Tag Archives: The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management

North West recorded a general decrease in crime    

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Picture: North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management/Wessels Morweng/Supplied

By OBAKENG MAJE  

5 March 2025- The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng said the province has a general decrease in crime. Morweng, who released 2024/2025 Third Quarter Crime Statistics in Stilfontein on Wednesday, said the province has recorded a total of 26 999 cases, which are over 1100 cases less than for the corresponding period the previous year.

He further said this translates into a 3.9% decrease. Morweng added that, in total, the province had contributed 6.6% to the national crime total.

“Despite the reduction in crime generally, certain crime patterns were more prevalent in some areas. There are areas where we need to intensify our operations. Not surprisingly, one of these is in the area of illegal mining.

“As had been emphasised before, illegal mining is costing the economy of the country well over R70 billion annually in gold mining alone. Added to this, illegal mining has other causal ramifications with sinkholes the common immediate detriment,” he said.

According to Morweng, they are grateful for the successful operation in Stilfontein where though the problem is not completely over, it has been significantly stemmed. He said just as they were heaving a collective sigh of relief on the back of the Stilfontein operation success, another similar challenge reared its ugly head elsewhere in the province.

“The Vala Umgodi operation had recently arraigned 22 illegal mining suspects in the Bojanala District. Of particular interest is that the nationalities of the arrested are no longer just from Africa, but from Asia as well. Of those arrested previously, nationalities varied from Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi.

“Now added to those nationalities, we have some from Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Pakistan. For the reporting period, we had a 2.5% decrease on the contact crimes, 10.5% decrease on property related crimes and a 2.2% on other serious crimes category.

“Even though there was a general decrease in crime, contact related crimes increased by 2.3%. Malicious damage to property contributed

most cases which are 1969 cases. This is 48 more cases compared to the previous year, which is a 2.5% increase. Bojanala continued to lead particularly with serious and violent crimes with Rustenburg appearing in the top 12 stations in the country. Dr Kenneth Kaunda District is a provincial hotspot for illegal mining, sexual offences and all assaults.

“The district has both operational and non-operational gold mines, which contributes to the problem of illegal mining and associated crimes. This district also has a challenge of gangs, which are often involved in crimes such as rape, robberies, murder, assaults and drugs particularly in the Klerksdorp,” said Morweng.

“This is the similar pattern in Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati, who also recorded sexual offences. For the total figure 26 999 cases reported in the province, 11 958 were in Bojanala, 6 580 in Dr KK, 5530 in Ngaka Modiri Molema and 2931 in Dr RSM District.

He said Ikageng Township, in Potchefstroom continuously reports assault cases and appears in the National top 30 stations for this crime. Morweng said reported crimes in Ngaka Modiri Molema, include assault and murder and stock theft.

“Although murder cases went down by 48,14% compared to the previous year, it is worth noting that Boitekong in Rustenburg, Mmabatho in Mahikeng and Kanana in Orkney had reported more cases. There had been ten multiple murder cases resulting in 24 deaths,” he said.

He said the Ngaka Modiri Molema recorded an increase in the number of murder cases. Morweng said the province has recorded 146 rape cases less than the previous reporting period, which is a decrease of 14.3%.

“Despite this decrease, Mmabatho has recorded more rape cases than the previous year for the same period. Dr Kenneth Kaunda, however, still remains the provincial hotspot for rape cases. There had been 679 cases less in property related crimes which decreased 10.5%.

“The stock theft remains a problem in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District with most reported in Taung, Pudumong and Ganyesa. In majority of the cases, livestock stolen in the province is sold in Gauteng. As we have indicated before, we are intentional in fighting Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and sexual offences,” he said.

Morweng said they are all well aware that crime fighting though primarily is the mandate of the police, however, successful crime fighting requires all to work together.

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Road users urged to be vigilant amid rainy weather

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Picture: Some of the roads flooded

By OBAKENG MAJE

18 February 2025- The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng urged motorists, pedestrians and all other road users to be cautious as they navigate the roads. This comes after the province experiences extreme rainfall.

Morweng said according to weather reports, the North West is among the provinces that are anticipated to experience persistent wet weather conditions in variations throughout the week.

“We call for road users to navigate roads carefully and adhere to road safety protocols in order to deal with unexpected occurrences and avoid accidents.

“Road crashes have been proven to be susceptible to harsh weather conditions, it is for this reason that we encourage road users in general to be careful as they navigate expected downpours,” he said.

