MOSSEL BAY NEWS -   Colonel Khutula Masakala, commander, Da Gamaskop Police Station:

It is with a heart filled with gratitude that I address each and every one of the Mossel Bay community, and the community in the Da Gamaskop policing area in particular.

My gratitude comes from the many success stories in the fight against crime and all thanks go to the collective efforts of SAPS and the community.

Thank you for getting involved, and thank you for supporting and trusting us. We stood together through Covid in 2021 and we had to adapt to the circumstances. Our crime-fighting efforts were different, but yet again we prevailed.

Unfortunately, we then were faced with the new pandemic of gender-based violence and femicide. We soon realised we would have to rally behind all our stakeholders to be able to fight back. I want to thank our Community Policing Forum and neighbourhood watch structures for the role they play in raising awareness and educating our community.

I believe we need to focus our efforts on the misuse of liquor and drugs, as this seems to be one of the most prominent factors resulting in the decline of our moral fibre as a society.

As police management, we want to invest in our children and our youth. We want to encourage our youth to take responsibility for community safety by getting involved in our volunteer programmes like the neighbourhood watches and the community policing forum youth desks. The Community in Blue programme is a new concept, where our youngsters can get involved.

I want to say congratulations in advance to all our youngsters who wrote exams, especially our matrics, but I would like to say to those who were not successful that there will always be a second chance. Don't be discouraged, keep the faith and stay positive.

As police management, we are concerned about the number of assault cases being reported and we plead with our community members to be more patient with one another. We are also very concerned about the number of people being defrauded. Criminals are finding new ways every day to disadvantage our people. Be vigilant; remember if it looks too good to be true it usually is.

Whenever you are in doubt, call your bank and make sure about certain things.

Our wish as SAPS management is that all of us would enjoy a happy and safe festive season. Please remember to not drink and drive. We want everyone to understand that safety starts with you and that you are firstly responsible for your safety and that of your family. As the police, we will always be there to serve.

We wish you, and our community, a merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year.

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