Leadership from all spheres of government have called on sectors of society to partner and assist each other to decrease crime in eThekwini and KwaZulu-Natal. This was revealed during the two-day Provincial Crime Prevention Summit held at the Olive Convention Centre on 3 and 4 June. 

The gathering saw representatives from law enforcement, government officials, civil society, and media converge to discuss crime and possible interventions to reduce incidents. The summit encouraged conversations to find meaningful solutions to the crime in KwaZulu-Natal. Police Minister Bheki Cele said the summit was an important way to pool resources to eradicate crime. He added that society needs to place emphasis on the boy child. “We need to mobilise communities and stakeholders to concentrate on young boys. Let us hold sessions and seminars with the boy child and educate them before they turn to a life of crime.”

With eThekwini Municipality accounting for 50 percent of crime in KZN, eThekwini Mayor Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda said it is imperative that everyone does their bit to eradicate criminal elements in society. “The CBD, uMlazi, Inanda, and KwaMashu are among the crime hotspots in the City.” 

He said the City has already started planning and implementing some programmes to reduce crime in eThekwini. “We have deployed multi-disciplinary teams to deal with senseless killings of councillors and staff. We plan to open a police station in the Amaoti area and install CCTV cameras in areas beyond the CBD. These are among the plans we have to tackle crime in the City.” Other plans include the deployment of teams to investigate issues around bad buildings and bumping up the Metro Police component to 5 000 officers, thus increasing police visibility.