Following the brutal murder of a mother and her toddler at Thononda, residents marched to the Siloam police station to hand over a memorandum of grievances to the commander, Captain Itani Muila.
The residents embarked on a peaceful march last Wednesday, starting at Thohonda and ending at the Siloam police station. When they arrived at the police station, they were singing ahuna mulalo thononda rikhou vhulawa, meaning "there is no peace in Thononda, we are being killed".
On Saturday, 10 March, the 24-year-old Ndamulelo Mushiyana was brutally murdered, along with her three-year-old son, Ramaligela Munisi. Ndamulelo and her son were apparently sleeping when three unknown suspects broke into the house and stabbed the victims to death. Community members have since pointed out their own suspects, but the police say they do not have enough proof to make any arrests.
In the memorandum, the residents demand that the investigations into the case must resume with immediate effect. They also demand that six suspects pointed out should be banished from the community of Thononda until the investigations are finished. Residents said that the police must attend community crime-fighting meetings and update them on developments in the case.
The SANCO chairperson at Thononda, Mr Mbulaheni Mudzunga, accused the police of "dragging their feet." He said that the community no longer felt safe, "because we know the suspects are still roaming the streets".
A teenage girl who did not want to be named said she no longer felt safe in her own community. "Thononda is no longer safe. We are even afraid to go to the toilet, because the perpetrators are still out there," she said.
The spokesperson for the SAPS in Limpopo, Lt-Col Moatshe Ngoepe, confirmed that the police had received the memorandum.