By Everson Luhanga
David Tembe was once entrusted with keeping the residents of Johannesburg safe as MMC for Safety. He said dangerous criminals have taken over the inner city.
Tembe, who recently resigned as a councillor, said the person who will save the Johannesburg CBD from syndicate criminals has not yet been born.
Speaking to Scrolla.Africa from his office in Johannesburg, he said the only way to deal with the deterioration of the inner city is by proper police action, known as block-by-block patrolling, zonal policing and the introduction of municipal courts that will prosecute by-law offenders as soon as they are arrested.
He said the courts should not be flooded with nuisance offences and should deal with criminal matters. Nuisance offences include urinating, spitting, and littering as well as driving offences like drunken driving and illegal parking, inconsiderate driving, reckless driving and speeding.
“You can’t flood the courts with by-law offenders. Municipal offenders should be taken to task immediately and prosecuted within 24 hours. That is how leaders in other parts of the world have maintained and cleaned their cities,” he said.
He said introducing block patrollers does not mean turning the city into a police state but rather, reclaiming it from dangerous criminals.
He said when he was the MMC, he initiated the deployment strategy at hotspots and escape routes and assigned police officers to patrol and mount roadblocks there.
Tembe resigned from the council at the end of June. He said there was no hope of saving the city because of the turnover of personnel.
This was the result of votes of no confidence that happened regularly in the council as parties vied for power — thus leaving the administration little time to fight crime.
Tembe, also the former Johannesburg Metro Police Chief, said he comes from a world where someone is only fired after being found guilty of an offence or misconduct at work — and after proper channels are followed.
“But in coalition politics, it works the other way around. If you don’t have the numbers in the council, you get fired. I can’t work like that. I am a professional. I had no choice but to resign,” he said.
Tembe said it also puts him off that people are appointed to positions because they are politically deployed and not because they are competent.
“Where I come from, we only march for the fallen heroes. I can’t sing, I can’t dance or march, and I failed to clap while I was a councillor for nearly a year. So I decided to leave,” he said.
Pictured above: Johannesburg
