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

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

NEWS Leave a comment

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.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

MRM calls for a probe after nine NTI buses torched 

NEWS Leave a comment

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.” 

taungdailynews@gmail.com

Nine NTI buses set on fire

NEWS Leave a comment

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.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

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

NEWS Leave a comment

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.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

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

NEWS Leave a comment

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.”

taungdailynews@gmail.com

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

NEWS Leave a comment

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.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

NTI employees’ salaries to be expedited

NEWS Leave a comment

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.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

‘Stop placing objects across the roads or get arrested’

NEWS Leave a comment

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.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

Stock-theft remains stubbornly high in Taung and Pudimoe

NEWS Leave a comment

Picture: Some if cattle allegedly stolen/Generic

By OBAKENG MAJE

18 December 2024- The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng said he is disturbed by the pattern of some of 85 police stations in North West, consistently appearing in the the Top 30 reporting crimes in the country. However, Morweng said, he is pleased to note a significant 4.3% drop of sexual offences, but it was equally depressing to note an incredible 20.3% increase of murder cases.

He further said from July to September 2024 reporting period, the picture has improved slightly due to intensive and incessant work by the police. Morweng added that even with that, it is worrying that there are still areas where crime remains unacceptably high as indicated in the percentage reduction of the 17 community reported crimes, which only decreased by a mere 3.3%. 

“Contact crimes which generally are a challenge were reduced by 1.7% and this is due to the nominal increases of some crimes, such as murder which increased by 4.2%, attempted murder by 8.2% and common robbery by 5.7%.

“The reason why there appears to be an exponential increase in multiple murder, is due to the fact that each case has a separate docket and is treated as one. For the reporting period of July to September 2024, there had been 13 incidents of multiple murders recorded,” said Morweng.

He said in one incident, 8 people were killed and in another, 5 people were murdered and 3 in the other incident. Morweng said the other 10 incidents had two people murdered in each.

“In total, 31 people were killed in these 13 multiple murder incidents. It is worth noting that sexual offences were reduced by 3.5% and this is despite the challenges that are associated with the prevention of this crime.

“Sexual offence incidents often occur in private residences or where the victims and perpetrators are in some kind of a relationship or are known to each other,” he said.

Morweng said for the period under review, reported rape cases were reduced by 2.9%. He said out of the 539 reported cases 270, which is 50% of the cases, occurred at residences, either of the victim or the perpetrator.

“In an attempt to address these types of crime, multidisciplinary social crime prevention programmes have been initiated, which include encouraging victims of Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBV&F) to speak up.

“Crimes against women and children remains the priority of the police as part of the government GBVF implementation plan. For this reporting period, fewer incidents of murder of children were recorded while incidents of murder of women remain comparatively high,” said Morweng.

He said this is a further testament of the moral deprivation that permeates the family values and social fabric. Morweg said this unfortunately is against the objectives of the National Development Plan (NDP), which emphasizes that all people including women and children are equal and free like everybody else to live their lives unimpeded.

“Police alone will not be able to address this phenomenon but we need to restore our family values which focuses on respecting people irrespective of religious, gender or any other differences between us as human beings.

“Impressively stock theft has decreased by 6.1% though there are some areas where this crime is still stubbornly high. Taung and Pudimoe, both in Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District, remain the province’s problematic areas with both stations ranked number 7 and 23 respectively in the country,” he said. 

Morweng said they have recorded a remarkable 16.4% of crimes detected and prevented as a result of police action. He said the target for police detection of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition was however not met.

“This remains a challenge especially because many of the reported serious and violent crimes such as robbery aggravated and murder are committed with firearms.

“It is important for police intelligence and the community including community policing forums to work together to reduce the prevalence of illegal firearms,” said Morweng.

He said there are a variety of factors that contribute to the high levels of crime. Morweng said these factors which require a multi-disciplinary approach, include proliferation of illegal firearms and dangerous weapons.

“The other socio-economic factor is the expansion of informal settlements with spatial development by municipalities.

“The other problem which exacerbates informal settlement is the influx of undocumented persons. For instance, the North West does not share borders with Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Lesotho,” he said.

Morweng said, but curiously, some arrested suspects of the murder, damage to infrastructure, illegal mining and stock theft are by undocumented nationals from these countries.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

Morweng launches safer festive season campaign 

NEWS Leave a comment

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

By OBAKENG MAJE 

6 December 2024- The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng said the government has adopted a comprehensive strategy to address the heightened risk of criminal activity due to increased movement of people, especially at the end of the year. 

Morweng, who activated the provincial leg of safer festive season operations said, whilst many of the law-abiding citizens are planning festivities with their families away from their homes, criminals are similarly planning on how they will pounce and steal what does not belong to them. 

He further said the activation is to ensure that they disrupt and obstruct those plans. Morweng added that the operation they activated in the province will run for 123 days beginning the first of this month to the end of January 2025. 

“This will run in conjunction with Operation Shanela, which has been very successful. Criminals have declared war on the state and we are simply accepting the challenge. We are ready and all men and women in blue are hereby given a directive. 

“The police must at all times fondly remember their oath. Among others, your guides that you will address the root causes of crime in the community. It also guides that you will prevent any action which may threaten the safety or security of any community member,” he said. 

Morweng said as they do so, they should remember at all times to uphold the constitution and abide by the rule of law. He said they should ensure all law-abiding citizens are and feel safe and live in a secure environment.

“Carry out your responsibility with integrity and dignity and never dishonour and degrade the image of the police. Wear your uniform with pride and treat everyone courteously and respectfully, whilst ensuring laws of the Republic are obeyed.

“As you carry out your responsibilities, you will rile many people who will accuse you of all kinds of things. Remember that yours is not just a career, but a duty to the nation. As you weather the storm of the critics, take to heart the words of an ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius, whose words still resonate today,” said Morweng. 

He also reminded the police that while many will see and applaud their excellence, many others will criticize and accuse them of ineptness. Morweng said Confucius once said: “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it”. 

“Don’t expect and wait for the applause because even the best performers are often not admired. Don’t wait for an ovation and expect praises because you will wait in perpetuity as no criminal will praise a police officer for work well done. 

“It’s going to be a long four months, but we trust in your ability to ensure the citizens are safe. We trust in you to ensure that all criminals speak ill of you whilst holiday makers speak well of you. In you, we trust that your discipline will stand you in good stead in the face of provocation and vexation,” he said.

taungdailynews@gmail.com