Minister of police listens to angry Masoyi residents
The community of Masoyi raised allegations of how police from Masoyi were failing them.
This happened during the ministerial crime imbizo attended by Minister Bheki Cele, the national police commissioner, Gen Khehla Sitole and other top ranking police at kaMaganyana sportsfield on Friday.
Family members of the recently killed women whose bodies were exhumed at a suspect’s home in Numbi, were amongst those who raised their concerns.
“If the police had initially acted on our lead when we told them the suspect, Julius Mndawe was the last person seen with our daughter, Banele Khoza, the other women wouldn’t have been killed,” said Nester Sibiya, Banele’s aunt.
A number of women shared their sad stories on how some of them were raped and attacked at their homes and never received help from the police.
Some allege that some police were conniving with criminals who bribed them. They also told Cele that delays in police investigations and finality of reported cases were causing them to resort to mob justice.
In response Cele said: “These allegations must be investigated and appropriate steps must be taken to bring all suspects to book. Mob justice is not the solution and will never be tolerated,” he said.
Cele added that a special program to ensure that old cases were re-opened and thoroughly investigated will take place at the station.
Gen Khehla Sitole said that all means will be done to fast track the process of building a new police station in the area in order to handle the demands of the growing community.
