Tangeni Amupadhi
Police in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs, including Alexandra, may have found the right ointment for their Achilles heel – carjacking.
The men in blue have cut by half hijacking incidents in the past three months with an innovative crime- fighting initiative. The new plan circumvents the usual excuses about lack of manpower and resources.
The initiative is the brainchild of Director Perumal Naidoo, who heads one of four sub-policing areas in Johannesburg, stretching over Alexandra, Bramley, Norwood, Rosebank, Sandringham and Sandton.
After identifying hijacking as the most common serious crime, Naidoo appointed a team of 11 police officers from the six police stations. Five are detectives and six uniformed police.
The unit initially began as an anti- hijacking team but became the serious crime fighter after Naidoo realised just how effectively its members operate.
“We had to come up with a system that could keep apace and ahead of organised crime. Criminals are getting more and more organised, so we could not keep waiting for something to happen before we act,” says Naidoo.
The unit has begun an intelligence- gathering service by having victims and witnesses fill out questionnaires at the scene of every hijacking. This helped the special unit to follow the modus operandi of the hijackers.
Naidoo put the unit into action in September. By the end of that month, hijackings in the area were down to 62 – this compared to 178 hijackings in May, the peak month this year.
The recovery of stolen vehicles has risen to 80% – at times within 30 minutes. The arrests of suspects has risen by the same percentage.
Jim Powell is among those impressed with the unit’s work. His vehicle was hijacked in Sandton two months ago. “I expected the policeman to ask for a statement but he asked for the details of the car,” Powell said. An hour later, the policeman telephoned Powell to ask for the spare keys in order to return his car.
Besides the sharp decline in hijackings, overall crime in the area has plummeted by a whopping 60%.
Armed with the results, Naidoo approached Business Against Crime (BAC) for funding. “BAC decided to donate four vehicles,” Naidoo said.
One of the vehicles is being modified to provide police services on the scene of a crime enabling victims to give evidence without having to go to a police station.
Taking the sting out of mozzies
David Shapshak
South African scientists are developing a natural mosquito repellent which could have significant gains in the fight against malaria.
The repellent was “discovered” when a Mpumalanga community approached the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research with its traditional means of warding off mosquitoes, says Marthinus Horak, programme manager of chemical and microbial products at the council.
The villagers rub the branches of an indigenous plant on their skin. The plant contains a certain ingredient which fends off the often malaria-carrying insects. Horak and his team have identified and extracted the active ingredient, which has been granted a final patent.
“[But] to prevent the plant and the community from being exploited their identity is being kept secret,” says Horak.
Significant research still needs to carried out before a product will be available commercially, but it could be profitable both locally and internationally.
“If it’s developed into a registered material, the financial benefits to South Africa will be very big,” says Horak.
The community will receive a share of the royalties from the product’s manufacture.
The repellent could have a significant impact on the prevention of malaria, as many public health strategies involve spraying insecticides around sleeping areas to kill mosquitoes but cannot prevent people from being bitten.
Horak says the “repellent is as good as the current one on the market, but is more acceptable because it’s natural”.
Although safety trials and other clinical tests need to be performed, they should be favourable to the product’s launch because it has been used in a crude form by the community.
“People are using it already, so it indicates how safe it is.”
If the repellent goes into production, the benefits could include farming opportunities for the community as the council would aim to cultivate the plant in their area.
The mosquito repellent patenting follows the recent licensing of another South African natural plant, the appetite suppressant pill P57, to the United States pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, the maker of Viagra.
It is hoped P57 can be turned into a prescription drug with an estimated market potential of more than $3- billion.
The repellent, says Horak, is just one of thousands of possible natural cures for human ailments which are being investigated.
The council was able to scientifically validate the plant’s effectiveness in only three weeks, using techniques perfected in its bio-prospecting programme. “Overseas scientists took many years and had to screen 86 000 chemicals before they discovered the product currently on the market,” says Horak.
Through bio-prospecting the council is hoping to unlock the value of South Africa’s flora.
“The country is blessed with an unusually rich plant bio-diversity. Approximately 23 000 plants, mostly endemic, occur within South Africa’s borders, which represent nearly 10% of all plants known to man. In addition, the country has a rich heritage of indigenous knowledge relating to the medicinal use of plants,” says Horak.
Despite this, no major prescription drug based on a South African plant has yet entered the international pharmaceutical arena. Because 25% of all prescription drugs in the US are derived from plants, the potential benefit for South Africa could be untold.
“South Africa will be able to develop a significant competitive advantage, compared to most other countries, if we are able to establish close collaboration between local scientist and healers,” says Horak.