Gauteng authorities are considering recruiting immigrants into the police to improve policing in migrant communities, provincial security minister Firoz Cachalia said on Friday.
”It was suggested at the recent conference dealing with xenophobia,” he said at a press conference on the suspension of police officers shown allegedly taking bribes from illegal immigrants on a television programme.
”There are lots of foreign nationals who are people with abilities and skills. There should be a proactive engagement between government departments and these communities.”
Cachalia said if South Africa does not treat foreign nationals properly, it will make the crime problem worse.
”If we create communities that are marginalised and forced to live in the twilight zones of Gauteng, the crime problem will be compounded. Difficult policing will be made more difficult.”
Area Commissioner Oswald Reddy said the law requires police recruits to be South African citizens, which means technical hitches will have to be worked out before the idea can possibly be implemented.
Cachalia said the police are establishing relations with leaders in immigrant communities, although they only deal with people with legal documents.
That said, Cachalia stressed that when police deal with immigrants without papers, they should treat them humanely and according to the Constitution.
He added that the policing of migrant communities is an important public policy issue that should be debated by the people of Gauteng. — Sapa