Premier leads urgent meeting on crime

Mpumalanga Premier Mandla Ndlovu held an urgent meeting with members of the provincial executive and key stakeholders to address growing concerns around crime, illegal businesses, undocumented foreign nationals and illegal land occupation in the province.

The meeting focused on the work of various government clusters, including the security cluster, economic cluster and local government sector, as the province moves to strengthen law enforcement, compliance and community safety.

Following the meeting, Ndlovu called on the security cluster to reduce the rate of borderline crime and intensify search operations aimed at identifying undocumented foreign nationals.

“Security Cluster to reduce borderline crime rate. Intensify search operations to identify undocumented foreign nationals,” Ndlovu said.

The Premier also directed the economic cluster to intensify the closure of illegal and unregistered informal businesses. He said government must assess the compliance of shops to reduce the risk of poisonous food outlets.

“Economic cluster to intensify closure of illegal and unregistered informal businesses. Assess the compliance of shops to mitigate the risk of poisonous food outlets,” he said.

Ndlovu further called on the local government sector to enforce compliance with municipal by-laws and take firm action against illegal land occupation.

“Local Government sector to enforce compliance to the by-laws. Eradicate illegal land occupation,” he said.

The meeting took place as the provincial government continues to respond to concerns around cross-border crime, illegal trading, food safety and unlawful occupation of land in communities across Mpumalanga.

The interventions are expected to guide coordinated action by various departments, municipalities and law enforcement agencies.

The provincial government said the measures form part of its commitment to building “a province that works for all”.