The police’s efforts to make OR Tambo International Airport a crime-free zone have yielded results but more still needs to be done to intercept criminal syndicates operating in and around the national key point‚ DA shadow minister of police Zakhele Mbhele says.
Mbhele conducted an oversight visit at South Africa’s busiest airport last week‚ a year after then national police minister Fikile Mbalula intervened by implementing the Integrated Multi-Disciplinary Tactical Security Plan following a brazen crime wave.
“The incidents of crime have been reduced but there are still challenges. There is understaffing of the police‚ manpower needs to be beefed up to operate better despite improvement‚” he told TimesLive.
“There is a need for crime intelligence to be beefed up‚ in particular because we were told that the officer in charge of crime intelligence at the airport is not permanently stationed at the airport. He has only been placed here temporarily.
“We need permanent appointments for stability and certainty so that expert knowledge and understanding can be built up in this specialised environment‚” he added.