In a compelling address during the two-day Anti-Corruption Dialogue held in Boksburg, President Cyril Ramaphosa issued an emotional plea to the people of South Africa. The government faces a daunting challenge as it strives to intensify its response to escalating criminality within the country.
President Ramaphosa underscored the formidable task at hand, acknowledging that the sheer scale of the criminal landscape significantly outnumbers the nation’s law enforcement agencies. With nearly 100,000 police officers tasked with maintaining law and order for a population of 62 million, the challenges loom large.
Crime hotspots, particularly in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape, continue to pose serious concerns for public safety. President Ramaphosa emphasized the need for a collective and united effort in the fight against crime, recognizing the limitations of law enforcement alone.
“Those police will never be in every household, in every street. In the end, the fight against criminality is a societal fight,” President Ramaphosa asserted. He called upon citizens to break the silence and play an active role in identifying and confronting criminal behavior, particularly instances of rape and murder.
The battle against corruption, a pervasive issue in South Africa, was also a focal point of President Ramaphosa’s address. He emphasized that combatting corruption is a shared responsibility that extends to every individual in society. The President expressed hope that the Anti-Corruption Dialogue would yield a wealth of strategies and measures to effectively combat this deep-rooted issue.
As South Africa grapples with these challenges, President Ramaphosa’s impassioned call to action underscores the imperative of unity and cooperation in addressing criminality and corruption within the nation.