General Fannie Masemola update on countrywide operations, police successes and major takedowns

Members of the media, I address this media briefing today at the backdrop of mixed public reactions, following incidences of crime that shocked the nation and equally decisive police response that renewed public confidence on the work of the South African Police Service.

Our festive season operations are in full swing in all provinces. The work of organized crime syndicates is being dealt a blow and we remain hard at work in increasing the speed and pace of which we proactively deal decisively with criminals in all shapes and sizes.

Members of the media is it important to note that in 17 Months, through ongoing crime combatting high density operations (Operation Shanela) Police have arrested over 900 000 suspects since its inception in May 2023.

We will give a detailed account of progress to date together with the Provincial Commissioners later on during this briefing.

Ladies and gentlemen, we continue to stamp police authority, through increased police visibility; coordinated bold and decisive law enforcement operations and most importantly improved community participation in the fight against crime.
Indeed, the overwhelming support and improved active citizenry displayed by South Africans from all walks of life in assisting our men and women in blue with information; in tracking down wanted, dangerous and brutal criminals is appreciated and commended.

We have witnessed increased cooperation and the unity displayed in working closely with communities on various cases including the recent arrest of six suspects linked to the Lusikisiki mass shooting and the arrest of Phethe Simiao, a Mozambican national who has been arrested in connection with the rape and murder of six-year- old Amantle Samane.

I, therefore take this opportunity on behalf of the men and women in blue to thank our communities, the social media community and media houses for playing their role in broadcasting and sharing information rapidly to all South Africans.

This ultimately led police in the right direction to apprehend these cold-hearted criminals.Ka Sepedi re re Mpsa tse pedi ga die shitwe kesebata! Re lebogela tirisano mmogo, Le Kamoso!!

Let’s step into the peak of the festive season with the same spirit of unity and cooperation and surely – more criminals – more firearms and – more drugs will be seized!

We have gathered here this afternoon – to take stock of our crime combatting efforts throughout the country.

Gun Violence mass shooting 

Ladies and gentlemen…

The ongoing mass shootings in provinces like the Eastern Cape, Kwazulu Natal, Gauteng and the Western Cape are a concern and requires us as the police to ramp up our efforts to put a stop to these shootings that are often perpetuated with illegal, unlicensed and high caliber firearms. These recent incidents have seen us constantly refining our crime combatting strategies.
It is encouraging that in most and if not all mass shootings – arrests have been made.

For example, in the Eastern Cape, another mass murder claimed the lives of five family members last week, but within days since the commission of the crime, two suspects were arrested and the weapon believed to be used in the commission of the crime was seized.

Still in the Eastern Cape, five men were shot and killed in New Brighton, the person believed to have pulled the trigger – was hunted down at an informal settlement where he did not surrender himself when called to do so but instead fired at police officers. He sustained a fatal gun-shot wound.

The Eastern Cape, KwaZulu Natal province and ongoing gang-related shootings in the Western Cape need to be singled out as this is where the majority of these mass shooting incidents are taking place. Our operational focus therefore remains on thetracing of wanted known criminals and the detection and removal of illegal firearms from our streets. In all these areas, we have beefed-up and reinforced deployments and also deployed specialized teams inclusive of intelligence and organized crime detectives.

It is important to note that, these four provinces, Western Cape, KwaZulu Natal, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape are always prioritized and always receive the largest number of newly trained police officers each year to heighten and increase police visibility in a bid to reduce incidents such as these.

Ladies and gentlemen, we can plan and coordinate, but if we don’t have our communities’ cooperation, we are not going to be able to win this battle alone – our communities who have been instrumental in providing information to the police across the country need to stay on board and continue to work closely with us so we are able to prevent and combat incidents of these nature timeously before they even happen.

Police seize more than 100 firearms during weekly operations 

Through Operation shanela, we are seizing and confiscating no less than 100 illegal firearms through crime combatting operations on a weekly basis that are being utilized in serious and violent crimes across the country.

Just this past week, 132 firearms were seized and in the previous week, 138 firearms were also seized. From April 2024 to date, police have seized more than 4400 firearms during operations across the country. These include high caliber firearms that are used in these mass killings and armed robberies. Most of these firearms are seized in KwaZulu Natal, the Western Cape, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape Provinces. The sources of some of these firearms has been identified and are being investigated.

