Residents of Gopane village, near Zeerust in the North West, are blaming inefficiency of police over continuous robbing of elderly people by criminals within the village.
Members of the community embarked on a peaceful march against the abuse and the vulnerable to bring this to the attention of authorities. Police and the tribal authority representatives were among those who were part of the engagements on a way forward regarding dealing with crime in particular.
Residents are blaming the police for allegedly not acting against suspected criminals and ensuring that they are getting successfully prosecuted. The latest incident is of a 75-year-old woman who was murdered two weeks ago was rubbing salt to injury.
Gopane villagers are extremely angered by the continuous criminal acts against the elderly and other vulnerable members. Almost the entire village came in large numbers to march against the abuse of elderly who are robbed of their cash and valuable belongings in the middle of the night without any recourse.
Six people were arrested after forcing a suspect to hang himself on suspicion that he was involved in the brutal killing of one of the elders. Goitseone Nkgothwe is alleged to have confessed to the group that he killed 75-year-old Keitumetse Nkgothwe two weeks ago.
This was the second attack on granny Nkgothwe without prosecution of a known suspect then. Her daughter Connie Masiangoako who still remembers the recent horror incident says since her mother’s first incident back in 2013 no one was arrested.
“In the year 2013 our mother was attacked sleeping in her house. She was really assaulted but fortunately she did not die. A case was opened at the nearest police station but up to now, we don’t know what happened to the case. We strongly believe that the same people who attacked her in 2013 are the ones who have done the second attack. “
Lerato Rampa, who was also among the marchers, says she lost her mother back in 2015 due to the same criminal acts against elders who mostly live alone. Rampa also shares her concerns and frustrations about the ongoing crime says to date no act has been taken against suspects.
“In 2015 my mother was attacked in her house. The police know about the suspects but even now the suspects are not arrested and those suspects are the ones who attacked mme Mankgothwe last week.”
Amongst the elders that are being targeted are professionals who have retired from either government service or private sector as they seem to have more resources. Those who were at the march say it is only if police are committed that such a crime could be averted.
However, the North West police spokesperson Sabata Mokgwabone has called against members of the community to refrain from taking the law into their own hands.
“If it happens or it is happening that the police are not responding on time, that does not give members of the community permission or a right to take the law into their own hands. Rather they should work with us; they should give us those complaints so we can see what is it that is causing the police not to respond on time. But there is no way they can justify what they are doing based on allegations that the police not responding on time. And we are taking all this cases very seriously. “
Organizers, Lehurutshe Rise, are pleading to be empowered with necessary mechanism to help the protection of the helpless elderly including sufficient police visibility.
