“There have been arrests and people are being processed in the courts as we speak,” Eastern Cape MEC for safety and liaison Weziwe Tikana said of the recent spate of hit murders in Nelson Mandela Bay.
The police, however, have been left scratching their heads, saying they know nothing about such arrests.
Over the past month, several business owners, alleged gangsters and witnesses have been killed in hit-style murders.
Nine people were killed over a seven-day period.
At a media lock-up prior to the state of the province address in Bhisho, Weekend Post questioned Tikana about the police’s crime intelligence networks and if they were still functional.
This was as the police were struggling to make a breakthrough in any of the cases.
Tikana stood at the podium and said: “There are [crime intelligence] teams that are deployed in the Nelson Mandela metro.
“There are arrests that have been made. Court processes are taking place as we speak.”
Quizzed later by Weekend Post about the arrests, Tikana said: “I will have to just check with the police to verify. Let me check with them please. Send me a WhatsApp and I’ll respond when I have verified.”
A WhatsApp message to Tikana remained unread at the time of going to print.
Police spokesperson Captain Andre Beetge meanwhile said they were not aware of any arrests for the recent hit murders. “I don’t know where the MEC got that information.”
Premier Phumulo Masualle said the government had a number of campaigns to try to stem the crime scourge.
“Even though the function [of crime intelligence] doesn’t rest within the police per se, there is a component of police that is crime intelligence.
“State security needs to provide reports on trends . . . etc, to the police,” Masualle said.
“We are talking about how can we outwit the criminals. That is the work of the police, working with state security.”