​Thembisa Shologu
The South African Police and its agencies will adopt a restructured organisational hierarchy designed to effectively combat crime in the country.
Police Minister Senzo Mchunu announced this at the inaugural Summit of the South African Police Service at Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, which was held under the theme "Efficiency in action: Optimising South Africa's policing potential."
Minister Mchunu said the intention was for law enforcement to stay true to this theme through the outcomes that will be pursued in terms of implementation throughout this year. 
Mchunu said that among the first things to master was how to police the country effectively and efficiently amid shortages, in terms of police numbers to the population, budgetary constraints, and where there was a high rate of crime and corruption, especially in the four biggest provinces: Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal, the Eastern and Western Cape.
"The overall test we must pass is for the citizens to say we feel safe at any time and almost everywhere in our space, especially where we live - urban and rural areas.
"Vulnerable people, especially women and children, are increasingly under attack via Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Femicide. We are very concerned about this, and it is our priority. 
"We are equally concerned about the murder rate in the country, the easy availability of firearms, especially illegal firearms and drugs," said Mchunu.
 He expressed concern about the level of corruption within the SAPS, which required tackling and decisive action.
He said the summit would discuss a range of matters, including proactive policing, partnerships, infrastructure, crime intelligence, and increasing the use of technology.
"We will be digitising our docket management systems. As the SAPS, we have plans to increase the number of laboratories, and businesses have also come on board and have pledged to furnish our labs with state-of-the-art equipment, in addition to increasing the number of labs – inclusive of an e-lab," Minister Mchunu said.
Police agencies were working very hard to reduce organised crime, which was the main contributor to crime levels in the country.
In addition, we believe we can substantially minimise, if not eliminate, gang-related violence in the country. 
"Of late, we note increases in kidnappings, extortion, Cash-In-Transit heists and stock theft. The 3rd quarter crime statistics indicate a decline, but it is far from where we want it to be.
"We have several identified projects which we will implement together with business; amongst these are automating police stations, commencing with five pilot stations and eventually rolling out nationwide," he said. 
Premier Panyaza Lesufi said he was happy that all stakeholders were brought under one roof so that they could collectively take stock of the fight against crime, plan from the centre, and execute the mission without duplicating responsibilities. 
Premier Panyaza Lesufi said that the crime was costly, so the government could not continue using old methods. 
"If we can't defeat crime, we must kiss our country goodbye. If we cannot defeat crime, we must forget about attracting investments. If we can't tackle crime head-on, we must also forget about attracting sovereignty for our country. 
"We are of the view that we cannot use old methods when crime continues to rise; we need new ideas, new purposes, and new intentions that can assist us," said Lesufi. 
He said he was proud that the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) decided to make crime the number one priority for tackling.
At least 450 people were identified as primarily responsible for major and heinous crimes in the province, from hijacking, cash heists, and hitmen to ATM bombings.
"Of these 450, we resolved to monitor them, to know them, where they are, and what they are up to so that we can plan before they commit the next crime. 
"We are proud that in the last two months of the 450 people we have been tracking, 110 of them have now been arrested, almost 15 have been reconnected with their maker, and we intend to continue until the 450 people we have identified have been appropriately taken to where they belong, in jail," lamented the premier. 
Lesufi expressed concern about the issue of criminals doing as they please, especially undocumented ones. 
He also added that a proper way must be found to deal with the taxi industry's behaviour. 
 "We can't fold our arms when criminals do what they do in our province. What kind of a country is it where we have so many undocumented people doing as they wish? We do not have their fingerprints or photos, and we do not even know where they stay, but they move around our country.  That must come to an end. 
"Also, President, we cannot allow the taxi associations and bosses to do as they wish in our province. Yesterday alone, president, three people were gunned down, bringing to 30 people the number of people that have been killed in the last month alone in our province. 
"This is enough. We need to demonstrate to taxi bosses and taxi formations who are the bosses in this country. The bosses are the law enforcement agencies, and they need firepower to tackle this matter," said Premier Lesufi.