With alcohol and drugs a factor in many cases of contact crimes, police are focusing on shutting illicit outlets.
This is according to Lt-Gen Tebello Mosikili, the deputy national commissioner for policing, as she highlighted major operations for the first and second quarters of the financial year.
Between April and September police closed 11,975 unlicensed liquor premises. During these operations, 18,656 suspects were arrested for selling liquor without a valid liquor licence.
Officers arrested 64,356 people for being in possession of drugs, and 8,552 suspects were apprehended for dealing in drugs.
Multi-million rand seizures included cocaine and Mandrax. In Mpumalanga, a crystal meth drug lab worth R350m was shut down.
In the Western Cape, 722 gang suspects were arrested, with 1,565 illegal firearms and more than 39,000 rounds of ammunition seized during this period.
In Gauteng, at least six notorious kidnappers and more than six cash-in-transit robbers were fatally wounded during various confrontations with police. Several kidnap victims were rescued through targeted operations. Gauteng police seized 548 firearms.
In the North West, nine suspects, including a woman believed to be a mine operator and her son, were arrested for the murder of five security officials near a mining site in Tlhatlhaganyane.
In KwaZulu-Natal, five people behind the Umlazi Glebelands hostel mass shooting in June 2023, where eight people died, were each handed eight life sentences and an additional 15 years in jail.
A sustained focus on gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) saw 1,550 perpetrators convicted during the period under review.
During the first quarter, 652 GBVF perpetrators were jailed, of whom 99 were sentenced to life imprisonment. In the second quarter, 898 GBVF perpetrators were sentenced to time in prison, with 132 serving life terms.
Addressing the same briefing, acting police minister Firoz Cachalia said: “The link between alcohol abuse and violence is undeniable. To date, issuing liquor licenses has been seen as a way of promoting small business. However, this comes at a terrible cost.
“I will be engaging with provincial and local governments to explore how we can better regulate alcohol availability while finding other, safer options for promoting small businesses.”
TimesLIVE
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