Criminals target food outlets in Pinetown

GOING to work has become a traumatic experience for the staff working at Pedros Pinesprings in Josiah Gumede Road, Pinetown.

This follows a string of armed robberies with two hits in less than a week.

A shop owner who spoke to the Highway Mail, and who wished to remain anonymous, said he is at his wits’ end with the crime that is spiralling out of control.

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“We are not the only one targeted, but other food outlets have also been robbed a few times – all this happened in a month,” he said.

According to him, they have been robbed a few times in the past. “But this is just becoming unbearable and making it hard to operate. It is just demotivating.”

“The shop closes at 19:00, and following these two incidents, I am left with traumatised staff, and the customers are reluctant to come in the afternoons. It is getting darker quickly now – we will lose business if this continues.”

The concerned shop owner said this has put a strain on them as they have had to resort to organising transport to fetch the staff at the premises. “We have also hired additional security.

“The whole Pinetown area is dangerous – it is even hard for my staff to walk to the taxi ranks without looking over their shoulders.”

During the 18 months of its operation, he said his store has been robbed five times.

“I once had a man holding a gun to my head,” he said with a sigh.

What frustrates the shop owner more is that there are never police officers in the vicinity except for officers issuing tickets to motorists.

“When are they going to address the alarming rate of crime? Every day, we witness robberies, and it’s even worse at the intersections,” he said.

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According to the shop owner, police are provided with all the information and video footages, but they never get any feedback. “We are living in fear. Even the delivery people are scared to come here as they have been victims of crime.”

He said he has worked very hard to build his business.

“Times are tough; this shop provides employment to more than 20 people. It helps feeds many families.”

Recalling one of the ordeals, the manager said that four armed men ambushed them, cornered him and closed the entrances and exits and cleaned out the tills.

“I am still very traumatised, and at this alarming rate, I am scared that we will end up jobless. At one point, they also fled with the staff’s belongings.”

Another shop manager said she was concerned about how the police handle these situations. “It takes hours for them to respond, and sometimes, they only come the following day – we do not get any updates about the case.

“It seems like they do not care,” she said.

Another senior manager of another food outlet said the crime has increased drastically.

“I am from the head office, and we opened this store in October last year and already have been robbed three times – already most shops have moved away from the Pinetown area. This is definitely not good for people who wish to invest in this town,” he said.

Captain Bongumusa Manqele said two people have been arrested and linked to various food-outlet robberies around the Durban area.

Commenting on no police visibility around Pinetown, Manqele said there are various units working around the Pinetown area.

“Pinetown crime prevention members work at the Pinetown CBD day and night, but police cannot fight crime alone. We appeal to the public to help arrest the criminals and to the victims to open cases.”

He warned motorists to lock their doors and close their windows at intersections to avoid becoming easy targets.

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