Nomsa Dube Ncube said there would be 1,000 social crime wardens in KwaZulu-Natal. (Darren Stewart/Gallo)
KWazulu-Natal Premier Nomsa Dube Ncube says the province wants to introduce its own 'amapanyaza', similar to Gauteng's Crime Watch, to fight crime, with 1,000 volunteers on the streets. He said that he is proceeding with plans to dispatch the following people.
Mr Dube-Ncube announced the initiative during his State of the State Address (Sopa) in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday, along with the creation of a Community Safety Intervention Unit under the KwaZulu-Natal Community Safety and Liaison Department. .
She said the unit would be established in the 2024-25 financial year and would work with other law enforcement agencies to proactively fight crime at the local level in collaboration with existing agencies.
Ms Dube-Ncube said the province had already procured 60 vehicles for use in community patrols, and these vehicles were on display at the Pietermaritzburg Oval Cricket Stadium, where she said the 2022 He said this was his second delivery of Sopa since taking office in 2017.
“The fight against crime will be further strengthened with the recruitment of 1,000 social crime prevention volunteers to cover the whole state,” said Dube Ncube.
The Department of Community Safety and Education has also launched a training program for school students to “create a crime-fighting culture among young people”.
The Prime Minister said the South African Police Service, which has increased the number of police officers in the province by 4000 over the past four years, announced it would deploy more vehicles and apprentice constables in KwaZulu-Natal.
Mr Dube-Ncube outlined steps the province has taken to combat cross-border crime, including the installation of barriers to make it more difficult for stolen vehicles to be brought into Mozambique from South Africa.
According to Dube Ncube, the province has made great progress since 1994, and after the ANC took control of the province in 2004 and the people “tasted the real fruits of liberation”, the process continued even further. It is said to have accelerated.
Turning to the water crisis affecting KwaZulu-Natal, Dube Ncube acknowledged the “current challenges of constrained energy and water supplies in some areas of the province”.
“We are working hard to address these issues and are confident that by working together we can find lasting solutions,” she said.
In his speech, Dube-Ncube paid special attention to the Zulu monarchy and traditional leadership, saying the state government was “respectful” of the king and the royal family.
The state has fenced off all six palaces and purchased vehicles for the queen dowager and all the wives of the late king Goodwill Zwelithini ka Bekuzulu.
It also provided financial and educational support to members of the royal family, enjoyed a “honest and professional relationship” with the new king, Miszulu ka Zwelithini, and provided administrative and logistical support to the new king.
Amakhosi's salary increased from R60,000 a year in 1994 to R279,000 today, while funeral allowances increased from R50,000 to R80,000.
Traditional courts were upgraded to provide facilities on par with government departments, while traditional parliamentary clerks and amakhosi were given computer literacy and other training.
So far, 88 per cent of the province's more than 2,200 ijindunas have been included on the payroll of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs at a cost of R631 million.
A further R11.5 million was allocated to support interventions related to the killing of traditional leaders.
Dube Ncube said the province continues to recover from the effects of COVID-19, the July 2021 riots and the 2022 floods, which are collectively estimated to cost around R33 billion. He said he caused damage. She said cooperation between the government and organized businesses helped businesses recover and restore investor confidence in the state.
Mr Dube-Ncube listed a number of initiatives that he said will help address water, infrastructure and power supply issues over the next five years, adding that the province will continue to build on the priorities outlined by the president at the weekend's ANC manifesto launch. He said that it is in line with.
The opposition party was in no way complementary to the content of Dube Ncube's speech.
Francois Rodgers, leader of the Democratic Alliance state party, said the prime minister's “Dororo” speech “showed all the signs of a washed-up ANC, frightened ahead of May's elections”.
“Listening to the Prime Minister today, it sounds like KwaZulu-Natal is a paradise, with unemployment, extreme poverty, streets filled with dirty sewage, violent crime and all sorts of other horrors that we don't look too closely at. Unless,” Rogers said. He said.
He said that instead of working to create jobs and rebuild the state's economy, Dube-Ncube “blamed the July 2021 riots and COVID-19, while claiming that private sector investment is government-led. He blamed the state's disastrous economy and lack of investor confidence.
The Prime Minister has not given any answers about the collapse in service delivery. Mr. Rogers said that although load reduction and water cutoffs had been carried out, “it was just a war room and a master plan and no real action was taken.'' Dube Ncube said that crime levels in the state had not decreased. He added that the government has not been able to address these efforts. She made a promise last year that was never fulfilled.