Morweng further said motorists must significantly reduce their speed and increase their following distance, ensuring that headlights are on to increase visibility. He added that they should also ensure that their vehicles are roadworthy, as well as to remain alert while driving and pay attention to surroundings at all times.

“We also encourage pedestrians to ensure that they wear visible and bright clothing, walk on the right side of the road, facing oncoming traffic, avoid jaywalking and cross roads only at designated crossing points.

“Furthermore, law enforcement officers will be on high alert during this time to deal with any eventualities,” said Morweng.

Meanwhile, the South African Weather Service (SAWS) spokesperson, Oupa Segalwe said: “There is a return of heavy showers across parts of South Africa from 16 until 20 February 2025. Heavy on-and-off showers are expected at times this Sunday across the North West and Gauteng provinces.

“This includes the northern region of Free State, Highveld areas of Mpumalanga and south-

western Limpopo. The resulting localised floods are expected to affect susceptible areas, bridges and roads.”

Segalwe said SAWS once again advises the communities living in low-lying areas and flat plains to be on the lookout for the disruptive rain across the central and eastern regions of South Africa. He said motorists and pedestrians should be extra cautious, where roads are slippery and/or visibility is affected.

“These conditions with cloudy to overcast skies are expected across South Africa along with subregions of ordinary showers and thundershowers. The rainfall accumulation is expected to be in the region of 20 to 50 millimetres (mm).

“Daytime temperatures in these regions are also expected to be cool. The transport of moist tropical air from continental low over Botswana is the main source of the current cloudy and showery conditions,” said Segalwe.

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More than 20 000 suspects arrested during Safer Festive Season Operations in North West

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Picture: The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng

By OBAKENG MAJE

6 February 2025- The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng said they have arrested 20 470 suspects for a variety of offences during the annual Safer Festive Season Operations. Morweng said this included 1258 undocumented foreign nationals and 129 suspects for murder.

He further said since November 2024, they have been absorbed by the resurfacing of illegal miners in Stilfontein. Morweng added that, as had been reported in several media engagements, 1916 illegal miners have been arrested after resurfacing at Margaret and Buffelsfontein Gold Mine at Shafts Number 10 and 11 between August 2024 and January 2025.

“We have activated the annual Safer Festive Operations at the Mmabatho Stadium in Mahikeng on 17 October 2024. The operation itself had begun two weeks earlier on 1 October 2024.

“The Operation which was led by the South African Police Services (SAPS), is a multi-disciplinary PROVJOINTS coordinated operation composed of the different pillars or identified threats and executed in pre-determined phases,” he said.

Morweng said during the provincial activation, the different law enforcement and security agencies were deployed to execute their line function operational mandates as encompassed in the different Operational Focus Pillars or areas. He said the operation had been highly successful in that law enforcement officers were able to among others foil planned Cash-in-Transit and ATM bombings.

“The operation was intended to focus but not limited to prevention of crimes against vulnerable groups, the elderly, women and children, as well as people with disability. Combatting aggravated robberies including vehicle hijackings, robberies at residential premises and business robberies.

“Enhancing border security and preventing stolen property from crossing the borders. Combating drugs and human trafficking and tracing of wanted suspects enforcement of legislation in respect of firearms, liquor and second-hand goods,” said Morweng.

He said they also ensured that there is compliance with Safety of the Sports and Recreational Events Act (SASREA). Morweng said they enforced by-laws targeting hijacked buildings, unlawful sale and use of fire crackers.

“Joint law enforcement operations to ensure compliance with road safety and other road regulations. Combatting drunken driving, speeding and all moving violations. Inspection of vehicles for roadworthiness. The operation will also be on the lookout for cloned vehicles and cloned licence plates.  

“Relentless multi-disciplinary operations, had also confiscated contrabands ranging from counterfeit goods, expired foods, as well as suspected stolen and robbed goods,” he said.

Morweng said it is as a result of these targeted intelligence led-operations, that the province had a relatively quieter festive period. He said there were festivities across the province, including Mahika Mahikeng Cultural Music Festival, the annual Makapanstad Trooper Festival and the Potchefstroom Dam Music Festival.

“We also had tourists visiting Sun City and Hartbeespoort Dam, but all those went with no incident thanks to this Safer Festive Operations. We did experience some uneasiness at some point, especially in December 2024, when there were unusually long queues of trucks at three of the province’s commercial ports of entry with Botswana at Kopfontein, Ramatlabama and Swartkopfontein.

