‘Police are late or don’t arrive at all’
KwaMashu residents who are angry at the continuing violent crime said police had been slow to respond.
|||Durban - Police came in for stick from KwaMashu residents on Tuesday as Police Minister Nathi Nhleko and his Justice counterpart, Michael Masutha, toured the township’s notorious hostel area.
The visit by the ministers and Hawks head, Lieutenant-General Berning Ntlemeza, was in the wake of the Sunday evening execution-style killing of four men at a house they shared in the vicinity of the hostel. Two other men were shot in the area on Monday. One died, while the other is fighting for his life in hospital.
Police are investigating cases of murder and attempted murder.
Nhleko said poverty and poor living conditions played a big role in the rampant crime in the hostel area. But hostel dwellers, angry at the continuing violent crime, said police were not doing enough and had been slow to respond.
Residents, who declined to be named, said police were “dragging” their feet in responding to distress calls.
“They don’t arrive at all and if they do, they do so very late. Even when they do come, they make a noise with their sirens as if to warn the criminals to run. When they finally arrive at the scene, the criminals are long gone, leaving lifeless bodies behind. Police visibility in the area could make a huge difference in reducing the rate of killings,” said the residents.
They said they were reluctant to co-operate with police because they feared individual officers would report back to the criminals.
“If arrested, criminals get bail almost immediately, only to come back and terrorise the community. Why give a suspected murderer or a drug pusher bail without ensuring the security of the community they are destroying? Keep them in jail, save the innocent, poor and destitute people,” they said.
But Nhleko said community structures and the government needed to get involved to find solutions.
“The solution to the problem does not solely lie with the police. If you don’t deal with the socio-economic issues then you are likely to fail. But looking into a multi-disciplinary and co-ordinated approach which seeks to look into all the underlying causes, including housing, can help in bringing a lasting solution to the problem. We should also take action to curb the proliferation of drugs. There’s a tendency to think that (the) drug problem is to be dealt with by the police alone, and that’s a fallacy,” Nhleko said.
Ntlemeza said the soon-to-be-launched SA Narcotics Enforcement Bureau (Saneb) and the Firearms Control and Priority Violent Crime Unit, would bring relief to citizens.
Saneb is apparently similar to the specialised narcotics unit closed down by former national police commissioner Jackie Selebi.
“There’s a call from the president to re-establish some of the units that were closed down, and the above two are just some of them,” said Ntlemeza.
Hawks spokesman, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, said there had been progress with the launch, and it would take place soon.
Asked whether the units would make an impact in the fight against drug dealing and illegal firearms, Mulaudzi said: “We as the Hawks deal with syndicates and organised crime.
“It’s the duty of the police to deal with individual cases on the streets.”
chris.ndaliso@inl.co.za
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