The Munsieville community has stood up in protest to make their cry for help heard.
They say their children have been the target of human trafficking and abductions in recent weeks.
This morning, 16 October, community members blocked the entrances to the Munsieville informal settlement with rocks. They also started fires, and while police were present when the News visited the area, the community was not violent.
We do not want to fight, this is our cry for help,” said one community member.
Members of the community, some of them parents themselves, spoke to the News about what has been happening in recent weeks.
They claimed that it all started when a blue Volkswagen Polo without number plates started driving around the area, with its occupants targeting women and later even children, robbing them of their cellphones.
Neo Ngesi then explained that everything reached a tipping point yesterday when three teenage girls allegedly were taken from the high school. He said two of these girls managed to escape but the whereabouts of the third girl remain unknown.
The community reiterated that they are protesting against human trafficking and abduction, claiming that they do not get help from the police.
They allege that they are brushed off by the police, and claim that the police do not follow up on their cases. One woman said they are told to wait 24 hours to report a missing child, and when they say their children are teens, they are told the children probably went to a friend’s house.
Mothers from the community claim that the people who take their children have women working with them.
They have beautiful ladies working with them so when they approach the children, the children feel safe,” one mother said.
Fear has gripped the mothers in the community and they say they do not want to send their children to the shop or even to school anymore. One mother explained that she has three children and has to work, and she cannot take time off work.
“We are an underprivileged community, we still have to work but we fear for our children,” she said.
The community claim that there have been other abductions in the past week – even a baby was stolen from her mother’s back after the mother was pepper-sprayed.
The Krugersdorp Police confirmed earlier this week that a seven-year-old boy had been found murdered on top of the mountain next to Mechanguville.
We can’t sleep. How can we sleep knowing there are mothers crying for their babies?” one woman asked, saying that one woman’s pain is every woman’s pain. All of them are asking, “What if it is my children tomorrow?”
They said they want the police to step up and catch these people. They want a safe play area for their children, and for the police to take them seriously and help to protect the innocent lives they claim are being threatened in Munsieville.
This is a developing story. The News has reached out to the Krugersdorp Police and is awaiting their comment on the matter.
