The National Commissioner of the South African Police Service(SAPS), General Fannie Masemola has deployed extra capacity to the Eastern Cape province to clampdown on extortionsists and gangs .
The multidisciplinary teams have been deployed to prevent, combat,investigate, and arrest those behind incidents of gang violence and extortion.
The deployment of additional boots on the ground comes off the back of a visit and community stakeholder engagements in Mthatha and Gqerberha led by the Minister of Police, Mr Senzo Mchunu, the Deputy Ministers of Police, Mr Cassel Mathale and Ms Polly Boshielo as well as SAPS Management led by the National Commissioner of the SAPS.
The MEC for Community Safety in the province, Mr Xolile Nqata and the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro Executive Mayor, Gary Van Niekerk also formed part of the two day engagements.
Three senior officers consisting of the head of organised crime, specialised operations and intelligence from SAPS National Headquarters have been deployed to the province each with dedicated teams under their command.
On the ground is a team of detectives from organised crime as well as serious and violent crime unit, operatives from the National Intervention Unit (NIU) as well as Crime Intelligence Officers who will work alongside and augment the Provinces existing capacity in dealing decisively with ‘protection fee gangs’.
General Fannie Masemola says communities cannot be held at ransom and is urging community members to bring forward the names of these extortionists.
“The challenge that we are having is that community members are reluctant to report incidents of extortion. We urge our communities to when called upon, come forward and report all forms of criminality to us and who these people are, to enable us to effect more arrests and ensure we build water tight cases that will be able to stand in court. For us to pin down these extortionists, we need witnesses. We urge the communities cooperation in this regard. We have dedicated teams that are assigned to these cases. We are also looking at increasing capacity to register more cases and ensure takedowns”, said Gen Fannie Masemola.
The SAPS is making inroads in dealing decisively with gangs demanding extortion fees from businesses but concedes that more needs to be done.
In relation to sporadic incidents of violence and extortion at construction sites and business across the country , 722 extortionists have been arrested in the last five years. 52 of them were found guilty and collectively sentenced to 89 years and 7 months imprisonment. 93 cases are still under investigation where groupings and individuals of interest have been identified. Problematic provinces have been identified where these extortionists operate, these include the Western, Eastern, and Northern Cape, Free State, Limpopo, North West, and Mpumalanga.
In the Western Cape, well-known construction Mafia gang leader, Ralph Stanfield, his wife and fourteen others are facing 32 charges relating to the Prevention of Organised Crime act, this in relation to extortion fees.
