National police commissioner Fannie Masemola has appointed a team of senior officers dedicated to work with business to accelerate the fight against crime, according to a high level source in the government.
The source told Business Day on Tuesday that the commissioner’s intervention, on the orders of President Cyril Ramaphosa, will allow the police to access the private sector resources it needs in the battle against crime.
The police will have access to experts that only the private sector can afford and resources only big business can offer to fast-track priority investigations.
Organised business has expressed concern about the rampant increase in crime, with key sectors in the economy such as construction, transport and tourism being the hardest hit.
It is hoped that teaming up with the private sector will provide prosecution authorities with enough evidence to present stronger cases in court.
On Tuesday, Ramaphosa met CEOs representing more than 115 companies in SA to discuss how to reduce crime. The CEOs have signed a pledge to address the country’s crippling logistics constraints and crime wave. They hope to replicate the successful private sector contributions to the electricity crisis through the National Energy Crisis Committee (Necom).
The initiative is designed to work through high-level joint structures in each of the priority areas, overseen by a joint strategic operations committee that will ideally meet every six weeks.
The initiative is a huge mobilisation of the private sector that shines a harsh spotlight on the weak capacity of the state to create investor-friendly conditions for business, which is losing patience with Ramaphosa who cruised to an election victory in 2019 on promises to revive the economy.
CEOs such as Discovery’s Adrian Gore, Anglo American’s Nolitha Fakude, Remgro’s Jannie Durand and Sanlam’s Paul Hanratty were among the 10 to 15 CEOs that attended Tuesday’s meeting. Government ministers and directors-general, as well as Eskom and Transnet leaders, were also expected to join.
“As criminal activity becomes increasingly sophisticated and organised, we must ensure that our law enforcement and prosecution agencies are even stronger and more advanced. At the same time, we need to safeguard their independence from interference of any kind,” Ramaphosa is said to have told the closed-door meeting with the CEOs.
Business Day reported on Tuesday that Business Unity SA (Busa) had complained there has not been much progress in establishing the crime and corruption workstream, saying security and police leaders are reluctant to sit down and share information.
“I am pleased that there has been continued engagement between the National Prosecuting Authority [NPA], law enforcement agencies and business to identify areas in which joint work can be undertaken to strengthen the fight against corruption and crime,” Ramaphosa is understood to have said.
Business has also set up a stand-alone entity called Business Against Crime to co-ordinate support of the police, NPA and other state security agencies.
Critics of the Ramaphosa administration’s partnership with big business charge that they will prove as frustrating as ever for the private sector, which has tried repeatedly to work with the government and get it to take action on the economy.
There are concerns that it may achieve little other than to give Ramaphosa and his party credibility ahead of next year’s election. However, most business leaders believe they have no option but to try to help.
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