“This followed the new regulations at the border on the Botswana side which resulted in gridlock. This posed health, security and economic threats and needed an urgent intervention,” said Morweng.

Meanwhile, the Chairperson the PROVJOINTS and acting North West Police Commissioner, Major General Patrick Asaneng said: “I immediately engaged the Botswana authorities and within two days the traffic congestion and logjam were eased allowing free unobstructed movement of goods and people between the two countries.

“Furthermore, our operations included visitations to licensed liquor dispensing premises and second-hand good dealers to ensure they comply with the law. We closed down 481 unlicensed liquor premises as they contravened regulations.”

Asaneng said application of the law and compliance enforcement was not only confined to ordinary members of the community. He said they had also recently arrested four police officers in connection with the escape of one of the resurfaced illegal miners, Neo ‘Tiger’ Tshoaeli.

“A week ago, they arrested two suspects who had crossed the border and were found to be in possession of crystal meth with an estimated street value of over R30 million in Zeerust.

“Two weeks ago, we also arrested three suspects in Hartbeespoort Dam with hijacked goods worth more than R2 million Rand. The highlights of some of the successes of these operations by law enforcement are highlighted by the five life terms that were imposed on the accused who was found guilty of aggravated robberies and five counts rape,” said Asaneng.

He said other is triple life sentences imposed on a rape accused, who was found guilty of three counts of rape committed between May 2010 and September 2023. Asaneng said sadly, this criminality which knows no bounds claimed the life of Sergeant Fundiswa Motlhaoleng (45), who was gunned down on 14 January 2025, in Klerksdorp as she was on her way to work.

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MRM calls for a probe after nine NTI buses torched 

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Picture: Nine NTI buses torched/Supplied 

By KEDIBONE MOLAETSI

4 February 2025- The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng, has called for in-depth investigations into the cause of a fire that broke out at the North West Transport Investment (NTI). The fire, which was discovered in the early hours of Monday morning at a sleeping ground in Moretele village, destroyed nine buses at a go.

Morweng said NTI management have opened a case with the South African Police Service (SAPS) and further investigations will determine the circumstances around the cause of the fire as well as the extent of the damage. He also expressed dismay at the unfortunate turn of events at the entity.

“We have recently turned a new leaf with our intervention at the entity by addressing the leadership instability experienced for some time now. We have also ensured that employees received their salaries as promised. 

“Therefore, we believe that we have made great effort to assist the entity in realising its full potential. This, however, is a set back and overall unfortunate incident,” said Morweng. 

He added that, at this point it is unclear whether this was an accident or an act of sabotage, and therefore they make a call to the authorities to deal with the matter decisively. Morweng said the NTI Acting Group CEO, Dr Dikobe and management at the entity has plans in place to limit the impact of services rendered to commuters in and around the Moretele. 

“At the same time, the department as a shareholder in the company, will continue to play a supportive role in order to ensure that service delivery is not compromised and that commuters are not left stranded,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Convenor of the Moral Regeneration Movement (MRM) in North West, Pastor Lesiba Kgwele said: “The MRM expressed concern regarding the blaze. The civil society led movement promoting the Charter of Positive Values (CoPV), suggested that the incident that took place could be an atrocious and despicable act of economic sabotage.

“It cannot be a coincidence that we are losing valuable assets and infrastructure across the province to fires. We therefore call on law enforcement agencies not to leave any stone unturned until those responsible are behind bars.” 

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Nine NTI buses set on fire

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Picture: Nine NTI buses set on fire/Supplied

By KEDIBONE MOLAETSI

3 February 2025- The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng, has called for in depth investigations into the cause of a fire that broke out at the North West Transport Investment (NTI). The fire which was discovered in the early hours of Monday morning at a sleeping ground in Moretele village, destroyed nine buses at a go.

Morweng said NTI management, have opened a case with the South African Police Service (SAPS) and further investigations will determine the circumstances around the cause of the fire as well as the extent of the damage. He also expressed dismay at the unfortunate turn of events at the entity.

“We have recently turned a new leaf with our intervention at the entity by addressing the leadership instability experienced for some time now. We have also ensured that employees received their salaries as promised. Therefore, we believe that we have made great effort to assist the entity in realising its full potential.

“This however is a set back and overall unfortunate incident. At this point it is unclear whether this was an accident or an act of sabotage, and therefore we make a call to the authorities to deal with the matter decisively,” said Morweng.

