Cape Town - While police in the Khayelitsha cluster recorded at least 18 mob killings during the first seven months of the year, their co-operation with residents is gaining momentum to make the area safer.
Six people were killed in the Harare policing precinct, seven in the Khayelitsha precinct, one in Lingelethu West and four in Lwandle.
This is according to Khayelitsha cluster commander Johan Brand’s presentation to community groups during a recent meeting in Khayelitsha.
His presentation sketched records of vigilante killings in Khayelitsha.
Police say they are working on improving their relationship with residents in the Khayelitsha police cluster, which includes Lwandle, Harare and Lingelethu West.
Police, local NGOs and civil rights organisations established several safety forums to tackle crime in Khayelitsha, including the Community Safety and Justice forum, the Anti-Vigilantism Strategy.
The forums were aimed at creating an environment where residents felt comfortable in reporting crime and trust the police to effectively and efficiently investigate complaints.
“The low detection and conviction rates have impacted negatively on the relationship of trust between the community, the police and criminal justice system. Vigilantism, or vengeance attacks and killings as a consequence of frustration, crime, lack of safety, unemployment and lack of basic services, have increasingly been noted,” Brand said.
Khayelitsha cluster Community Policing Forum (CPF) chairperson Major Mgxaji said trust between the police and residents had been “installed” through the ongoing community engagements.
“This is mainly as a result of the workshops we have been holding with the community. It is more about education than anything else. People realised that you can’t solve crime with crime because they end up in jail,” said Mgxaji.
Site B CPF member Nomawethu Moswana said they were not surprised that mob attacks have decreased.
“We are holding continuous awareness campaigns with residents and the youth. We are trying to decrease crime. Our goal is to record zero deaths as a result of mob justice.
“We have identified hot spots where most people are getting robbed and we deploy the neighbourhood watch in those areas, with the assistance of the police,” she said.
Moswana said the challenge was that residents were targeted by criminals during the early hours of the morning, when they go to work, and late at night, when they come back from work.
“These incidents mostly happen during school holidays or on weekends, but I can say things are getting much better now. We are continuously measuring crime,” she said.
Khayelitsha Development Forum chairperson Ndithini Tyhido said: “The number of deaths is still high. We understand that crime is rife in our area and some of these crimes are contact crimes.
“Our plan is to educate our people and the plan is that people must try to avoid mob justice as much as they can.”
Cape Times