The South African Police Service in the Eastern Cape with relevant stakeholders discussed and deliberated on the formation of an integrated task team to address priorities to ameliorate rural safety.
The two day summit held in Mthatha last week concentrated on efforts to eradicate incidents of stock theft and simultaneously to ensure the safety of communities in rural areas.
Several stakeholders converged at the Walter Sisulu University (Zamukulungisa Campus) in Mthatha from 6 to 7 July 2023 to reflect on the challenges that are encountered by different sectors within the rural communities.
During deliberations, a task team was set up to concentrate solely on rural safety.
A member of the Rural Safety Priority Task Force from the Office of the Minister of Police, Mr Petrus Sitho said, “We managed to identify issues that our rural communities are facing, and now what we need is to implement workable solutions on the ground level in order to protect rural and farming communities.”
Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Nomthetheleli Mene during her speech, added, “We need to broaden and tighten our working relationship in so far as rural safety operations are concerned. The SAPS as an organisation cannot go it alone. If we want to achieve the salient objectives of the National Rural Safety Strategy and other relevant legal frameworks, we need to stop working in silos. All that we need is a multi-agency collaboration to gain strength that will enable us to defeat our common enemy.”
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