Crime increase in Steiltes, SAPS has “not enough competent personnel”
Their representative has been absent from community safety meetings for three months.
With the festive season lurking, crime in the Steiltes area is increasing and the South African Police Service (SAPS) in Mbombela “do not have enough competent personnel” to attend community safety meetings.
During a bi-monthly forum meeting of members of Sector 3 last week concerns were raised about the increase in the burglaries of cars in which people leave their valuables. However, the SAPS were not there to hear it or to produce a crime overview.
Sector 3 encompasses Steiltes, Shandon, The Rest, Renosterkop and Uitkyk. The forum consists of residents of the areas who discuss crime incidents and plan a methods of preventions. They work with Hi-Tech Security and the SAPS and act as a community watchdog.
According to Van Heerden the SAPS representative has been absent from these meetings for three months without an excuse. “We need input from the SAPS to overview the crime in the various areas,” says Sector 3 chairman Johann van Heerden, “but we haven’t been able to for the last few months and thus we struggle to keep abreast of all the incidents in the community.”
Capt Charles Bezuidenhout of the Mbombela SAPS says they are aware of their absence in these meetings, but that is due to a shortage of staff.. “We know we have to be present at these meetings, but we have a shortage of competent personnel who can attend.” The SAPS representative who is supposed to attend the meetings “has been on leave and attended a course” in the past three months.
“Being on leave is no excuse,” says Van Heerden. “This just goes to show the SAPS’s inability to see to the safety of the public. Private security companies attend all the meetings and if they can’t, they send a competent and well-informed person in their place. We are very unhappy about this response.”
Van Heerden and fellow forum members advise people to be vigilant, not to leave valuables in their cars and keep their doors and windows locked, even when they are at home.
