Ga-Rankuwa stands up to fight crime

More than 400 Ga-Rankuwa residents voiced their grievances over the sharp increase in crime in the area at a community meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting was held at the Ga-Rankuwa stadium after a social media post calling for action against crime in the area went viral.

One of the disgruntled residents, Flora Matshepo Mosaka, a senior citizen and zone 3 resident, said the lack of information on her son’s shooting led her to the meeting.

“My son Brain was shot in 2006 and we have yet to hear anything about the case. I’m happy about everything that was discussed today and hope to see an end in crime,” said Mosaka.

Community members in attendance complained about the overgrown fields throughout Ga-Rankuwa that allowed criminals to easily prey on them.

Residents also claimed to have lost trust in the local police due to their long response time.

They also claimed that police were not doing enough to patrol in the area, which left them vulnerable.

Some members raised complaints about unmarked vans patrolling the area as they had no way of verifying if they were members of the police or not.

Organiser and resident Bryce Kekana founded Ga-Rankuwa Against Crime after witnessing four different crimes in his area in the space of one week.

Co-founder Mpho Maifadi came across a post by Kekana on Facebook about crime in the area and started interacting with him.

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Kekana and Maifadi met up with other concerned residents and formed Ga-Rankuwa Against Crime.

They then met up with the police station in Ga-Rankuwa zone 5 and had a series of discussions with them about the event.

After receiving a clear directive from both the TMPD and local police, the team started circulating posters about the event on social media.

The team was accompanied by various stakeholders like Ga-Rankuwa Taxi Association, ward councillors, Ga-Rankuwa Policing Forums and Put South Africans First.

“Some of us grew up in Ga-Rankuwa and it’s our first time seeing something like this. We refuse to allow this to continue to happen in our area.”

Criminals will no longer be tolerated in Ga-Rankuwa whether South African or foreign,” said Maifadi.

Joseph Maluleka, chairperson of the Ga-Rankuwa Taxi Association, said the taxi association shared residents’ sentiments.

Ga-Rankuwa police spokesperson Captain Matthews Nkoadi said they are doing everything that they can with the little resources that they have available to them.

“The problem is that our area has grown larger than our initial sectors. So we have four sector vehicles, but sometimes they break down. When we have a mechanical problem, it becomes a problem to patrol all the sectors at the same time.”

Nkoadi said he was not aware of an increase in crime in the area, but they were engaging with the local CPF.

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