Criminals still seem to do as they please in the area.

Apparently, local business owners are forced to pay protection fees from the thugs so that their businesses are not robbed.

Those who failed to pay to are attacked daily. One of these business owners, who wanted to remain anonymous to avoid being victimised, said he is currently paying R1 000 every month via an e-wallet method to various numbers.

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“My business used to be robbed almost every day until I was approached by a group of young men telling me that I needed to pay a protection fee so the robberies will stop, and if I didn’t pay, they would keep on attacking my business. At first I refused to pay, but when they kept on breaking in, I decided to pay, because they made it very clear that if I involved the police, they would know about it and kill me.”

Thabang Ubisi, a resident, said the police are scared of the criminals because they hardly attend to crime scenes, especially at night. Ambulance services and Eskom workers also do not attend to complaints because of the crime in the area.

“We have lost hope in our police, because crime in our village is out of control. Most of the local shops have closed down. Crime in our area needs serious intervention from the government, because we have been living in fear for some time now. The heavy sentences will not do us any justice, because we still have the criminals on our streets terrorising us, and there is nothing the police can do,” he said.

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A provincial police spokesperson, Brig Selvy Mohlala, denied allegations that the police were scared of criminals, and insisted that they do attend to crime scenes, however, the public needs to be patient with them since they cannot be everywhere at once.

“Business owners need to report their problems to the nearest police station so these matters can be investigated. We cannot act on hearsay. Our members of the public need to work with us to fight crime in their areas,” he said.