Picture by Neil McCartney for illustrative purposes.
Community members in the small town of Willowvale, Eastern Cape, marched to a local police station to raise their concerns about rising violent crime on Friday.
This after four men were gunned down last week, reportedly trying to protect a spaza shop from criminals who wished to rob it. In another incident, seven people were gunned down in the area earlier in the year.
Traditional leader Silulami Ndinisa told Newzroom Afrika they were marching because the community was panicking.
“There is a lot of violence in this area,” he said. “People are killed almost every day.”
He said as violent crime occurs, the community feels they are not taken seriously by the authorities.
“What is frustrating us… we see in those places where people are killed in large numbers in one day, you find everyone going there – national, province, everyone going there.
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“But here in this small town every day about three people are killed. And that thing remains unnoticed. No one is saying anything about it.”
The leader said violent crime has moved to rural areas. This has led to growing discontentment in the community, where people do not feel safe and free.
“We decided to come here to allow our communities to voice their fears and to raise their expectations to the government… We request the national government to intervene in this, and even the [provincial government] to come.”
The march took a while to get off the ground as citizens were reportedly scared to show their faces for fear of being victimised. There was a police presence on the road, however.
Many businesses were closed on Friday due to the march.
One resident, Thandiwe Sonqwelo, told the SABC that people in the town do not go outside when it is dark because of the crime.
Community leader, Silulami Ndinisa, said the area needs more police resources.
“Every day, in this area, there are stories of people being killed,” he said.
In July, Eastern Cape MEC for Community Safety Xolile Nqatha held an imbizo about crime in the Eastern Cape. There, he and community leaders discussed ways to combat crime.
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