When businesses were looted and property was damaged in many parts of the country recently, Mogale City was not spared.
Some businesses and shops in Kagiso and other parts of Mogale City were looted, and some properties were damaged or destroyed. The West Rand District Municipality (WRDM) executive mayors recently visited the affected areas to assess the damage.
However, Mogale City and some parts of the West Rand have not been affected by mass looting, violence and destruction of property to the extent that others areas of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal have seen.
The Mogale City Executive Mayor, Councillor Francis Makgatho and WRDM Executive Mayor, Councillor Dennis Thabe, visited the Kagiso Nu-Shop, East Park Business Precinct and Kagiso Mall, and were briefed by the business representatives on the extent of the damage and the estimated costs.
Thousands of rands of damage were caused, and the two executive mayors assured local business people that they would engage with law-enforcement agencies to bring the situation back to normal. Businesses in areas such as Swaneville and East Park were also affected.
After a lengthy engagement and discussions with Excellerate JHI Property, owners of the Kagiso Mall, the two executive mayors together with the law-enforcement agencies agreed that the mall should be reopened and be fully functional after it was closed for almost a week due to public violence.
A few shops near the main entrance of the Kagiso Mall were damaged, with the community radio station Westside FM stripped of its broadcasting equipment. After the reopening of the mall, it was business as usual with the police, local taxi operators and Mogale City Public Safety personnel observing the area.
Victor Molusi, the mall centre manager, urged the political leadership to provide health officers to assist shoppers with Covid-19 health protocols. The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Covid-19 Response Team was on standby at the mall to help mitigate the spread of the Covid-19.
“We as government have been working around the clock to make sure that our local people are discouraged from attacking and looting businesses. It is heartbreaking to see our people damaging and looting from businesses that they are relying on for food, medication and other stuff,” Makgatho said.
“As leaders that were elected by our people it is our duty to ensure the safety of our people and their business, hence we are the first line of defence on matters related to violence and looting of business. We are going to bring in law-enforcing agencies to make sure that the situation is back to normal, and at the same time request our people to refrain from engaging in acts of criminality,” he added.
Makgatho added his voice and said, “It saddens to see what is happening in our area, and we are not going to sit and wait while our people are affected. The damage done to property and this senseless looting are totally out of order, and cannot be left unchallenged.
“We want to urge our people to desist from criminality acts and stop this violence. We need to educate our people that destroying property will not assist us in achieving what we want. We want our community to know what they are doing has a ripple effect on our lives as well as the socioeconomic levels, as more people will lose their jobs and the level of unemployment will increase.”
The two executive mayors accompanied by the Members of the Mayoral Committees have also indicated that, through the West Rand District Command Council, they will ramp up the vaccination programme. According to Thabe, the WRDM, together with the provincial government, will provide vaccines as most of the people were affected by the violent protest and looting.
