Ga-Rankuwa residents, fed up with crime, have marched to air their grievances. A memorandum was handed to the local police. Among the crimes are robberies, burglaries and rapes, all coupled with alleged indifference by the police.
The aim of the march was to highlight the rising number of daily hijackings, robberies and muggings. Criminals also set up spikes on roads to rob unsuspecting motorists. Ga-Rankuwa Against Crime convener, Olebogeng Peete says the community has had enough of crime in their area.
“There is a lot of rampant armed robberies around the township. Slow or no response by the police to crime reports. The sale of drugs, cable theft and vandalism of infrastructure and also proliferation of a number of undocumented foreigners in Ga-Rankuwa and which also we look at street lights not working which also is the cause of all the problems that are related to the crime that we are having.”
Residents too are up in arms.
“We felt marginalised and we felt that the police station in Ga-Rankuwa is not serving the interest of the people.”
“I have decided to come to the march because of crime that is affecting us and our children. They sell drugs, nyaope everywhere.”
Residents will receive a response within seven working days, according to Colonel Azwinpheleli Muliwa, who received the memorandum of grievances.
“We appreciate to receive their concerns because all what they said is what we must implement and what we are here for, we are here to make sure that our communities are safe and protected. And then in this memorandum I really appreciate all of them for coming here to bring this memorandum and from here we are going to sit down as a management of Ga-Rankuwa police station and we will discuss about this memorandum, point by point, then after we come with the solution.”
The march ended peacefully.
