Neighbours come to women’s rescue on Ivydale plots

POLOKWANE – Members of sector 6 of the CPF operating in Ivydale have had to stop their day patrols in the area in July after sex workers had started attacking them. This has seemingly led to an increase in crime with an average of two cases reported per week.

Women of Ivydale CPF patrolled the area during the day in an effort to curb prostitution and create visibility to deter opportunistic criminals. Previous reports and video footage showed how CPF women came under attack, verbally and physically, by sex workers, and the patrols were subsequently stopped. “At the moment we currently have at least two break-ins at Ivydale per week, including Ext 34 and Ext 44 and the thieves mostly commit cable theft and house break-ins,” says Ivydale CPF media liaison officer René Schoeman.

Referring to an incident on Tuesday, she said three men were caught by residents after attempting to break in and steal from a woman on one of the plots.

Polokwane Observer spoke to the victim who related how two men recently approached her in her yard after jumping over the fence, demanding money and cellphones.

“I was scared and I picked up the first thing I could find and threw it at them, then I started screaming for help. The one man took out a knife and the other one was holding something that looked like a gun. I thought they were going to kill me. Luckily someone heard my screams and the two men ran away.” The woman’s neighbours subsequently chased after the men. Last week, the same woman was robbed on the gravel road that leads to her plot.

Westenburg station commander Col Maimele Pilusa confirmed the incident and said officers responded to an incident on Ivydale but no case was opened.

“It is alleged that the three suspects were sitting at the side of the road with some prostitutes when they saw a police van approaching and they decided to run off. There is no indication as to why they were running away from the police.”

He says two of the men ran into one of the plots where they found a woman and she screamed to alert her neighbours of the men who were in the yard. “When she screamed, the neighbours came and assaulted the three men before the police arrived. At this point no case has been opened.”

Maimele confirmed that there have been break-ins reported from Ivydale, but that this ‘is common in all areas’.

He added that recently, more cases of break-ins have been reported in Ivy Park but that could be attributed to differences in population density.