Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, launched Operation Shanela on Wednesday 2 August in an attempt to fight crime in the province.
The event was at the Khayelitsha Rugby Stadium.
Shanela is a police national campaign to fight crime. It consists of regular stop and search, roadblocks, vehicle checkpoints, high visibility patrols including foot patrols, tracing of wanted suspects with a focus on murder and rape suspects, compliance inspections at liquor outlets and second-hand goods dealers. The campaign was launched in Gauteng in May this year.
Among those who attended the event were national police commissioner Lt-Gen Sehlahle Masemola, provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Thembekile Pathekile, Western Cape Minister of Police Oversight and Community Safety Reagan Allen and the Mayco member for safety and security, JP Smith.
Cele said the province was among the top four worst provinces concerning crime, others being the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
“The crime mostly occurs from Thursday till Monday morning. Those are the busiest days in the country. People are getting drunk and after that, they fight and stab each other. Others steal, committing domestic violence and gender-based violence, some of them commit rape of women and children,” said Cele.
He told the officers that they are given tools of the trade and those tools they must use efficiently.
“Those tools shouldn’t be abused. You abuse those tools when you utilise them when you are not supposed to. Also, you abuse them when you don’t use them when you are supposed to use them. When criminals take you on or take out a gun and cock it don’t hesitate.” Cele said those tools are to protect them, their colleagues and the community as well.
Cele stated that they must go hard on criminals and when the dust settled, he didn’t want to pick up the body of an officer. He said the officers mustn’t be kind to criminals when they are unkind to them.
Provincial Community Policing Forum (CPF) board Fransina Lukas urged the community to work with the CPF. She urged the City to use the budget provided by the national government wisely. “This year the national police department has allocated at least R12 million to the City to buy equipment for CPF members. We want every registered group of the CPF to benefit from this money. Each group must have jackets, bicycles, torches and everything that they need. Our members are risking their lives working with the police to protect the community,” said Lukas.
Resident Nomapha Mviko from Site B described Khayelitsha as becoming violent. “There are a lot of business robberies, car hijackings, and mass shootings. We need police visibility in our communities. We are not safe in our communities at all,” said Mviko.