The Democratic Alliance has demanded that the Minister of Safety and Security, Charles Nqakula, and the national commissioner of police immediately make public the broad topics for discussion at their meetings and what steps they envisage in the fight against crime, DA spokesperson on safety and security Roy Jankielsohn said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Another police officer has been shot, but still the minister refuses to announce his plans to beat crime, saying that yesterday’s [Monday] meeting with police bosses was ‘off limits’ to the media.
“This is absolute nonsense. Public servants are being murdered and the public have a right to know what the minister plans to do about it,” Jankielsohn said.
The official opposition said that the democratic principle of transparency and accountability is being subverted by the ministry’s secrecy and silence.
“The fight against crime is a public issue, not a private matter between politicians and the top brass of the police. The minister’s moratorium on crime statistics is a classic example of the minister’s willingness to withhold crucial crime-related information from the public,” the DA said.
With government failing to meet its own targets of bringing down contact crimes by between 7% and 10% annually, South Africa needs more from the minister than a “cops will shoot anyone who points a gun at them” statement, the DA asserted.
“If Minister Nqakula really wants to restore public confidence in his ministry, he will immediately announce his strategy to beat crime, and indeed, whether he even has one. This will require strategic leadership and a huge amount of political will, something that the current minister appears to lack,” Jankielsohn concluded. — I-Net Bridge