AS the country is waging a relentless war against the deadly coronavirus, cops are making more resources available to fight yet another pandemic that is the plaguing the country in gender based violence.
Police Minister Bheki Cele in an inter-ministerial briefing at the Union Building to update the country on efforts to fight the killer virus, said the police were fighting the two pandemics simultaneously.
He revealed that over and above specialized units within the service tasked to dealing with violence against women and children, more police officers were being retrained to deal with this pandemic.
In addition, 300 reserve officers who are currently in training, will be dedicated to the GBV. He acknowledged that there were some officers at police stations who were turning away complainants and this would not be tolerated.
“No member should send a woman or child back. Nobody should tell a woman or child to go back and negotiate. It’s true there will be police officers who are not taking this seriously,” he said.
Bheki further acknowledged that GBV has always been prevalent in the society but said after the unbanning of alcohol on June 1 there was a spike of incidents which led to the killing of 29 women. He lauded the police for having cracked almost these cases.
On the enforcement of regulations following the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday, Cele appealed to the community to adhere to the rules.
“We hope you are not going to give us a job to arrest you but if you give us a job to arrest you, it’s okay,” he said.
He spelt out new regulations pertaining to drinking, saying drinking in the vehicle, on the streets or even on a pavement of your home constituted a criminal office for which you could be arrested.
Not wearing a face mask in public is now also a criminal offense which is punishable by a fine or six months jail term and it could also carry a criminal record depending on how it has been delivered by a magistrate.
Cele said after the announcement by Ramaphosa there will be an increase of police visibility, roadblocks and patrols where applicable in streets, malls and other areas where people ignore social distancing.
“There will also be random stop and search operations to ensure that the prohibition on the trade of alcohol and tobacco is not being subverted. Throughout all of this, law enforcement officials will be dependent upon the cooperation of community members to ensure these operations are handled in the best possible spirit and with least disruption,” he said.
He revealed that the police service has also been affected by the virus, with 53 officers so far having succumbed to the killer disease.
He said 7021 officers have tested positive and 2000 have since recovered.