Serious and violent crime such as armed robberies and CIT'S are being dealt a blow

The recent takedown of four armed criminals on the R59 in Alberton sends out a clear warning – that police are dominating and squeezing the space for criminals to operate.

Last week’s arrest of seven suspect’s minutes after they had just committed an armed robbery at a jewellerystore at Clearwater mall is demonstration that all law enforcement agencies and private security companies are working as one – within minutes of the incident – all these stakeholders were able to corner these suspects and recover all that jewellery that was stolen. This sharing of resources and intelligence through cooperation between different spheres of government and key stakeholders is proving to be effective.

97 CIT Suspect arrested between Jan 2024 and June 2024

We have a weekly plan in place to prevent and combat cash-in-transit related crimes including cross pavement robberies – where guards would be targeted while

collecting or dropping of money at retail stores or ATMs.

Last week’s joint operation by police and a cash in transit companies in the Free State ought to be commended. This cooperation led to Six million in cash being recovered and four suspects being arrested after they attempted to rob a cash depot in Bethlehem.

From January 2024 to June 2024, 97 wanted CIT suspects were arrested. 

18 AK 47 automatic rifles have been seized during the same period and 35 vehicles used in these CIT’s were also seized. It is important to note that we are experiencing less incidents of cash-in-transit robberies and a downward trend in number of cases reported since the execution of this particular plan.

More boots on the ground

In a bid to respond to the growing demand of more officers on the ground and greater access to policing services, more than 2800 newly trained police officers have been deployed to bolster crime combatting efforts at police stations and SAPS service points across the country in the past month. We have also officially opened four police stations since the beginning of this year and plans are afoot to build more stations across the country to expand our services and add to the existing 1164 police stations across the country. We currently have more than 2000 police trainees in police academies across the country. This cohort is expected to graduate in December 2024 and will be unleashed in time to bolster crime combatting efforts ahead of the peak of this year’s festive season.

We have also embarked on a re-enlistment process of former police officers to serve as detectives. This drive aims to see more boots on the ground to assist in the investigation of cases and down management of dockets. In the past year, 201 detectives were re-enlisted back into the service – we hope to see this number grow in this latest drive to boost our detective capacity.

Drugs and drug confiscations 

Ongoing interception of drug traffickers, drug dealers and seizure of massive drug consignments across the country continues to serve as a deterrent to those involved in the illicit drug trade. The fourteen drug traffickers intercepted at OR Tambo International Airport in a period of three months is a sign that we are stepping in the right direction in dealing decisively with transnational organized crime syndicates.

The fact that our intelligence is able to detect and apprehend these drug traffickers who are mostly swallowing these drugs – indicates that we are a step ahead of criminals who trying everything to come up with various means to traffic drugs into South Africa. It is also encouraging to note that all these traffickers are still behind bars and their matters are still before the Kempton Park Magistrates court.

These include a 21-year-old female South African drug trafficker, a 30-year-old female Namibian drug trafficker and a 43-year-old Paraguay male drug trafficker, a Nigerian male drug trafficker who had also concealed cocaine in airline headphones is also amongst those whose case is before the Kempton Park Magistrates court.

Our collaboration and cooperation as the SAPS with other police agencies from other countries in intercepting these drug traffickers must also be commended. We

have intercepted four South African drug traffickers in other countries who were en- route to SA from Brazil, via other countries. This includes the recent arrest of a 29- year-old South African female drug trafficker in Addis Ababa by the Ethiopian Federal Police. The South African was found in possession of R5.4 million worth of cocaine. It was Gauteng SAPS counter intelligence through Interpol SA who had alerted authorities and studied the movement of this drug trafficker. The other arrests were made in Luanda, Angola between July and September where our intelligence alerted the Angolans about the drug mules. All arrested in Luanda were all South African and were found to have been carrying cocaine in their luggage and one of them was found to have swallowed cocaine filled capsules. This does send a strong message out there, that law enforcement agencies are united in the fight against transnational organized crime.

