Ga-Rankuwa residents air crime gripes to safety MEC
Members of the Ga-Rankuwa community got the opportunity to raise their concerns on safety in the area to the local police as well as the MEC.
The Gauteng MEC for community safety Faith Mazibuko was in Ga-Rankuwa on Wednesday to discuss safety issues in the area with different community representatives and stakeholders.
The meeting was held at the Ga-Rankuwa police station and members of the community got the opportunity to raise their concerns on safety in the area.
“I need the addresses for every drug house in Ga-Rankuwa to be written down on a piece of paper,” said Mazibuko.
The community has complained about high rates in crime since early April.
On April 27, about 300 residents met at the Ga-Rankuwa stadium to discuss crime in the area, while on May 22, residents marched to the police station to deliver a memorandum of complaints.
The MEC was prompted to visit after the Ga-Rankuwa police allegedly failed to respond to the community’s memorandum.
Members of Ga-Rankuwa Against Crime CPF wrote Mazibuko an email highlighting their grievances and requesting that she meet with the community to discuss their issues.
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Ward 30 councillor Violet Phalwane who also attended, said crime in Ga-Rankuwa was alarmingly high and something needed to be done about it.
“We need to take charge as the community to make sure we combat crime which affects all of us, so we need to stand up as the community and stop it.”
The ward councillor welcomed all the recommendations made by the MEC, adding that the meeting had been fruitful and she hoped crime would decrease in the area.
Acting police district commissioner Brigadier Mabangwa Nkwashu said the community needed to continue holding members of law enforcement accountable.
“The communication officer also needs to communicate more with residents so they are aware of the operations happening in the station,” said Nkwashu.
He said this would ensure residents knew that the police were actively combating crime. He also said that police operations had increased since residents delivered their memorandum in May.
When residents complained about the competence of the Ga-Rankuwa station commander Brigadier Junior Lehabe-Metsi, Nkwashu said they had measures in place to monitor the performance of the police through a performance enhancement plan.
On complaints that the police were under-resourced, Mazibuko proposed that local malls and businesses be approached to sponsor bicycles and other tools of the trade to assist the CPF in fighting crime.
“The department of community safety will audit CPFs and other sectors for functionality and assess how active members are,” Mazibuko said. adding that all the initiatives were aimed at assisting to solidify the relationship between police, CPF and the community so that they could work together to fight crime.
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