Police and community take hands in Old Coronation

Witbank SAPS in cooperation with Community in Blue CPF and Emalahleni Local Municipality were at Old Coronation on a community crime prevention awareness campaign.

The campaign was held at the soccer grounds on Saturday, February 5. Old Coronation is one of the crime hot spots in eMalahleni.

The police said that this came as a result to address the priority contact, property and trio crimes being committed in the area. Murder, drug trafficking and possession of unlicensed firearms and illegal taverns were some of the listed criminal activities by the police.

Witbank Station Commander Brigadier Moses Bolton and the Sector Commander Captain Christian Sibeko addressed all attendees regarding the proactive prevention of crime and the reporting of crime through the SAPS structures.

Brigadier Bolton encouraged the community to join the policing forum structures and join the Community in Blue patrollers.

The ward councillor Mr Given Koko addressed the attendees regarding the activities of the eMalahleni local council and service delivery issues in the area, even though he indicated that they were still to be formally introduced to the community.

The community had the opportunity to raise their concerns and specifically highlighted the following challenges to the police: Non-availability of the police when they are needed, drug dealers and drug usage in the area as well as receiving no feedback after criminal cases have been opened.

Community members pleaded with the station commander for a satellite police station at Old Coronation.

Community members also alleged that some police officers are corrupt and are seen collecting bribes from illegal foreign shop owners.

They also claimed that they did not understand how some suspects are released after being arrested by community members and that most firearms used to rob people are illegal.

They pointed out that tavern owners have information regarding criminals and can be used as a contact to solve the issue of crime.

“The young people in our area are committing crimes because they are not employed and something needs to be done to get them to be active in sports and other activities. We need police presence and patrols on regular basis to be safe,” said one of the community members.

During the meeting, a CPF structure was launched by the community that will work hand in glove with the police to pro-actively address crime in Old Coronation.

The community received the police very well and agreed to continue working with the police in the fight against crime in the area.

Community members also pointed out a drug den spot and the police in partnership visited the area, but nobody was found there; the area is a drug spot as evidence showed that.

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