Rustenburg - The Rustenburg municipality and the South African Police Service (SAPS) have worked together to shut down brothels and drug dens in Rustenburg, mayor Mpho Khunou said.
"We enjoy the best relationship we ever had with the SA Police Service; we had difficulties in the past, but today, as the municiplaity, we are extremely happy. We enjoy the best type of relationship with the SA Police Service," he said at the SAPS 8th annual provincial service excellence awards ceremony on Friday night.
"Earlier this year there was a lot of instability in Rustenburg when the community took the law into their own hands, because there was a sense that government was not doing enough to deal with human trafficking, to deal with drug trafficking. We are pleased that today Rustenburg is a much better place because of this collaboration between the municipality and the SA Police Service. We worked together, we closed brothels, we closed drug houses, and arrested suspects," he said.
On January 10, 2018, minibus taxi drivers went on the rampage "raiding" buildings occupied by Nigerian citizens. They claimed the houses were drug dens and brothels. This followed the death of a taxi driver a few weeks after he was allegedly stabbed by nyaope addicts on December 15, 2017.
The taxi driver went missing on December 15 and was found bound and seriously wounded in a bushy area in Meriting on December 27, 2017. He was taken to hospital where he died on January 3, 2018.
During the subsequent violent raid by minibus taxi drivers, eight "guest houses" were set alight. On January 21, 2018, a group of Nigerian men were arrested for public violence after they blocked the entrance to the Rustenburg police station, complaining that they were being attacked and police were not protecting them.
Various charges against them were later reduced to being in the country without the relevant documents, and those who did not have proper documents were deported.