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The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) calls on the governing ANC-PA-EFF-Al Jama-ah coalition to urgently prioritise the recruitment, selection and appointment of a full-time Chief of Police for the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD).

The position of Chief of Police in the City has been vacant since the end of March 2020. The JMPD, which is the largest metropolitan police service in the country, has now entered its 5th year with acting Chiefs of Police who are appointed on a rotational basis every 3 to 6 months. This arrangement, exacerbated by the fact that the Public Safety Department itself has not had a full-time Head of Department for more than 2 years, is most certainly unsustainable. Crime statistics in Joburg support exactly this conclusion.

Several police stations in the CoJ form part of the top 30 police stations recording serious and violent crime in South Africa. The official crime statistics for the 3rd quarter of the 2023/2024 financial year indicated that the Diepsloot police station recorded the 2nd greatest number of cases of assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, while Ivory Park followed in 3rd place for the same crime category.

The Moroka police station in Soweto led the country in kidnappings, while Orange Farms followed in 3rd position in the country in the same crime category. Residents of the City do not feel safe even in their homes. The Roodepoort police station occupied the 4th spot in the country in the crime of robbery at residential premises during the same period.

With crime levels this high across the City, surely the appointment of a full-time Chief of Police for the JMPD should be prioritised. It boggles the mind that this government doesn’t see the appointment of a Chief of Police as a priority.

We will be writing to the political leadership of the City to demand that the recruitment, selection and appointment of a full-time Chief of Police for the JMPD be treated as a matter of extreme urgency in order to stabilise the Public Safety Department and to contribute to the prevention of crime across the City.

Issued by Cllr Solomon Maila - DA Johannesburg Shadow MMC of Public Safety