When Grocott’s Mail visited Vukani township recently it heard complaints from residents who say crime is on the rise, but police are arguing that the opposite is true.
When Grocott’s Mail visited Vukani township recently it heard complaints from residents who say crime is on the rise, but police are arguing that the opposite is true.
Last year, residents of Vukani township marched to Grahamstown police station in protest against the high crime rate in their area.
Two cases of rape, within quick successsion of each other, prompted the residents to speak out against crime.
Even though she has not yet been a victim of crime, resident Nosipho Fulani says she knows of some Vukani youths who stole corrugated iron drums and gates to sell to local scrap metal recyclers.
“When we arrived in Vukani around 2001 we knew that there was a high crime rate in the area and nothing has since changed,” she said. She added that while the police used to patrol the area frequently, she seldom sees the police in her area any more nowadays. Another resident Deki Klaas said: “The crime rate is high, you have to be indoors before the sun sets, yet the police are monitoring the area and are giving us attention.”
“Young people in this area always have knives on them and when drunk on weekends they stab and kill each other,” said another resident, Nosango Ngeleza.
“Police frequently come here when they are called and they are visible among the community, today I saw them about seven times” Resident Monica Khangwana thinks the crime rate was lower when the area was an informal settlement. “Now people are getting raped, murdered and robbed, and the perpetrators are people from Vukani,” she asserted.
According to Khangwana, at a residents meeting last year the police promised to pitch tents and patrol in the area throughout the night. But this hasn’t happened, she says “they come at night and patrol and then after 10pm they leave”.
Xolani Moli agrees with Khangwana. “Shortly after moving into my house in 2009 somebody known to me broke into it during the day while I was inside and stole my groceries,” he said.
After reporting the matter to the culprit’s family the mother said she was not going to compensate him for his loss. Moli did not report the matter to the police because he says he does not have confidence in them.
However, the police say the crime rate in Vukani has decreased and that they carry out patrols in areas "according to crime patterns". According to police spokesperson Inspector Sherolene Williams, crime statistics for the month of January show that only one case was reported in the area.
"No other serious cases such as murders were reported at the police station," she asserted. She added that had there been more crime reported in Vukani at night they would have officers patrolling the identified areas.
Williams urges the community to come forward and report crimes in their area, and argued that it is only then that the police can investigate. "The community must also realise that they play a pivotal role in the combating of crime in the broader Grahamstown area."
