By Zukile Majova
KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi is unhappy about reports of prisoners living “soft lives” in jail.
Mkhwanazi, whose police units have been accused of being trigger-happy after killing a dozen dangerous criminals in one week, said police cannot fight crime by chatting with criminals.
“We cannot fight these criminals by negotiating with them. We have to be aggressive with them.”
He was upset about a recent video showing criminals bragging that they were living like royalty at taxpayers’ expense.
Raids followed the video in the country’s prisons, where officers found flat-screen TVs, PlayStations, drugs, cellphones and wireless internet modems.
“The unfortunate part is that we take them off the streets, and they get soft lives in prison,” Mkhwanazi told the provincial government at the Social Crime Prevention Summit at the Olive Convention Centre in Durban.
KZN Premier Thami Ntuli threw his weight behind the police at the summit, saying criminals have been killing people with impunity.
“Criminals have been wiping people out. Yes, I know some people are concerned that when they come face to face with the police, the criminals end up dead.
“But how many people have died in our province at the hands of these criminals?”
Ntuli said police should not lose their lives at the hands of criminals. Too often in the province, armed gangs resist arrest and engage police in gun battles.
Meanwhile, on Friday, a police officer was shot by suspects during a shootout which left three hijackers dead at T Section in Umlazi.
On Wednesday, police killed five criminals during a gun battle in a double-storied flat on Standard Road in Cato Crest, Durban.
Pictured above: KZN police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi addressing the crime prevention summit in Durban.
Source: X
