Village residents living in fear of criminals

Residents of Malamulele near Giyani in Limpopo are living in fear of gun-wielding criminals who attack them in their homes.

Recently, community members protested and accused the police of not doing enough to arrest the criminals, who recently shot and killed a 20-year-old young man and raped his 17-year-old sister in Malamulele Extension B.

They fled the scene with stolen property including a cellphone, laptop, chainsaw, TV, bicycle and grinder collectively valued at R36 300.

Many more housebreakings in Malamulele

Authorities said there were many more housebreaking cases reported in the area.

Yesterday, Limpopo police provincial commissioner LieutenantGeneral Thembi Hadebe, together with transport and community safety MEC Violet Mathye, visited the area to assess the progress made so far in the fight against crime.

“Crime-related incidents prompted the deployment of multidisciplinary forces in the area to stabilise the situation. The area has experienced a spate of violent crime, including house robberies and other violent incidents in which several homes were targeted,” Hadebe said.

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“Our team has done a good job as three suspects linked to the recent case were arrested, while 11 other suspects, including foreign nationals, have also been arrested for other crimes committed in the area.”

“We have deployed more officers in Malamulele after realising that crime is on the rise. We have relaunched the Community Policing Forum (CPF) at some of the crime hotspots to make sure that they assist in the fight against crime.

“We are appealing to the community members to join the police as reservists and to be part of the CPF,” he said.

Residents under siege

Hadebe said the police were doing well to address the situation at Malamulele and neighbouring villages.

Several residents who spoke to The Citizen confirmed that they were under siege and they were even afraid to go out on the street at night.

“Things are out of hand here, the crime rate in our area is too high and we are being attacked every day by armed criminals,” said a resident who asked not to be named.

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“People are being raped, killed and robbed of their belongings.

“Every night when we go to sleep, we don’t know whether we will make it through the night.”

He said the rampant crime in the area started a few years ago when the police started to fight illegal mining in the area.

Rampant crime started when police started fighting illegal mining

He alleges that most of the criminal activities are committed by foreign nationals and the locals who were involved in illegal mining.

“Since the police interrupted their illegal mining projects, they started to commit crime and terrorise the community members.”

Another resident, a single mother, said it was hard for them because every night she feared that they might be attacked by criminals.

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