DURBAN – A break-in took place in the parliamentary constituency offices of the National Freedom Party located in Morningside in Durban.
The break-in was reported to the SAPS by party spokesperson Ahmed Munzoor Shaik Emam and the police unit was dispatched to the offices to conduct further investigations.
Emam alleges that criminals targeted the party’s furniture and equipment to the value of R50 000.
He adds that a man living in the area contacted him on Sunday morning alerting him of the break-in after doors were left open by criminals.
“It is difficult at the moment to determine the motive of those who broke in, I can’t even say it is politically motivated because I know for a fact that the SAPS is losing the war against crime. We have lost all our printers, laptops, fridges, chairs, tables, and everything which was in that office,” said Emam.
The party says that it is concerned by the high levels of crimes in the area and will work on repairing its offices and beef up security so that its constituency will be able to access the offices.
Responding to the incident, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi said that after being alerted of the incident, he ensured that a team of SAPS units was dispatched, fingerprints were taken and further investigation will be conducted.
He added that the trends in high levels of break-ins were occurring in many areas where criminals know that people were keeping valuables in their houses and offices.
Mkhwanazi also said that communities should work closely with the SAPS so that these crimes can be prevented. He also adds that government should ensure it made available more resources to the police which would enable policing units to respond effectively to crime scenes.
Approaches being taken by Mkhwanazi to ensure that police were responding accordingly to criminals included change of bad police behaviour
He said that this was key in ensuring that police officers can be trusted again by the public who felt the SAPS was not doing enough to end crime.
“We must change the bad attitude of police officers who don’t take their jobs seriously. We need officers who will promptly respond to calls for intervention. Our people need to feel safe knowing that police are there to protect them. This way we can all do our part to help our communities and reduce crime. Protecting our people and arresting those terrorizing our women, children, and all elders must be the priority of our police whose jobs is primarily to protect and serve our people,” said Mkhwanazi.
He appealed to any persons with information to approach the relevant authorities and report criminal activities.
Daily News