As criminals continue to strip Jan Kempdorp and Hartswater bit by bit, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on the Phokwane Municipality to urgently convene a stakeholder meeting to address the crime crisis in the area.
Communities across the town centre, residential areas and plots are increasingly living in fear as criminals target vulnerable residents, elderly citizens, shoppers, business owners and farmers.
Residents going about their daily lives are being threatened with knives and other dangerous weapons and robbed while trying to shop or conduct basic business in town.
In residential areas, criminals are more brazen and unafraid to act in broad daylight. Nothing is spared, from braai equipment, chairs and tables, and gas bottles, to bicycles. Even vacant houses are being stripped. Communities feel abandoned and unsafe in their homes and streets.
The theft of pecan nuts has also become a growing threat. Offenders repeatedly fill 20-litre buckets, disposing of the stolen goods, and returning for more. Farming communities are under severe pressure due to the illegal entry onto their properties, and other criminal activity disrupting agricultural operations.
Despite the surge in property-related crime, residents are not seeing increased visible policing or targeted operations to apprehend offenders, even though many are known within the community and to authorities. Repeat offenders are arrested only to be released shortly afterwards, allowing them to return to communities without meaningful consequences.
The DA has appealed to the Municipal Manager, Mr Zithulele Nikani, to urgently convene a meeting with councillors, SAPS members, Community Policing Forums (CPFs), and private security companies to develop a coordinated strategy to address escalating crime in the area.
The Phokwane Municipality must work with communities to create a safer environment and help ensure accountability from the police, including visible policing and effective action against crime.
The police have a duty to protect residents by ensuring that criminals are caught and successfully convicted. Any SAPS members found to be protecting criminals must be firmly dealt with in accordance with the law.
Phokwane communities deserve to live and work in safe environments, and the DA will continue to fight for this.