South Africans have a patriotic duty and responsibility as citizens and communities to work with the government in dealing with the contextual causes of criminal behaviour, Deputy President David Mabuza said on Sunday.
Speaking at the annual South African Police Services (SAPS) Memorial Commemoration Day in Pretoria on Sunday, Mabuza said a police-public partnership would go a long way in restoring stability and order as the country faces high levels of crime.
“Partnerships between the police and the public should be widely supported and strengthened by all citizens and communities. We must all join the call by the Minister of Police ‘to work together in squeezing the space for criminals to zero’,” Mabuza said.
Active police-public partnerships, the deputy president said, would prevent the wanton murder of police officers.
“We emphasise this because the maintenance of law and order is not only the function of the South African Police Service whose members are killed while effecting arrests, responding to false complaints, at stop-and-search operations, in vehicle accidents, and by suspects resisting arrest,” he said.
Rather, Mabuza added, the police service needed and required visible and tangible cooperation from communities to reduce it in society.
“The police cannot discharge their function alone. Instead, they need the daily cooperation and continuous assistance from the community to deal decisively with crime,” the deputy president said.
Some 26 police officers and reservists, who died in the line of duty during the past year, were celebrated at the event.
NM/jn/APA