The fight against drugs and other crime in the notorious Brown Street is being undermined by drug dealers, who are now operating in the evening. “Although we are excited that the street is clean during the day, we are deeply worried that drug dealers continue to find a way to destroy our nation with drugs. They simply operate at night now,” Brown Street taxi marshal Mishack Moila said.
Brown Street, on which Rekord has reported numerous times as being a drug haven, is clean during the day, but at night the street is taken by nyaope boys, who smoke the highly addictive mix of heroin and cannabis they buy from the dealers. “The drugs are sold from the street tavern,” Moila said.
It is alleged that nyaope boys commit crimes ranging from robberies and theft out of motor vehicles to smash-and-grabs to feed their drug addiction. In Rekord‘s earlier reports, nyaope boys even confessed to crimes and said they had been involved in smash-and-grabs and robberies. Their reasoning was that they needed the money to buy drugs.
Despite the nighttime woes, there has been a positive change in Brown Street. Taxi operators, sick of the continuous crime of the nyaope boys, decided to initiate a clean-up. Together with business owners, including informal traders, they expressed concerns about the crime, which they described as killing their business. “Criminals are mugging commuters and customers of local businesses of their valuables and money. Sometimes we end up contributing money to help these mugged commuters get home,” Moila said.
Taxi operators and nearby businesses believed the rate of crime had reduced the number of people making use of taxis and buying from local businesses because they feared falling victim to crime. Informal traders have welcomed the taxi operators’ move to protect their customers and commuters from criminals.
On Wednesday, more than 20 informal traders also embarked on a clean-up campaign in Brown Street, where they swept the street and removed garbage from the area to bins.
The traders are members of the Tshwane Barekisi Forum. Chairperson Shoes Maloka said they joined hands with the taxi operators to save the lives of the youth being exploited in Brown Street. “The lives of the youth are being destroyed in Brown Street,” Maloka said.
The positive daytime change in Brown Street can be attributed in part to the hard work of a team of police, metro police and community patrollers fighting crime. Central police spokesperson, Sergeant Ann Poortman, said there was high police visibility in the area during the day, which scared away the nyaope boys. She also said taxi operators helped chase nyaope boys away.
“We are planning to approach the municipality and come up with a plan to fight against drugs in the evening in Brown Street as well. We want to claim this street back from the criminals for good,” Maloka said.
For more community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
Also like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter.
