Durban — Veteran KwaZulu-Natal violence monitor Professor Mary de Haas has called for the revival of paid informers in order for police to win the war against crime.
Reacting to the bomb threat that disrupted operations at the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, as well as the soaring levels of crime, particularly in the province, De Haas said the problem was in the police’s crime intelligence unit which she said was unable to learn about criminal activities because they were no longer working with informers.
De Haas, who is based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said people knew police had informers on the payroll. She said that without payment there was a lack of information on potential threats filtering through to the SAPS.
De Haas said her sources in the national police service told her the budget for informers had been slashed so even if there were still informers they were probably paid “peanuts”.
“Crime intelligence has never worked alone in intercepting criminal activities,” she said.
De Haas also blamed the politicisation of the police service as one of the reasons why crime levels were not going down, saying she received information that some police officers refused to act against looting in the July 2021 unrest in Durban and Gauteng.
As much as police were afforded the right to vote, at the end of the day they had to serve the government that was democratically elected.
On Tuesday, a police explosives unit rushed to the court following a bomb threat. Police evacuated everyone, disrupting court cases that were under way. Police did not find any explosive material. However, the concern was that it was the third incident in a month.
Three weeks ago the same police units had to move to a Durban North mosque after the discovery of explosives. Two days later the units were again called to Hillcrest High School, west of Durban, after the school had reported it had received an alert that there was a bomb inside the premises which also turned out to be a hoax.
National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said police still had informers. However, it was something that would not be discussed in public with the media.
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