Residents from Vyeboom in the Vuwani area took to the streets on Monday, 4 September, and marched from their village to the local Vuwani Police Station to demonstrate their frustration over the escalating crime in their area.
The residents conducted themselves peacefully, singing struggle songs as they handed their memorandum of grievances over to the police. When this was done, they quietly returned to the village.
The local civic chairperson, Mr Terrence Malada, said that crime had completely gotten out of hand and that residents were living in fear, not knowing who would become a victim next. He said they trusted the police to help them in the fight against criminals, but that the very police seemed to have forsaken them, leaving them at their own mercy.
"Crime is at an all-time high in this village. We call the police every time a crime gets committed, and every time we are told that there are no vans. The only time we ever see vans driving here is when the police officers visit their girlfriends or drop groceries off for relatives. We demand police visibility at all times as from today. One case that still pains us is the disappearance of Ms Naledzani Makhado a year ago. The police have sufficient evidence, and still no arrests have been made," he said.
"The preferential treatment of Indian businesspeople, who get police escorts every day after closing their shops, should come to an end. They must hire private security companies to escort them, not our police. We are fed up with this ridiculous request for proof of residence when we need to open a case. This is against our constitution. We give them seven days to respond to our demands or else heads will roll," Malada said.