Residents seek divine intervention to curb crime

HAZYVIEW – Community members are fed-up with criminal activities that have infested the area and they are now seeking divine intervention.

On Saturday the residents teamed up with local pastors and members of the police and gathered to pray together against these unlawful acts.

“We are highly concerned about the crime rate in this area. Recently there have been house-breakings almost every day at different households and enough is enough.

We know the police are doing their best but as a community we also need to play our part,” said Past Pauline Mashabane, one of the organisers of the event.

The community is faced with farm attacks, murder and armed robberies at business and residential properties.

What irks the residents is that women are no longer safe as rape adds to the list of criminal activities occurring in the area.

Mashabane added that the crime incidents had been escalating over the past two years to a level which is unacceptable to residents and business owners.

“We have tried everything possible to combat crime here, including taking it upon ourselves to patrol the streets during the day and at night but it seems as if we are fighting a losing battle.

Now we suspect that one of the reasons we are failing to beat this could be that this is a spiritual warfare that does not require physical effort but heavenly interference,” added another resident, Sam Malebe.

The list of prayer items for the day included praying against witchcraft which the residents suspect could be playing a big role in the increase of criminal activities.

“Where crime is rife like in this place, witchcraft is bound to be the catalyst to the activities. The way things have been happening here, one can not ignore that witchcraft could be part of this,” stated Past Mnisi.

The community members also applauded the local station commander for supporting the initiative.