A number of businesses, including construction sites, a petrol station and the only ophthalmology office have closed.
While a national police multidisciplinary team has been deployed to Eastern Cape areas experiencing a surge in violent crimes, especially at the hands of protection fee gangs, the provincial government has written to national government requesting that the army be sent in.
National police commissioner Fannie Masemola, under instruction by Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, deployed three senior officers consisting of the head of organised crime, specialised operations and intelligence from the national headquarters to the province, each with dedicated teams under their command.
On the ground is a team of detectives from organised crime units, as well as the Serious and Violent Crime Unit, operatives from the National Intervention Unit (NIU) and Crime Intelligence Officers, who are expected to work alongside and augment the province’s existing capacity in dealing with the challenges faced, Masemola said.
The multidisciplinary teams are expected to combat, investigate and arrest those behind incidents of gang violence and extortion.
A number of businesses, including construction sites, a petrol station and the only ophthalmology office have closed. Other petrol stations facing demands for more than R300 000 in protection fees are threatening to shut down.
A letter by an anonymous person who identified herself as a businesswoman, disclosed that her business had been paying a R100 000 fee for the past six months to extortionists.
“I have been tortured and my family has been walking on eggshells. We live with fear and the saddest part is my business has not been at its best since Covid-19 and this is financial loss ... I write this with pain and because I’m tired to a point where I have decided that I am giving up. I will close the business. I feel bad for those who entirely relied on me as employees to run their households.
A lot of lives will be affected, from the suppliers, employees and clientele. Also those who are less fortunate and have been the beneficiaries of our charity programmes. I am letting go, and it’s hard.
I am thinking of relocating to Gauteng as a long-term goal to just recover from all of this.”
In some of the extortion cases, police and local magistrates have been accused of being on the “payroll” of the suspected extortionists.
Masemola said communities cannot be held to ransom, and urged the public to bring forward the names of the 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 watertight cases that will be able to stand in court.
“For us to pin down these extortionists, we need witnesses. We urge the community co-operation 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 Masemola.
According to the ANC in the province, the syndicates terrorised businesses and were even targeting schools in areas such as Mthatha and Gqeberha.
The party welcomed the latest intervention, but said more still needed to be done.
“This intervention must be augmented further with the deployment of the SANDF in Mthatha, Gqeberha and Kariega in Nelson Mandela Metro to protect our fiscus , particularly disruptions by construction mafia of our catalytic projects,” it said.
Makhaya Komisa, spokesperson for community safety MEC Xolile Nqatha, said they welcomed the deployments by Mchunu to deal with rampant crime in Mthatha and Nelson Mandela Bay Metro.
“However, we also fully agree with the call of other stakeholders. In fact, the Eastern Cape government has already written a letter to the national government requesting for the deployment of soldiers to our province, especially in crime hot spot districts such as Nelson Mandela Bay Metro and OR Tambo District Municipality.
“We hope that the national government will respond positively to our request, as we want to ensure that our people live in safer areas.”
The portfolio committee on police has also expressed concern over the growing reported protection fee crimes.
Cape Times
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