Criminals who terrorise communities will soon have nowhere to hide when street committees are launched throughout the eThekwini Municipality.
During the official launch of the first three street committees in Durban's Newlands East suburb on Sunday, ANC president Jacob Zuma was told that the committees had helped to reduce crime in the area by 80 percent in the past two months.
The creation of the street committees form part of the implementation of the resolutions adopted during the ANC conference in Polokwane in December.
As part of the resolution, all ANC branches throughout the country were urged to form committees and the eThekwini region has become the first region in the province to begin the campaign.
Zuma was told that the committees had been so effective that criminals have moved to other areas where street committees were not operational.
The ANC in the eThekwini region on Sunday announced that it would launch street committees in all wards.
Zuma said the creation of street committees was not a vote of no confidence in the police, nor was it aimed at creating a vigilante force in the fight against crime.
"The formation of these three street committees is an indication that the ANC in KZN is alive and ready to respond to a call to fight crime. We need to fight against crime to defend our freedom. By forming committees, you are bringing hope to our people who are terrorised by criminals," he said.
If things go wrong in South Africa, people look on the ANC to intervene and come up with solutions because it was the ruling party, Zuma said.
While not as active as they once were, street committees are still operational in areas such as Khayelitsha and Gugulethu, where they are regarded as community watchdogs working on the ground to alert police to "crime hot-spots".
Zuma told members of the three committees to be tough on criminals, adding that criminals had no respect for people's lives. However, he warned them not to kill, but to hand criminals over to the police.
"Street committees were very effective when we fought for freedom. I urge the leadership of this province to instruct police commissioners to work closely with these structures," said Zuma.
Irvin Huges, a member of the street committee, told the Daily News that crime in areas where street committees had started operating in June had dropped by 80 percent.
"People are happy with the work the committees do. We have seen a huge drop in crime. Criminals have moved to other areas," he said.
It is not clear at this stage how street committees will work with the community policing forums which are operational in some areas.