Ramaphosa confident about govt’s plans to deal with gang violence

President Cyril Ramaphosa answers questions in the National Assembly.

President Cyril Ramaphosa says he is confident that government’s plans and intervention in tackling gang violence and extortion will yield positive results.

He was asked by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) about immediate interventions to deal with the escalating incidents of daily killings and mass murders in Cape Town’s townships.

Answering questions in the National Assembly on Thursday, Ramaphosa says, “With the plans and interventions that we are now developing as we are continuing to deal with the gang violence issue and the extortion we will be able to bring this gang violence and extortion area of criminality to a halt I have confidence in that the police as well as other criminal justice elements have been working very hard.”

Ramaphosa has expressed confidence in the panel he has selected to recommend the appointment of the next Director of Public Prosecutions.

Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi is the chairperson of the panel.

On a question from Members of Parliament on the criteria he used to select the panel, President Ramaphosa says, “I do not interfere in prosecutorial matters I have made this very clear in this house that as President I am not prepared to act as a prosecutor, as a police man as judge or any of those because we have people who have been appointed to execute those tasks my job is to make sure that those people that are appointed there might be a possibility of temptation but I have always guarded against that I should not.”