Big task for new police minister

Durban — Given the horrendous crime situation in the country, many people choose to live in secure estates with access control, or barricaded behind high walls in homes with every conceivable security measure in place.

But eventually they have to leave that security and get on the road – to work, school, shopping or for leisure.

The road where hijackers lurk and pounced 3 731 times in KwaZulu-Natal in the 2022/23 period of counting, and nearly 23 000 times nationally. Flaws in the police service’s data collection methods mean the situation could be worse than indicated.

The past trend of the most popular vehicles on the road also being the most hijacked persists – for ease of cloning and culling of body and engine parts – with Toyotas accounting for eight of the thirteen most hijacked vehicles. However, as they increase in quality and use engines and other parts common to other makes, Chinese brands are also being targeted. Experts say there is no “safe” car or brand to buy.

The victims are usually only known to their friends and family. It is only when someone like former Banyana Banyana captain Portia Modise is hijacked, or when footballer and Olympian Luke Fleurs is shot dead in a hijacking that the issue receives prominence.

But hijacking is, of course, just one of the many violent crimes that plague South Africans daily and despite what he has said, it must have been with some trepidation that Senzo Mchunu assumed the role of Police Minister in the new Cabinet.

Top of his list of priorities has got to be addressing the shortcomings in the SA Police Service, including poor training, a lack of the equipment needed to fight crime in the modern era, and corruption within its ranks.

Address these and Mchunu will have won another battle: regaining the trust and respect of those the police serve, and hopefully, with it, the information and co-operation needed to fight crime.

Independent on Saturday