Rise Mzansi's Gana concerned about spike in contact crimes in Joburg CBD
Makashule is conducting an inspection of the Joburg Central and Hillbrow Police Stations ahead of the committee's sitting on Wednesday.
Hillbrow street, Johannesburg Image: Wikimedia Commons/Joonas Lyytinen, Käyttäjä:Joonasl
JOHANNESBURG - Rise Mzansi's member of the portfolio committee on police in Parliament, Makashule Gana, has expressed concern over the rising number of contact crimes in the Joburg CBD.
Makashule was conducting an inspection of the Joburg Central and Hillbrow police stations ahead of the committee's sitting on Wednesday.
The visit follows the release of crime stats by Police Minister Senzo Mchunu last week, which listed the two police stations as part of the top 30 facilities with the highest reports of contact crime.
READ: ‘Sobering’ quarterly crime stats with increase in murder, rape and extortion - Mchunu
Makashule said this had been the case for a number of years, and a solution must be found.
"One of the challenges that was raised is around the number of detectives that are in there in the police stations that the caseload is growing every day but the number of detectives is that it’s not growing," said Makashule.
He said that in addition to the increase in cases, there were several issues faced by the women and men in blue.
"It is a big concern that the men and women who go out of their way trying to protect us are themselves being targets of crime," he added.