Crime apathy masks high crime in Ga-Rankuwa – councillor
ANC ward 30 councillor Violet Phalwane says she is not surprised that the station rated among the best-performing stations because locals were so used to crime they no longer opened cases.
The ANC in Ga-Rankuwa has expressed concern about the safety of residents and politicians amid an uptick in hijackings, shootings and stabbings in the area in recent weeks.
ANC ward 30 councillor Violet Phalwane said crime was slowly becoming a norm, and needed to be put to an end.
She suggested that all the people in possession of guns must hand them over at the nearest police station.
“This place is slowly becoming the home of criminals. The number of hijackings is alarming,” she said.
Ga-Rankuwa used to be a safe place with little crime, according to Phalwane.
“It was a very quiet place where everybody felt at home but the level of crime is too high now that most victims no longer reported the incidents to the police – enough is enough,” she said.
Last month the community called the councillor to a meeting to discuss crime in the area after the Ga-Rankuwa SAPS was rated one of the top performing stations.
“The community disagreed with the stats,” she said.
She said she was not surprised that the station was rated among the best-performing because people in the area no longer reported crime to the police.
“The stats are what the police have on their records. They can’t record cases that were not reported to them,” she said.
She advised community members to put their trust in the police to reduce crime in the community.
“If people are scared to come forward, they must just report crime anonymously. They have an option to report to the station commander if they feel like they want to be protected,” she said.
Phalwane believes the community is not used to these types of crimes and that it makes it hard to even report the crimes committed.
She encouraged the community to report the crime to the police, and reminded them of a social media group they can use to report crime and seek help.
Phalwane said the group was informed of a number of cases including house robberies every day.
She said there was a peaceful march to the police last month to hand over a memorandum demanding the police work harder in fighting crime.
Ga-Rankuwa police communications officer Shimi Tsheole confirmed that they received the memorandum.
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