Pretoria - Business owners in the Pretoria CBD have complained about the level of crime negatively affecting them.
They also complained about the state of infrastructure decay and wanted government to provide a constructive solution.
According to them, the decay was as a result of socio-economic conditions such as poverty and high unemployment.
A businessman, who identified himself as Nasir, said crime was out of control in the CBD.
Nasir, who has been doing business in the capital city for three months, lamented a lack of metro police visibility, saying it could be attributed to the rampant crime.
He said: “We know who robs us. Sometimes it is pointless and time-wasting to report criminal activities done by the thugs in the streets because the chances of them being apprehended are very slim.
"If they do get apprehended then the very next day they are back on the streets doing what they do every day.”
He bemoaned that individuals in the city were less likely to offer help to a foreign business owner when being robbed.
Concerns were also raised about the nyaope-smoking boys, who were accused of committing crime.
A worker in the city said: “I do not spend much of my time in the CBD because I am afraid of being robbed in the presence of metro police.
I do not even use the ATMs here anymore because they have become sleeping and smoking territories for the nyaope boys."