EL- SHADDAI Vetkoek Kombuis first opened its doors in 1999 and was a booming business from the onset.
People would wait in a long queue outside the shop on Commissioner Street for their freshly-made variety of stuffed vetkoek on a Friday night.
“These days, we are lucky if we have even 50 people walk through that door,” owner Amanda Williams, who took over the business in February 2010, said with dismay on her face.
As a result, Williams has had to downscale the operations of her business.
Just next to her eatery is her husband Awie William’s Executive Lawnmowers business, which, like his wife’s shop, is struggling to keep its doors open for business.
Carolyn Hurly, also a businesswoman, is the owner of Swim-Tech Swim School on Pienaar Avenue. Hurly, who launched the swimming school in 2006, has had inquiries from clients regarding the amount of “scantily clad” women walking up and down the street.
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These small businesses have one thing in common: they are struggling to make money because of the increase in crime and prostitution in the area over the years.
On January 22, ward councillor Jaco Terblanche visited the three entrepreneurs to speak about their declining businesses. Terblanche said the fact that nothing had been done by the police was disappointing as the DA had presented a memorandum to Kempton Park SAPS, calling for more visible policing three months ago.
“The police accepted our memorandum and pledged their support to making the community safe. However, when I recently met with the station commander, Brig Bertha Kgoroba, she did not have the memorandum and instead asked me for a copy. Even worse is that during my meeting with the head of Tembisa Cluster SAPS, Maj Gen Nicholas Sithole, about the increase in drug-related crime and prostitution in the area, he was not even aware of our memorandum,” Terblanche revealed.
He said it was unacceptable that three months later the police had failed to follow through with their responsibility. “They are failing the residents of Kempton and small business owners in the community,” Terblanche added.
Williams said her customers admitted to her they did not come regularly because of the crime in the area. According to her, they are too scared to drive through the suburb as they are constantly approached by drug dealers and prostitutes.
“I am considering closing my restaurant because nothing is being done by the police,” Williams said without any hope in her voice.
Hurly also blames the crime in the area and says she has had to spend thousands of rands in upgrading her security system, something she says they never had to do in the past.
“Recently four of our security cameras were stolen and we spent about R50 000 on security upgrades last year due to the number of drug dealers and prostitutes just down the street. Moving premises is not an option because I have two heated pools in which I have invested heavily. It is our property values and businesses at stake and many of us cannot simply start over somewhere else,” Hurly said.
Williams’ husband, Awie, feels calling the police complaining doesn’t help either, because the police themselves are scared of the drug dealers.
“My business is now being vandalised by these criminals because we chase them away. Recently the windows of my business were broken and I don’t feel it helps to contact the police because they do nothing.
“I have asked some of the police officers who come to El-Shaddai Vetkoek Kombuis why they do not do something about these known drug dens and prostitutes and they simply said they were scared of them,” Williams said.
Terblanche feels in the current economic climate, small businesses can only flourish if they operate in a safe environment.
“To make this a reality, specialised units must be reinstated, all SAPS members must be equipped with the tools they need to do their job and communities must be more involved in the fight against crime.”
He said the DA was in the process of working on a crime-fighting initiative with Sithole and also worked closely with neighbourhood watches and local CPFs to keep Kempton’s small businesses up and running and contributing to the city’s economy.
Although the police do accept responsibility for crime matters in the area, they disagree with the DA that they are not performing their duties.
Kempton SAPS police spokesperson, Capt Jethro Mtshali, says a number of crime combating operations have taken place recently as part of efforts to fight crime.
“Since the memorandum from the DA was submitted the police have reacted by increasing visibility from November/December last year and continued to January 2016. Police have been all over the hot spot areas in Kempton, including shopping malls. Police officers have even been deployed at various hot spot areas,” Mtshali said.
Mtshali said a number of suspects had been arrested for various crimes such as drug dealing, housebreaking and robberies.
“DA councillors are part of our exco and they attend our monthly community police forum meetings where such information is made available to them,” Mtshali elaborated.
He concluded: “We, however, appeal to the community to work alongside police as together we can reduce crime. We have strong CPF members who are committed in helping the police to fight crime. We will continue to serve our community with pride.”