Illicit mining is being dealt a blow through operation vala umgodi 

Government’s response to prevent and combat illicit mining activities across the country is proving to be highly effective. Through OPERATION VALA UMGODI, members of the SAPS, SANDF, other law enforcement agencies and other government departments such as the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Minerals Resources and Energy (DMRE) 13 691 suspects have been arrested since its inception in December 2023.

A number of confiscations from illegal miners and illegal mining operations have been made throughout the country which include the following:

• R5 million in cash was seized from illegal mining operations
   
• 7 308 uncut diamonds worth R32 million seized
   
• 312 firearms
   
• 7 403 rounds of ammunition
   
• 238 trucks
   
• Thousands of Generators, phendukas, spades, shovels, hammers, and blasting cartridges have been seized

Detectives and convictions 

Ladies and gentlemen…

Our crime intelligence operatives, detectives and forensic science experts in collaboration with our uniformed police officers have also been putting in the work to put perpetrators of crime behind bars for lengthy periods. Despite capacity challenges that are receiving the necessary attention through the training of more detectives within our ranks and the re- enlistment of former police officers, our detectives have always shown commitment in carrying out their mandate of bringing perpetrators to justice. It is therefore encouraging to note that in comparison to the 2023/2024 annual report, to the period starting 01 April 2024 and ending 30 September 2024, our detective’s performance has improved.

A total of 445 688 (four-hundred-and-forty-five-thousand-six-hundred-and-eighty- eight) suspects were arrested from 01 April 2024 to 31 September 2024. This is an increase of 16 819 persons compared with the 1st semester of the previous financial year.

A total of 79 454 accused persons were found guilty during the same period on a variety of offences. This is an increase of 1 859 persons compared with the previous period.

We applaud the dedication of our uniformed police officers working closely with detectives and crime intelligence operatives that are on the ground daily for tracing these criminals. We also wish to thank our Forensic Science Laboratory experts including our Local Criminal Record Centre (LCRC), DNA experts, criminologists, ballistics experts, lab technicians and many others who work day and night to link perpetrators to crime scenes.

It is therefore pleasing to note that the following :

635 life sentences were handed down to 431 accused criminals:

• 103 accused criminals were sentenced to 112 life sentences for murder
• 310 accused criminals were sentenced to 421 life sentences for rape
• 5 accused criminals were sentenced to 5 life sentences for house robberies
• 3 accused criminals were sentenced to 3 life sentences for business robberies
• 46 accused criminals were sentenced to 40 years and more in prison and they include 26 murder accused and 10 rape accused.
• 63 accused criminals were sentenced to a period ranging from 30 to 39 year’s imprisonment: these include 28 murder accused and 12 rape accused
• 530 accused criminals were sentenced to a period ranging from 20 to 29 year’s imprisonment: these include, 201 murder accused and 223 rape accused
• 2 329 accused criminals were sentenced to a period ranging from 10 to 19 year’s imprisonment: these include, 684 murder accused, 494 rape accused, 123 house robberies accused, 105 business robberies accused and 80 car hijackers
• 471 accused criminals were sentenced to a period ranging from 5 to 9 year’s imprisonment: these include, 419 murder accused, 270 rape accused, 86 house robberies accused, 51 business robberies accused and 35 car hijackers GENDER-

Based -violence and femicide cases convictions 

The fight against GBVF continues...

On GBVF and Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Investigations (FCS) related crimes such as sexual offences, the following convictions were achieved from 01 April 2024 to 31 September 2024: More than 1000 perpetrators were convicted to time in prison. The breakdown is as follows:

• 177 perpetrators were handed down 231 life sentences
• 116 perpetrators convicted to 20 year’s imprisonment
• 264 perpetrators were sentenced to a period between 10 and 19 year’s imprisonment
• 450 perpetrators were sentenced to a period between 5 to 9 year’s imprisonment

Launch of national extortion hotline- 0800 911 011

The fight against extortion related crimes is being intensified and I am pleased to announce the National Extortion Hotline number to ensure cases of these nature – are prioritized. The number is 0800 911 011.

I repeat, 0800 911 011, we do hope that it will be put to good use so that together we can put a stop to incidents of extortion throughout the country.

I Thank you.