He further said the NTI Acting Group CEO, Dr Dikobe and management at the entity has plans in place to limit the impact of services rendered to commuters in and around the Moretele. Morweng said at the meantime, the department as a shareholder in the company, will continue to play a supportive role in order to ensure that service delivery is not compromised and that commuters are not left stranded.

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100 people died in car crashes across North West during festive season

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Picture: The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng

By OBAKENG MAJE

27 January 2025- The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng said 100 people lost their lives after the province experienced 87 crashes during the 2024 festive season. Morweng, who released the 2024/2025 Festive Season Road Safety campaign report in Mahikeng today said, their campaign was based on four pillars such as responsible driving, pedestrian safety, enforcement and education and collaboration.

He further said they included the focus on pedestrians as previous year’s statistics had indicated a growing number of pedestrians, who become victims of crashes and often at late hours of the day. Morweng added that compared to the year before, for the 2023/2024 travels, they recorded 98 fatalities from 86 crashes.

“For this year, the 2024/2025 festive period, we have a slight increase of 100 fatalities from 98 crashes. Despite this slight increase, the province remains second best performing in terms of least recorded fatalities.

“It is also worth mentioning that, we did not record any major crash, meaning where four or more lives are lost in a single accident. The critical route remained the N4 from our boundary with Gauteng in Brits to Dinokana at the border with Botswana,” he said.

Morweng said they have lost eight lives on this road followed closely by N12, where five lives were lost in crashes that occurred between Potchefstroom and Bloemhof. He said the other critical road is R24 that links Rustenburg and Krugersdorp in Gauteng, which recorded four fatalities followed by N14 which also recorded four fatalities. 

“In terms of the Districts, Bojanala has recorded a total of 40 fatalities from 35 crashes. Ngaka Modiri Molema has recorded 27 fatalities from 22 crashes. Dr Kenneth Kaunda District has recorded 23 fatalities from 20 crashes. Lastly, Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati has recorded 10 fatalities from ten crashes,” said Morweng.

He said of 100 fatalities, 38 were passengers, 29 were drivers, another 29 were pedestrians, 3 fell off the moving vehicles and one was a cyclist. Morweng said time also played a role in the number of crashes hence they always advise road users to avoid travelling at night. 

“Of the 100 fatalities, 61 of those happened between 6pm to 6am the following morning. In between, meaning during the day from 6am to 6pm, we lost 39 lives. 

“Our approach this time was different. Instead of having traditional law enforcement operations which are commonly known as roadblocks, we had patrols where our officers were monitoring moving violations. This we believe reduced accidents and instead increasing general compliance with the road traffic regulations,” he said.

Morweng said this as drivers tend to obey the law in the presence of traffic officers and increase speed once they have passed enforcement operations. He said they had also been operating for 24 hours, especially on N4.

“The following challenges were encountered during the deployment and contributed to cancellation of some of our plans to ensure visibility on the roads. Rain and flooding of some of the arterial roads, especially N14, outside Delareyville.

“Protests by communities also impacted negatively on our plans as often we had to divert officers to deal with them rather than focusing on national roads. In conclusion, I want to express my profound gratitude to all law enforcement officers for their hard work in reducing numbers of crashes,” said Morweng.

He said when they enjoyed the festive season holidays, the law enforcement personnel were out there enduring all forms of weather patterns by being visible on the roads.

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Morweng to release 2024/25 Festive Season Road Safety campaign report

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Picture: The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng

By REGINALD KANYANE

27 January 2025- The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng is set to release the 2024/25 Festive Season Road Safety Campaign Report today. The statistics will provide an overview of the provincial performance in line with the efforts to reduce road fatalities and promote responsible road use.

Morweng spokesperson, Charles Matlou said: “The event will take place at MEC Boardroom, Tirelo Building, Mmabatho at 10am.”

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StilfonteinMineSaga: ‘Heads expected to roll as Tiger escapes and leaves no trails’  

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Picture: The alleged kingpin, James Neo Tshoaeli/Supplied  

By OBAKENG MAJE

20 January 2025- The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng said he is disenchanted, but also angry following the reports of an alleged escape of one of the kingpins in the illegal mining activities in Stilfontein.

Morweng said, according to the police reports, James Neo Tshoaeli, a Lesotho national known as Tiger who resurfaced from shaft 11 in Stilfontein last week, was never booked into any of the police stations, where illegal miners are being booked.

He further said this is an embarrassment that cannot be tolerated when you look into resources that are put together to eradicate illegal mining activities, which so far have been successful. Morweng added that, so the news of escape comes as a shock.

