Tebogo Msimanga |
The National Commissioner of the South African Police, General Khehla Sitole together with other senior officers engaged in a meeting with Agri SA, TLU SA and AfriForum in Pretoria on Monday. The engagement was an effort to address matters of criminality affecting the rural communities.
The meeting agreed to formalise the establishment of the national and local Joint Rural Safety Command Centres. The ultimate objective is to significantly reduce crime in the rural areas. In doing so, this will realise an integration among others, the use of helicopters and drones.
It was further agreed that it is imperative to customise community policing through the establishment of community-based mounted units, the Royal Reserve Police Service to fight crime, including farm attacks.
“The implementation of stabilisation interventions in hotspot areas is critical to ensuring an effective proactive approach”, said General Sitole. Emphasis was also placed on cross boarder crime affecting the farming community.
This high-level committee will meet on a quarterly basis to monitor progress of the implementation of the Rural Safety Strategy and decisions taken at previous meetings.
