IT seems prisoners continue to run the streets from behind bars.
This comes as Police Minister Bheki Cele highlighted how organised crimes have been on the rise, with many prisoners orchestrating crimes from jail.
He was speaking at a minstrel imbizo in Gugulethu, Western Cape on Saturday 20 April. This is an area, according to Cele, which has been marked with a lot of criminal activities.
Cele said: "Crime is being orchestrated inside prisons. Prisoners call me in the early hours of the morning to give me information to follow up on how a shooting would happen."
He said the only way in deal with this is for the community to work together to minimise crimes being orchestrated from prisons.
Cele made reference to one of Cape Town’s most notorious criminals, known as "Bara", who was recently arrested but community members marched to the police station calling for his release.
This made Cele to question how criminality would end if the community does not stand side to side with the police.
“I don’t know which criminality will end if a person like Bara is arrested but you march for his release. Therefore, if we do not work together, there's no reason why you should come back to me and cry criminality," he said.
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According to Cele, Bara was also found with 30 bullets inside his jail cell, which also proves the reality of organised crime.
Organised crime is an issue. We have arrested the most criminals here in Cape Town.
“We caught Bara with 30 bullets in his jail cell. There's criminality involved. He had the bullets, and he just needed a gun. Crime is being orchestrated inside prisons,” he said.
A woman during the imbizo raised concerns about the safety of women.
According to Nokwazi Makaluza from Gugulethu, hijackings have become brazen on the community making it almost impossible to feel safe while walking on the streets.
Another resident, Vuyiswa Makalima, a member of CPF, said they need support.
“We don't want guns. We need equipment. We don't have jackets, walkie talkies or bicycles, things that we need as the CPF. We also need more police vans at Gugulethu Police Station because there's a shortage of vans," she said.
Cele assured the community of Gugulethu that their crime concerns have been responded to through overhauling of the management of the local police station which now has a new station commander to improve service delivery.
