KZN premier Senzo Mchunu has thrown his weight behind law enforcement agencies in efforts to avert violence during the 2014 elections.
|||Durban - KZN premier Senzo Mchunu has thrown his weight behind law enforcement agencies in efforts to avert violence before next year’s elections.
Speaking at a sitting of the provincial cabinet on Wednesday, Mchunu said multitask committee negotiations would be established with political leaders.
“We want to promote the co-existence of political parties and for leaders to explain to their supporters the importance of sustaining democracy,” he said.
Last week, MEC for Community Safety and Liaison Willies Mchunu called for national police intervention in Wembezi, in Estcourt, a “hot spot” plagued by political violence, with nine murders and attempted murders of ANC, IFP and National Freedom Party members.
He said he had written to Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, “urging him to talk to the provincial commissioner to look at management of police operations” in the area.
Willies Mchunu was at the meeting on Wednesday with provincial police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni as national Commissioner Riah Phiyega presented details of the national crime prevention strategy.
Senzo Mchunu promised to allocate more resources to ensure its effective implementation and the alignment of the provincial plan with it.
“We want KwaZulu-Natal to be at the forefront of the fight against crime. It is for this reason that in 2010 the provincial government launched the United Front Against Crime,” he said.
“Our feeling as government at that time was that it is important that we unite the people of this country and begin to move away from the attitude of often blaming the police and refine a multiprong strategy to fight crime.”
The Department of Community Safety and Liaison will be hosting debates aimed at finding solutions to political intolerance.
The premier said the province’s security machinery was being strengthened to ensure peace prevailed during the elections.
Daily News