

BILATERAL RELATIONS

Next week President Cyril Ramaphosa will host Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni with the aim of strengthening political, economic and cultural relations between South Africa and Uganda.

Gungubele said South Africa and Uganda enjoyed longstanding historical relations dating back to the struggle against apartheid.

Uganda hosted and trained South African anti-apartheid activists and freedom fighters in the late 1980s. Political and economic relations between South Africa and Uganda have been improving since 1994.

The South Africa-Uganda Joint Commission seeks to strengthen and deepen bilateral relations and cooperation between the two countries, consolidate political, economic and social cooperation, and oversee the implementation of the signed agreements and memoranda of understanding.