Last year, residents of Welverdiend were often stuck without electricity because metal thieves had stolen critical municipal infrastructure. From December, however, a group of residents started working with the police in Carletonville and the Carletonville CPF.
Since then, the CPF patrollers, consisting of community volunteers, have been patrolling the town regularly.
‘This initiative has been so successful that there has not been a single case of electrical cable theft since the patrols started on 15 December,’ says the secretary of the Carletonville CPF, Ms Wena du Plessis.
On Thursday, 7 February, the patrollers held an action to enhance their visibility in the community. They gathered on the corner of 10th Avenue and Station Street.
This response was triggered by Mr Harry du Plooy, the owner of a scrap metal dealership close by. He had opened a case of harassment against certain CPF members. He put up signs, claiming that he had been subjected to racist treatment, at various places in the town last week. ‘Carletonville Police Station’s management is now handling the matter but the support the patrollers receive from the wider community and the success that they have in bringing down crime shows that they are there to make a positive difference in the town,’ says Du Plessis.
