According to Khutsong police’s communication officer, Captain Eddie Boboko, a resident of one of the shacks at the Sonderwater informal settlement was at home when someone suddenly pushed his door open at about 19:00 on Sunday, 3 October.
“He recognised the two men who entered the shack. One pointed a knife at him while the other drew a firearm and threatened him, demanding a protection fee. As he tried to negotiate, they searched him and took an undisclosed amount of cash and his cell phones and fled the scene,” says Boboko. The police were called to the scene and three members of Crime Prevention, constables Thabo Orapeleng, Basi Mlangeni and Phillip Kabai, launched a manhunt for the robbers. They took the victim with them to point out some of the addresses where he believed the two suspects might be. The victim was with police when the suspects were tracked down at a house in Tswana Section. The two men, aged 20 and 38 years old, were arrested immediately and detained at Khutsong SAPS. “Preliminary investigation revealed that one of the suspects was still serving his sentence for attempted murder and was on parole. He had previously also been arrested for robbery, for which he is still on bail and attending his trial. The station commander condemned such behaviour of parolees and those on bail. We will arrest all those who commit any acts of criminality,” says Boboko. The suspects have already appeared in the Khutsong Magistrate’s Court and their bail was denied. In a separate incident, on 2 October, the same crime pre- vention members received a tip-off from crime intelligence that a suspect was in possession of an illegal firearm at Tswana Section. The members were busy following up on the information when the suspect spotted the police vehicle and ran away. The police members gave chase and arrested the suspect, who had the firearm in his possession. The 25-year-old man was charged for possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition. The station commander, Colonel Melinda Prinsloo, applauded the officers for their swift response. She warned that house robbery is still a concern in the Khutsong policing precinct, where families are harassed or threatened, either with knives or firearms and robbed of their belongings. “We appeal to every community member to make sure that their doors or security gates are locked. We will not rest until we make sure that we remove those firearms and arrest those who have illegal ones. We urge the community to assist the police with information about people carrying illegal firearms. We must remove them,” she says. Prinsloo encouraged the community to stand together in the fight against crime, know their neighbour and continue to share information on any suspicious activity. The Crime Stop Hotline is 08600 10111. The Khutsong SAPS numbers are 071 675 7189/071 675 7372/071 675 7184, as the landline is not accessible. They can also use the My SAPS app. The public can report crime anonymously. 
