Police Minister Bheki Cele has announced they have put additional funds in the top 30 police stations to fight the escalating crime in those areas.
In the last crime statistics by the police, for the period between October and December last year, there were more than 6 800 murders reported and more than 11 000 rape and sexual assault cases.
On Friday, Cele is expected to release the crime statistics for the period January to March this year.
But in his budget speech in the National Council of Provinces on Thursday Cele said they have prioritised the top 30 police stations, which had a high number of murders, rapes and other violent crimes.
The police stations are in Gauteng, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
Cele said it was a priority for the police to crack down on these police stations with the allocation of more funds.
The police have also started with the training of 10 000 new officers and another training of 5 000 officers will start.
This is to boost the specialised units including the public order policing to fight crime.
National Treasury allocated R5.8 billion for the hiring of thousands of new officers over the next three years.
Cele said the top 30 police stations have to be dealt with to reduce crime.
“The top 30 high contact crime stations have been prioritised in terms of resources, which includes an additional budget of R62 million,” said Cele.
“This budget will contribute to stations that contribute high murder, attempted murder statistics including other violent crimes.
“The additional budget allocated over and above the baseline budget must make a difference in Umlazi.
“Inanda, Plessislaer, Harare, Kraaifontein, Delft, Mfuleni, Khayelitsha, Kagiso, Lusikisiki and others,” said Cele.
He said they were recruiting more officers to fight crime in the country.
“The National Treasury allocated additional funding for the recruitment of 12 000 new police trainees over the MTEF (Medium Term Expenditure Framework) with an allocation of R5.8bn to rejuvenate and improve policing capacity.
“For the current financial year the biggest intake of 10 000 trainees is aimed at closing the gap for the past two years where training was halted due to Covid-19 lockdown,” said Cele.
Political Bureau
