The MEC for Community Safety in Mpumalanga, Mr Jackie Macie, has undertaken to provide new vehicles to the respective local units for Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) as soon as possible.
This follows an urgent inquiry by the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) whereby the party expressed its concern that none of these essential units were provided with vehicles with the recent allocation of 74 new police vehicles.
The fact that these essential units have a shortage of vehicles mean that they are not visible in communities, cannot respond promptly to emergencies and cannot ensure the safety of victims of domestic violence (GBD).
The Freedom Front Plus does, however, commend the deployment of vehicles to, among others, VISPOL, Community Policing Forums (CPF) and detective units, which will undoubtedly improve police visibility and operational capacity, enabling law enforcers to boost their efforts to curb crime in high-priority areas.
It is alarming that FCS units are being neglected, though. It is unacceptable that these units are expected to function properly while not having enough operational vehicles.
Several units have only one or two vehicles servicing numerous towns. There are currently fifteen such units in Mpumalanga.
FCS units wage a daily war against sexual offences committed against children, crimes directed at persons (where the family is involved), the illegal removal of children under the age of twelve and crime facilitated by electronic media.
The Freedom Front Plus has since 2020 consistently been asking that new vehicles be allocated to these critical units, but to no avail. Therefore, the party will put pressure on Macie to keep his word.
The party remains committed to fulfilling its oversight role and will continue to monitor the implementation of this intervention to ensure that crime in the province is curbed.
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