Business burglaries and stock theft are the two crimes giving Gauteng police a “headache” since the implementation of the national lockdown.
Gauteng provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela addressed the legislature on Thursday and said the two crimes were rising.
Mawela said it was clear the crimes were increasing due to the number of people found in possession of stolen goods.
He added that gender-based violence was on the decline in Gauteng during the lockdown.
Police had also identified areas in Gauteng, where officers were required to conduct their duties on foot, including finding undocumented immigrants.
“Regarding undocumented people, we will continue arresting them. We have immigration officers in our midst to assist us when we arrest undocumented people.
“We have a zero tolerance on corrupt police officers. We can’t have officers who decide to work for themselves and not for South Africans.”
He said they had also received complaints about officers abusing their powers.
“Some are involved in criminal activities and others involved in improper conduct, internally and externally. We have the provincial and national inspectorate that monitors our storerooms, if things that we have confiscated, are present.
“Any officer, who wants to steal things stored in storerooms, will be dealt with. Some officers were found breaking the regulations and some found possessing cigarettes they failed to account for,” said Mawela.
He said they always invite and allow the media to freely work within their space, and to freely report on incidents taking place during operations.
Mawela promised that they would continue monitoring hotspots and conducting roadblocks in many roads across the province.
