Four Free State cops arrested

Four police constables have been arrested for crimes in the Free State, police said on Friday. They were arrested on Monday for separate crimes of attempted murder, driving under the influence of alcohol, corruption and theft, said Brigadier Billy Jones. In the first incident a 36 year old constable assaulted his wife during an argument during which he fired 4 shots at her with his service pistol, but she was not hit. The suspect was arrested and his official firearm and ammunition were booked into the evidence room. In the second incident a 29 year old constable was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol. He was off duty at the time and was released on a warning. In the third incident a 28 year old constable was arrested for corruption an theft after allegedly selling his official firearm to a Lesotho man in a tavern for R900. Jones said the firearm had not been recovered, but the buyer had been arrested and charged with theft of a police firearm. The fourth incident involved a 25 year old constable who was arrested for attempted murder. It is alleged that the suspect was on duty and was involved in an argument over a girlfriend with the victim, he said. The victim alleges that a shot was fired at him with the service pistol of the constable, which missed him. Observation: In this report two incidents are reported were police officials discharge their service pistols in which 5 shots were fired which all missed their intended target!

Mpumalanga municipality faces collapse

An administrative support team has been sent in to prevent the total collapse of the Thaba Chweu municipality in Mpumalanga, a SAPA correspondent reported. While the municipality has been placed under administration twice in the past eight years, this time it had been decided to send in a support team. The municipality is now close to total collapse Premier David Mabuza's spokesperson Zibonele Mncwango said. The municipality has been facing problems since 2005 when it was first place under administration. In 2009 it was placed again under administration, after residents attacked police, damaged former mayor Clara Ndlovu's house, and burnt tires in protest against poor service delivery and the disappearance of R3.2 million from council coffers. One protester was shot dead. Social grants offices, as well as the kitchen of the local police barracks, were set alight. In a February 2012 report by the human settlements portfolio committee, Thaba Chweu was mentioned as one of the most bankrupt and dysfunctional municipalities in South Africa. In October last year, the municipality was again under the spotlight when the Hawks finally arrested four municipal officials-three years after the 3.2 million went missing.

Escom to cut power in two municipalities

Escom has issued notices to cut the power supply to two municipalities in the Free State with a debt of R400 million, it said on Friday. The two municipalities would not have power in December if the matter was not resolved. The municipalities' failure to pay had jeopardised the financial sustainability of the supply. An opposition spokesman said that it was unacceptable for the municipality to take payment on Escoms behalf with the authority to cut residents' electricity supply in event of non-payment, but themselves failed to pay Escom. In the end, the people bear the brunt of poor management by the ANC government. Our councillors will engage with the municipal managers in order to negotiate repayment options he said. This is not only happening at these two municipalities. It is widespread. One of the reason is I believe the fact that due to poor finacial management and corruption the monies collected are misused or just 'disapear'.

Batteries, tyres 'disapear' from cop cars

I've been trying hard to look for some positive news to report. But when looking through the online news feeds one is bombarded with the usual staple. Corruption, murder, rape, robberies the list goes on and on. Came across this on news24 this morning. 'Batteries, tires 'disapear' from cop cars. This is a report from 'The Witness' a Durban newspaper. Durban eThekwini metro police apparently do not have to look far to nab thieves helping themselves to car batteries and tires from police vehicles. Spokesperson Senior Superintendent Eugene Msomi on Sunday admitted that a number of internal investigations were under way concerning the thefts at Durban and Albert Park. He would not give any figures. However a senior officer said he has little faith that the issue will be dealt with, as the people who are supposed to report it to the safety committee failed to do so. Batteries 'Lost'. It is alleged that the officers often get away with stripping vehicles, with no explanation on how the vehicles "lose" batteries while parked on the premises. The Witness understands a number of internal investigations were conducted, but never yielded successful results. The senior officer, who asked not to be named, said the unit had been facing a lot of challenges for years. He said vehicles were often assigned to officers for daily operations with brand new tires, but a few days later they had worn tires. "It's clear that the tires are being stripped and sold. As officers come back to change shifts, no one notices. He said council vehicles parked on the premises are often found with no batteries. He said it was shocking that metro police entrusted to enforce the law were the ones who break it.

Annual Provincial Crime Statistics

Involvement of police officers in criminal activities is cause for concern in Gauteng. Premier Nomvula Mokonyane said on Friday. Releasing the 2012/13 provincial crime statistics in Johannesburg, Mokonyane said a number of law enforcement officers were evidently involved in crime. "A worrisome statistic shows that 18 out of 50 provincial policing precincts were reported as CRIME-INFESTED DENS" that recorded police collusion and "OUTRIGHT CORRUPTION" she said. "The Johannesburg central police precinct tops the list with approximatelely 13000 criminal cases that were perpetrated by officers in uniform". She also revealed that vehicle hijackings in Gauteng had risen the past financial year. Robberies at residential premises had also gone up by 3.6%. She remained upbeat that crime was under control in Gauteng. Yes for a change I agree with that statement by her. Crime is under control. But what she failed to communicate was that crime was under the control of the police and Government. Protect the Criminals and serve Ourselves. That's my unshakable opinion!!!!!!!!! Apparently there were over 680 000 arrests last year of which 360 000 resulted in convictions. Now our prison population is a constant 160 000 we are told. So where are those 360 000 convicted criminals being kept?. On the other hand I have a lot of sympathy for her. Crime has to be kept at these extremely high levels for a very simple reason. Just consider this. We have between 300000 and 500000 private security guards, hundreds if not thousands private security companies employing these guards. Thousands of response vehicles need to be purchased together with hundreds of thousands of bullet-proof vests, guns, ammunition, a few thousand more admin staff, managers, plus all of the Government structures overseeing the massive security industry. It is already 3 times bigger then our Defense Force and Police combined. No wonder the Government is becoming very concerned about such a massive paramilitary force roaming the county side. If crime would be eradicated we would have a massive problem with all of those hundreds of thousands suddenly becoming unemployed. Alone the loss of tax revenue would cripple the treasury in a hurry. Not only would these security companies go out of business but also the thousands of other small to medium businesses involved in manufacturing security gates, electric fences, Alarm and CCTV systems. Vehicle Tracking companies would have no use for their hundreds of Response teams, their helicopters and pilots and trackers would be unemployed as well. This is a multi Billion Rand industry. Doctors and Nurses could be put to better uses than treating gunshot and rape victims. Undertakers would go under as their regular customers would be absent. My guess is that at least 30% if not a lot more of tax revenue is directly generated by crime. Thousands of stolen cars need to be replaced annually. I wonder how much of our GDP is actually as a direct result of crime. 20%, 40% ?????? It is also obvious that 99% of those in the private security industry do not have the intellect to perform jobs in most other sectors. So there is no alternative to keep crime at these levels just to keep social stability. It's an oxymoron.