Police minister visits Mariannhill community

POLICE Minister Bheki Cele visited the Desai community in Mariannhill to hear about their safety concerns. This comes after nine suspects, who were said to be terrorising the community, were fatally wounded in a shoot-out with the police on Wednesday morning (April 3).

Also read: 9 suspects killed in shoot-out with police in Mariannhill

According to KZN police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda, police members of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Stabilisation Team operationalised intelligence about a group of 11 suspects who had been terrorising the residents of Mariannhill and the surrounding areas.

Speaking to the community in the imbizo [gathering], Cele said they have noted that some communities in the West area have been under terror. 

“People here are quite scared in the present moment because of the criminal activities that have been happening here. The profiling of the situation that happened yesterday has, up to this point, led us to the 26th criminal case. Twenty-three of those are house robberies, including a murder, an attempted murder and a rape. As you all know, a young woman was raped in front of her mother who was forced to watch. 

“We will be investigating ourselves as the police, and we will be investigated by structures that will be doing their work – we don’t have any issues with that. When the community makes the call, we shall forever respond,” he said.

Also read: Police officer dies in alleged shooting

Speaking to a despondent crowd, Cele said the aim of the imbizo was to assure the community’s safety and to hear them out. He said there would be another engagement.

“We are planning to come for [another] imbizo here for the community of the West and surrounding communities,” he said. 

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