National Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Fannie Masemola has sent a stern warning to extortion syndicates as he promised more boots on the ground in hotspots across the country.
Speaking during a media briefing in Johannesburg on Thursday, Masemola said just in the past two weeks, 14 extortionists were shot and killed during confrontation with police in various provinces.
From April 1, 2023, to August, 31, 2024, 319 extortion cases had been reported at various police stations.
A breakdown is as follows: Western Cape registered the highest cases with 119, followed by Eastern Cape with 82, KwaZulu-Natal with 63 and Gauteng with 31 cases.
Masemola revealed that 151 arrests were linked to these cases.
A breakdown per province is as follows: 69 suspects were arrested in the Western Cape, 24 were held in the Eastern Cape, 23 were arrested in Gauteng and 20 more were apprehended in KwaZulu-Natal.
Masemola said the most brazen of the alleged extortionists were in the Eastern Cape Province in the town of Mthatha where three followed and tailed National Intervention Unit (NIU) members to their base.
The officers had been conducting stop and searches in Mthatha during tracing operations and had earlier confiscated firearms from these alleged extortionists.
“These extortionists indeed got what they were looking for. They shot at our police officers – who were ready to defend and assert the authority of the state. Three of the extortionists are being buried this weekend. Six others were also shot and killed in confrontation with KwaZulu-Natal (officers), ” said Masemola.
He said in Gauteng, an Emfuleni local municipality employee and a branch party leader were arrested.
The pair and others are accused of extorting money from a contractor who had been installing fibre infrastructure network in Sharpeville in the Vaal area.
Still in Gauteng, three suspects were arrested in the Johannesburg CBD in a joint operation between Gauteng organised crime and JMPD earlier this week.
The three are accused of causing work to stop at a construction site, because they were demanding money from the contractors.
Masemola said in Cape Town, one extortionist, a Zimbabwean foreign national, was arrested over the murder of a 4-year-old girl in Joe Slovo informal settlement in Milnerton.
The little girl was shot at the time when her killer and his friends were demanding protection fee money from a local spaza shop owner. The little girl was hit by a stray bullet and died from a gunshot wound.
“With Gauteng, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape having been identified as provinces that have the most reported cases, we are adding capacity and pumping resources to the Economic Infrastructure Task Teams (EITT) to prevent, combat and investigate incidents of extortion and other crimes,” said Masemola.
He said criminal groupings involved in some of these cases have been identified and the intelligence and detectives are on the ground, piecing together information to ensure perpetrators are brought to book.
“The crime of extortion requires a specialised investigative capacity and that is why we have deployed specialist teams led by the DPCI, crime intelligence and organised crime units to lead these investigations,” he said.
Police officers are not spared, and those to be found to be on the wrong side of the law have been arrested.
“It is, however, of grave concern that seven police officers and a civilian were arrested by the Hawks for their involvement in extortion-related crimes in Durban, in Kwazulu-Natal. They are accused of soliciting about R100 000 from a business owner after confiscating cigarettes from his business premises and demanding that he pay them to make the case disappear,” he said.
The seven have already appeared in court on a charge of extortion, corruption and defeating the administration of justice.
“It is disappointing but at the same time pleasing to have our own arrested. This indeed provides the organisation with the opportunity to continuously rid itself of criminal elements,” Masemola said.
He revealed that police had in the last five years, dismissed 2 118 police officers. “This is a large number, which demonstrates our commitment to deal with rotten elements. We will therefore continue to act decisively against our own members who do not honour their oath of office.”
The Star