Taxi drivers go after vagrants at Benoni plaza

The Benoni CBD was brought to a standstill on November 3 when local taxi drivers forcefully removed vagrants, some believed to be drug addicts, from the Benoni Plaza.

This is part of their efforts to restore the plaza to its glory days.

Armed with sjamboks and knobkerries, a group of taxi drivers dispersed about 12 vagrants occupying the dilapidated building.

The plaza has become a crime hotspot and home to dozens of vagrants in recent years. The Benoni City Times was there on the day of the incident and took a walk through the CBD.

Mattresses and clothing were visible, as well as piles of rubbish and food and an overwhelming stench of urine.

The taxi drivers confiscated butcher knives, a panga, drugs and syringes.

According to the Benoni Taxi Association PRO Monk Mlangeni, the group of ‘addicts’ has been terrorising the community for years by mugging them.

“We are fully behind our members and applaud them for taking the initiative to instil order in Benoni. We have cautioned them that no one must be killed and the boys should be treated with dignity,” said Mlangeni.

He said they have received numerous complaints daily from their passengers about being mugged when approaching the taxi ranks.

“Such criminal activities must end because if the addicts are threatening our passengers, they are also threatening us because our livelihoods depend on our customers. We hope that the police will appreciate what we are doing because we are assisting them to fight crime.”

Mlangeni said they will continue to discipline the group of addicts until Benoni is a peaceful town for everyone.

Also Read: Plaza drug addicts want to go to rehab

“Everyone, regardless of race, should feel safe when coming to town. We need local businesses to remain open to uplift our community for the benefit of business owners and taxi owners,” said Mlangeni.

Businesses
Local businesses in the area have for years called for the metro to remove vagrants from the plaza because their presence has been affecting their businesses.

Speaking to one of the business owners, Anik Hossain of Homeware Furniture who has been running his business in the area for 22 years, said the increase in common robberies has affected his business.

“We have, in the past few years, had fewer feet coming to the store due to the robberies. Other business owners have moved their businesses elsewhere due to the burglaries and damage to their properties caused by the vagrants.”

Hossain said he has also witnessed several robberies outside his store.

“I have come across bodies outside my store in the morning and also, many times, phoned the police to alert them to robberies but nothing changes. We are not safe as business owners because of the increase in crime in Benoni,” said Hossain.

Police visibility
Benoni SAPS spokesperson Captain Nomsa Sekele has urged taxi drivers not to take the law into their own hands but to report the matter to the police.

Sekele said they strongly condemn the use of sjamboks to ‘discipline the drug addicts’.

“We have received complaints before from taxi drivers that their commuters are being mugged, hence we would like to work together to combat crime.

“If they’ve found the addicts who have committed a crime, we would appreciate it if they can phone the police and they will arrest them.”

Sekele said some of the measures that the police have taken to combat crime in the Benoni CBD is that they have intensified police visibility.

“We have crime prevention policers who are patrolling that area as well as community safety patrollers. Following the safer festive season launch recently, we are hoping to get more boots on the ground to fight crime,” said Sekele.

In an article published in February, a resident Peter Node urged motorists to be vigilant when driving along Prince’s Avenue in the CBD after his cellphone was snatched while he was stationary at an intersection.

Similar cases along this road have been registered with the police.

In another article published in May, the City Times spoke to a few vagrants who detailed how they were tired of feeding their addiction, which has turned them into criminals.

Back in time
Glynis Cox Millett-Clay, who has lived in Benoni for 44 years, said the city was known as the Jewel of the East Rand.

“Benoni Plaza, as I remember it back in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, was a place you could go for an enjoyable outing, especially on a Saturday morning which was especially festive.

“Benonians of all faces, with different skills and different customs were all drawn together by the common bond of living and working in one of South Africa’s most advanced towns. They used to gather for a bite to eat at Van Velze’s, the Dutch confectionery and coffee house, Squirrel’s Nest Restaurant or one of the takeaway outlets,” said Millett-Clay.

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