“This person was fingered by illegal miners who have resurfaced from the shaft and a video in police possession showing him as one of the brutal people underground who controlled all operations, killed, tortured and assaulted many and even kept food away from other illegal miners.

“I call on members of the public to notify nearby police stations when they come across Tiger as he is considered dangerous and fugitive of justice The fact of the matter is that, there are many good police officers out there and if there are those who are involved in aiding Tiger, an example should be made out of them to show that they have chosen a wrong career in the police,” he said.

 Morweng said those police officers must be dealt with harshly. He said they cannot tolerate those kinds of officers in their ranks.    

Meanwhile, the Chairperson of North West Provincial Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Community Safety and Transport Management, Freddy Sonakile said they are deeply concerned by reports that the alleged ‘Kingpin’ in the Stilfontein illegal mining saga has escaped police custody after resurfacing from Shaft 11 last week. Sonakile said this incident is particularly troubling as the police have been making strides through Operation Vala Umgodi to combat illegal mining.

“We urge the police to dedicate all resources towards capturing the alleged kingpin and to thoroughly investigate how this escape occurred. More concerning is the report that the kingpin was never booked into various police stations along with other illegal miners, suggesting a possible inside job.

“The committee previously engaged with SAPS in an in-committee meeting, during an oversight visit to Stilfontein last year, October 2024, where concerns were raised by the committee about the involvement of kingpins in illegal mining operations and alleged collusion with police officials,” he said.

Sonakile said at that time, the committee was assured that the situation was under control, even though the recent incident raises serious doubts. He said once the dust settles, they will revisit Stilfontein to conduct further oversight and request a joint meeting with all relevant stakeholders, including the Departments of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE), Home Affairs and the police.

“We urge the police to act swiftly in re-arresting the alleged kingpin. We believe the kingpin holds vital information in uncovering the real masterminds behind these illegal mining operations. Heads must roll, and police officials complicit in criminal activities must be held accountable.

“This incident highlights critical deficiencies in intelligence operations and raises concerns about the integrity of policing efforts in addressing the illegal mining crisis,” said Sonakile.

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NTI employees’ salaries to be expedited

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Picture: The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng/Supplied

By OBAKENG MAJE

13 January 2025- The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng has directed that the payment of North West Transport Investment (NTI) salaries be expedited. In a media briefing held on 6 January 2025, Morweng undertook to ensure that the payment was processed within a week.

“Our interest as a shareholder representative is to ensure that the employees are being paid. Our team is looking at the possibilities of making sure that that is being done within ten days.

“We would also want to make sure that there is a solution to the non-payment of salaries. In an effort to ensure stability at the entity, the Chief Director for Corporate Services at the Department, Dr Ntlhopeng Dikobe, was seconded to NTI to oversee its revival as an accounting officer,” he said.

Morweng further said this was shortly after the court process, which the department had embarked upon to remove the BRP. He added that despite the intention to apply for a leave to appeal, which meant the status quo remains, Dikobe engaged the BRP to ensure that creditors, primarily of whom are the employees, are being paid.

“The resolution of the meeting is that an external payment processor will be engaged to ensure salaries are being paid within the period as stipulated by me. This is the same process that the Head of Department, Dr Hans Kekana had utilised earlier when the department was intervening in yet another payment imbroglio at the entity.

“It has also been agreed that all employees of the entity must go back to work. This includes workers who had been protesting in Mahikeng since the middle of December 2024,” said Morweng.

He said as a result of this intervention, those employees who had been in Mahikeng had since left. Morweng said the BRP will also prepare a report for the shareholder accounting for the work done including the money that has been appropriated for the entity as an intervention.

“We are committed to visit the NTI depots to engage with employees. This has also been earlier done by both Kekana and Dikobe,” he said.

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‘Stop placing objects across the roads or get arrested’

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Picture: The objects placed across the road in Kraaipan village, near Mahikeng/Supplied

By BAKANG MOKOTO

6 January 2025- The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng has warned community members, who place dangerous objects on the road to expect harsh punishments for their deeds. Morweng said any act that places the lives of motorists and commuters at risk will not be tolerated.

“This comes after pictures were shared on social media of broken bottles placed across the road at the entrance of the Kraaipan village, near Mahikeng.

“Anybody who notices such cowardly acts of stupidity must inform any law enforcement agency and they will not hesitate to make a good example with the perpetrators,” he said.

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