Statistics mean little to Alexandra residents, who accuse police of corruption and failing to arrest undocumented foreign nationals.
At least that is what became apparent at a recent community meeting at AlexSan Kopano Resource Centre on April 9. There, residents gathered to confront the police about their most pressing issues. What unfolded was not just a community meeting; it was a stark reflection of the fragile relationship between residents and law enforcement.

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On the issue of foreign nationals, Station Commander, Brigadier Vusimuzi Ngubane, defended the police’s record, pointing to arrests made in response to community demands. “You brought a memorandum at the police station talking about them, and by-laws, but you give them properties to sell and rooms to live in. Every month, we are arresting. The total of the foreign nationals we have arrested is 1 332, and we take them to court.” Yet residents are not convinced. For many, the issue was not numbers, but police action when it is need the most.

Midlaas Dikobo, a vocal community member, accused the police of failing to act decisively. “When we report foreign nationals, you don’t arrest them. We report politicians, you don’t arrest them, including councillors and police. This is the last meeting where we are going to complain. Can you please arrest one police officer, the one who is corrupt? Come to us, as the community, and we will show you who are the corrupt police officers.”

Dikobo alleged that corruption was rife, with officers soliciting bribes instead of making arrests. “Your police are always in the streets, not arresting people, but looking for bribes. If, as a South African, you attack someone, six vans would come.”

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Ngubane acknowledged the seriousness of these claims, but stressed the need for formal reporting. “If you don’t come forward to me, from my side I cannot arrest a person. I cannot take that person to court because I would not have anything in black and white. Come forward, make a docket and identify that person and we will arrest the person.”

The meeting also exposed deeper frustrations. Some residents spoke of missing dockets, unresolved cases, and the killings of community patrollers. “We have about six or eight patrollers that were shot dead,” community member Mthokozisi Khambule exclaimed, “but we do not have a report. Before the patrollers started, we approached the police to say, as a community, we have a problem. Can we work together to do away with crime? It never happened.”

Ngubane urged residents to seek updates directly from detectives. He also advised them to report missing dockets formally. “You must report that one. It could be corruption, or something, but come forward and report it.”

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