Premier of Gauteng Panyaza Lesufi says the province government will soon reveal a plan that, according to him, would take the battle against crime to the next level.
Lesufi briefed the media outside the residence of Bokgabo Poo, 4, who was discovered slain and maimed in Tamboville last week.
The Premier and Gauteng’s MEC for Safety and Security, Faith Mazibuko, paid the family a visit after the discovery of the child’s body.
“We have to take this fight back to criminals which simply means that we have to capacitate our law enforcement agencies. We have to get every cent that we have as the state to empower the police. We can’t rely on any other thing but the capacity of the state to confront [crime] and attend to it.
“We will make announcements on this matter. We have finalised the strategy, we have costed it [and] we really believe that it will assist us to arrest some of the situations that we have. We have shared that strategy with the police, they are agreeing to it,” he said on Monday.
Lesufi added that budgets have been drawn up to ensure that the strategy is implemented and executed. “We need every place…in this province to be under the watch of the police. We are moving all the relevant budgets and resources everywhere. We are confronting this problem of crime and lawlessness. This is pure lawlessness and we must close it and confront it,” he said.
Lesufi condemned the murder of the child and called on justice to be meted out to anyone found guilty of the murder.
“We are coming here to strengthen the family, to give them the support and to tell the police to leave no stone unturned until we get everything that we need. What has happened to this family is cruel and painful. Even animals don’t behave like this.
“We are dealing with somebody who has been an enemy of our people. We are dealing with somebody who has done these things before. We are dealing with somebody who is heartless. We are dealing with somebody who we believe the law must not even give him a chance to get bail again,” Lesufi said.
He called on the community to assist the police in tracking down other parts of the child’s body which have still not been found.
“The body of [Poo], we still have parts that are still missing. We need to unleash all the law enforcement agencies…I have asked the police…to bring all the technology that they have at their disposal so that we can assist the family to close this chapter that is so painful,” he said.
Today, a 30-year-old man appeared before the Benoni Magistrate’s Court on kidnapping and murder charges relating to the case.
The case has been adjourned to October 24.