Tshiozwi residents fed-up with rise in crime

The community of Tshiozwi is fed-up with the escalating crime in the area and have threatened to take the law into their own hands after a series of burglaries that happened last week. During a meeting on Sunday, they pointed fingers at the police for not doing anything to arrest the perpetrators.

Earlier this year, unrest broke out and five houses and two cars were set alight at Gogobole when the community accused a ring of criminals of burglaries, where stealing TV sets is the goal. Roads, shops, and schools were closed during the unrest.

One of the community members, who wants to remain anonymous, said that the community would take the law into their own hands, should the police fail to curb the on-going crime. He said that the residents were fed-up with crime and thugs had been terrorising the community for a long time. He disclosed that housebreaking and theft cases in the area had reached an intolerably high number, but the police were dragging their feet to address the problems.

According to him, the perpetrators who are responsible for burglaries and robberies in the village are known to the community. He alleged that they consist of a criminal ring of young boys in their own community. He said that thugs targeted houses by climbing through the burglar bars and stealing TV sets and other items during the night.

He claimed that they had identified one of the perpetrators in the early morning while he was busy stealing at one of the houses.

The chairperson of the civic association, Mr Bernard Matumba, urged everyone to be united in the fight against crime. “All we want is a crime-free village.” He indicated that “incompetent policing” was the main reason for the increasing crime.

According to Matumba, residents accepted a vote of no confidence in the local police station “since its members seem to be inactive towards combating [crime] and only concentrate on family problems.”

The police’s spokesperson, Brig Motlafela Mojapelo, warned residents not to take the law into their own hands but to work with the police in apprehending criminals.

Date:19 June 2020

By: Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

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