Riverlea patrollers working overtime to stop robbers in their tracks
According to the coordinator, police take too long to respond and as a result, the thugs often get away.
The Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP)has initiated a project with the Department of Community Safety by employing residents as patrollers in a number of areas. The Langlaagte police station currently has fifteen patrollers working in Riverlea area to assist them with Silvia Steady as coordinator of Riverlea.
Steady and other residents have been patrolling the area for a few months now and they have identified the crime hotspots. The tunnel in Zone 1 going into Riverlea Extension has been identified as one of the worst areas to be crossing through.
According to Steady, people are getting robbed on a daily basis and perpetrators are getting away with it. “These guys are already around at 5 am at the tunnel because they know that people are going to work. They know what time we patrol and they know what time we end, so as the coordinator, I would really like for something to be done about this situation. We are pleading for help because we really don’t know what the way forward is,” said Steady.
Pension day has become a day where perpetrators rob the elderly and patrollers are on high alert. Steady said, “We sit at the tunnel for eight hours and sometimes we miss lunch time because we know that the moment we’re not there anymore, our people are going to get robbed and hurt.”
She added that the perpetrators rob residents of everything and sometimes they even stab them to get them to part with their valuables. A month ago, Steady witnessed a robbery during which the perpetrators were armed knives.
“One of the perpetrators who live near me came and threatened me, he almost tackled me and told me to my face that he would kill me if I went further with this topic. When the police arrived, they could not find him.” The perpetrators got away with the victim’s shoes, his cell phone and R150.
According to Steady, the youngest of the perpetrators is about eighteen years old. “They are busy with drugs, they rob people, and they even operate late at night and early hours of the morning just robbing whoever is around. We all know who they are and they’ve never been arrested,” she said.
There are only two sector vehicles at the Langlaagte Police Station and they do not arrive on time and that is the reason that perpetrators always get away.
Steady said that she has approached the parents of these youngsters but their parents are protecting and defending them. The main concern for the coordinator is that if they are no longer patrolling, residents would be placed in more danger and be robbed on a daily basis.
