MEC holds summit to tackle crime in district

A high-level anti-crime summit, headed by MEC for Transport, Community Safety & Liaison Willies Mchunu, will be held today and tomorrow starting at 8.30am at the Ezakheni (B-section) Community Hall.

They hope to find solutions to crime in and around eZakheni and the rest of the district.

Some of the issues the summit will tackle include finding solutions to all forms of crime in the Uthukela District, including taxi violence, murders and stock theft. The crime summit will provide a platform for dialogue on how to develop and sustain a community and province that is resilient to crime.

Mayors, the SAPS, traditional leaders, KZN Community Policing Forum, KZN Community Crime Prevention Association, legal minds, the KZN Liquor Authority, the National Prosecuting Authority, Youth Sector, non-governmental organisations and government departments such as Home Affairs, Health, Justice, Social Development, Economic Development & Tourism, and Correctional Services will form part of the delegates.

Hot topics on the agenda will be:

– The taxi-war-related attack in eZakheni in October 2014 that left 16 dead.

– The unsolved brutal slaughter of Marius Myburgh (42), Peta Ella Margrietha Myburgh (41), and brother and sister Nelson Pestana and 42-year-old Liza Maria Pereira Jardim as they were leaving the Roots Butchery at the eZakheni Mall (where they worked) in November 2014. A suspect was arrested but never charged and later released.  Although police have denied the attacks were racially motivated, their inability to solve the crime has left more questions than answers.

– The gunning down of a TRT officer and three friends in a drive-by ambush in April.

eZakheni residents live in constant fear at night. Most are too terrified to travel in the area after dark.

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