ACCESSING government services in Pinetown has become dangerous.
Not only is the service broken by computers regularly being offline, residents queuing outside the Home Affairs building are sitting ducks for robbers. The community is now calling on government officials to relocate the office to a safer location.
Eighty-four-year-old, Dorothy Sanders, is just one of many victims who spoke out against the crime in the area. She visited Home Affairs on 31 January to verify her ID book and was attacked by two young boys who she believed were aged 14 and 15.
“They tried to grab me from behind, but I was fortunate to have seen what was happening. I turned to get away and nearly fell, but the wall broke my fall. I quickly used my walking stick to lash out at the boy who was trying to steal my watch from my wrist and the ring from my finger. They got a fright and ran away,” said Sanders.
“It’s time someone got through to the government to relocate Home Affairs, Sassa and the Department of Labour to a safer area where there is sufficient parking for customers and pensioners,” added Sanders.
Residents took to social media on Saturday to voice their concerns about the crime in this particular area. A Westville resident posted her “horrific experience at Home Affairs” on Upper Highway Facebook last week.
She said: “On being turned away on Tuesday because they couldn’t take on any more applications, we went back on Wednesday, very early in the morning, stood in the queue in the blazing sun for seven hours and eventually had to leave because their systems were down and without even going into the building, we were attacked in our car as we left Home Affairs by three men. Unfortunately, my husband had left his window open because of the heat in the car. They switched the car off, stabbed my husband and ripped his pocket open and grabbed his phone. Then they sauntered off. All of this took place in seconds. They had the element of surprise, saw we were elderly and took their chances. Very organised. You cannot let your guard down for a minute.”
Councillor intervenes
Ward 18 councillor, Melanie Brauteseth said she had received many complaints and believes the community is justified in their call for relocation, especially given the many incidents that have occurred at the Pinetown Home Affairs office recently.
“As the ward councillor, I have taken note of these complaints and have written to the DA’s Shadow Minister in Home Affairs, asking for an urgent meeting with him and senior management of Home Affairs. The community, especially women and the elderly, cannot expect to “run the gauntlet” and become victims of crime every time that they want to access government services. This is simply not acceptable and the security around these offices must be addressed urgently,” said Brauteseth.
She added that she will see to it this matter is placed high up on the agenda for discussion at Home Affairs and will ask that it be raised in Parliament for urgent consideration.
Interested members of the community wanting to join Brauteseth at her meeting with Home Affairs can contact her via email: mels@saol.com.
The call for the relocation not only follows the spike in crime outside the notorious Home Affairs on Old Main Road in Pinetown, but also at the Sassa offices on Kings Road and the Department of Labour on Crompton Street.
Police are taking action
Pinetown SAPS communications officer, W/O Muzi Maphumulo said Pinetown SAPS had only received five reports from January this year to date.
Maphumulo added that there has been no increase in crime in this area, but they are now getting reports of isolated incidents.
“Pinetown SAPS is under new management. Brigadier Mhlongo is giving more focus to the hot spots areas like the CBD and Home Affairs. The police are doing operations continuously – there are police on bikes and some are in civilian clothes as we want to arrests these criminals. We have made a few arrests pertaining to common robberies in Pinetown and are working tirelessly to make Pinetown safe,” said Maphumulo.
Maphumulo stressed that police do patrol the mentioned areas however are urging the community to give them any information regarding the perpetrators of crime. He said Pinetown SAPS is also in the process of putting back the mobile police container near Home Affairs to deter further incidents at these crime hot spots.
Reports suggested that the area was controlled by drug dealers who have police protection. Maphumulo denied the allegations and said the area is not controlled by drug dealers, and the police did not have information regarding those who are rumoured to have police protection.
“We are dealing with the issue of drugs in Pinetown. We recently had an operation clean-up in Pinetown where our focus were the areas rumoured to be used by the drugs addicts. We targeted areas like Esibayeni, and taxi rank and railway line under the bridge of Josiah Gumede where we demolished all the built-up shacks and arrested some suspects in possession of drugs,” said Maphumulo.
He added that if the community had any information regarding criminals they should call 10111 and get a reference number. “You are not obliged to reveal your identity,” he said.
If the matter is concerning police officers, the station commander can be reached on 031 325 5072 during office hours, or contact W/O Maphumulo on 084 260 6236.
