The Ziyakhala Movement said its recent protests are beginning to show results in Alexandra, even as frustrations grow over SAPS’ failure to meet key demands for leadership reform at the local station.

Communications officer Duma Kulashe confirmed SAPS had responded to their memorandum, but said the reply dodged their central demand: the removal of senior police officials amid rising crime.

Read more: Ziyakhala Movement unhappy with SAPS memorandum response

“Their response focused only on community involvement in curbing crime, forgetting that we are not the ones getting paid to do this work,” said Kulashe.

While SAPS’s reply left the group dissatisfied, Ziyakhala secretary Malibonge Duma said their protest at the City of Johannesburg’s Sandton offices had a visible impact. He cited clean-up efforts at Pan Africa Shopping Centre as evidence.

Also read: Alexandra residents demand police leadership overhaul amid crime surge

“Our government got a wake-up call from that memorandum. If we didn’t go there protesting and making our demands, I don’t think they would be cleaning Pan and the city,” Duma said. “We are happy with the current progress in Alexandra.”

Still, the movement continues to raise concerns about the lack of institutional support for community patrollers. Kulashe claimed some patrollers have died on duty without proper backing from SAPS, Crime Prevention Wardens, or the previous Community Policing Forum (CPF).

The local police officials attributed the rise in crime partly to limited cooperation from residents. Commander of Visible Policing Colonel Jerry Phaswane and Station Commander Brigadier Vusimuzi Ngubane have repeatedly urged the public to come forward with information to help crack down on crime.

Ziyakhala said they would continue pushing for structural change and plans to re-engage SAPS after the CPF elections.

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