NELSON Mandela Bay Mayor Gary van Niekerk shared an anti-crime plan during a meeting at Gqeberha City Hall on Friday, 10 November.
He shared the plan in front of Cedric Frolick, a member of the National Assembly as well as various role players in safety and security.
But just a day after the meeting, which discusses rampant crime intervention, four people were shot and killed in Kwadwesi on Sunday, 12 November.
Police spokeswoman Colonel Priscilla Naidu said: “Police are investigating the heinous mass shooting that left four people dead and one injured in Kwadwesi. The bodies of the four were found in a shack in the back of a house on Sikhundla Street. The four, three males and a female, were found with gunshot wounds.
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“Meanwhile, the injured male was dropped off by his friend at his house on the same street when the gunshots were heard. The victim was in his yard when he was approached by two suspects who opened his front door and shot him inside his house. He sustained bullet wounds to his arm and chest and was taken to hospital for treatment. In both incidents, the suspects were the same and the motive is yet to be established.”
DA shadow minister of police, Andrew Whitfield, said the killings could have been prevented if Police Minister Bheki Cele had acted on a DA letter asking for urgent intervention last month.
"We requested that the police deploy specialist resources to deal with the ongoing killings and violent crime in Nelson Mandela Bay. It's clear, however, that the lives of the people in Nelson Mandela Bay are not a priority for Minister Cele as he hasn't even bothered to respond to the letter sent on 2 October,” he said.
Van Niekerk said: “The Rapid Response on Crime initiative, a collaboration by the Municipality Safety and Security Directorate, the police, private security, community policing forums, and civil society is such a case in point. We established it two months ago and we're currently working on getting it to a level of operational functionality that will increase our safety and security footprint across all 60 municipal wards.”
