Residents hear upsetting facts about present crime spate

At a meeting to discuss the alarming crime spate in downtown Makhado (Louis Trichardt), residents heard upsetting facts.

It was distressing to a community fraught with crime to hear that policemen have been seen associating with criminals. Mr Moses Raselabe suffered three times at the hands of criminals. “At one of the housebreaking incidents, I saw the perpetrator and nearly caught him. I told the police the name of the suspect, only to see a police officer hanging out with the very same guy.  The criminals are friends with the police!” said Raselebe.

Colonel Magala Rambau of the Makhado SAPS, who chaired the meeting in the AFM church hall on 8 February, said that they were aware of corruption and that they raised the issue regularly. “We have corrupt people who are not honest; I cannot run away from that. We should remove these rotten apples from the system. We have already arrested and fired two of our policemen, but remember, we always need substantial evidence,” Col Rambau said.

The meeting came about after a petition against crime initiated by Mr Bennie Bleskop and Pastor Ezekiel Rasilavhi, both residents of the downtown area.

A very worrying fact is that Col Rambau said that the town is currently really experiencing a lot of trouble with crime. “We get two or three cases of housebreaking nearly every day and nearly every day we get theft out of motor vehicles,” said Rambau, who has been a victim of housebreaking himself. Rambau added that the police members who should be busy with crime prevention were often required to monitor protest action with regard to poor municipal service delivery issues or other matters in the region.

Mr Bleskop said that the SAPS had arrived at the Pretorius Street bushes at night without torches after criminal activities in the vicinity had been reported to them. “Another time, they said that they had no vehicles, which I found very disappointing,” Bleskop said. He mentioned another incident where someone in an empty house had been stabbed “and the police were afraid to attend and kept standing at a distance.” Rambau emphasized that every policeman has been issued with a torch and that the lack-of-vehicle problem had been an excuse long ago, but not anymore.

The area's dilemma with foreigners was also raised by the SAPS. “I don’t want to sound xenophobic, but out of 30 people in the cells, only eight or nine are South Africans. I am referring to those foreigners who have committed crimes and not to those who are illegal and who are being deported by the truckload,” Rambau said. He urged the community not to offer piece jobs to illegal foreigners.

Rambau did mention that the police station was understaffed and acknowledged the work of the farm watch and the town watch.

Mr Dirk Meissenheimer of the town watch said that the number of town watch people available to patrol the streets had shrunk from 500 to 78, making it very difficult to man all the shifts. Mr Lampie Schoeman urged Col Rambau to allow the town watch once more to use green lights on their vehicles when they operate. Rambau agreed to contact the SAPS's legal section on the matter.

The petition made specific mention of the issues that made residents feel unsafe, including the late arrival or total failure of the police to respond to reported crime incidents and poor police patrolling or visibility during day and night, especially along the bushes, like in Pretorius Street. The recommendations were that the SAPS promptly respond to crimes and that there be regular police patrols, day and night. “We request the SAPS to assist us with the formation of street committees to curb crime,” reads the petition.  

There was a lot of debate on the forming of street committees versus joining the town watch. “Are you as member of a street committee going to walk up and down the streets and have your throat slit by a criminal or would you rather consider joining the town watch with an established structure, where there are radios, a control room and backup available when a situation arises?” Ms Patricia Gerber asked. Some residents indicated that they were interested to know more about the town watch and a follow-up meeting was to be scheduled.

Date:14 February 2014

By: Linda van der Westhuizen

Linda van der Westhuizen has been with Zoutnet since 2001. She has a heart for God, people and their stories. Linda believes that every person is unique and has a special story to tell. It follows logically that human interest stories is her speciality. Linda finds working with people and their leaders in the economic, educational, spiritual and political arena very rewarding. “I have a special interest in what God is doing in our town, province and nation and what He wants us to become,” says Linda.

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