WINDSOR WEST – We spoke to Windsor East community members to get their opinion on crime in the area.
SAIVUTEEN BABU: The crime here is too much. It is sometimes hard to be a shopkeeper, you don't know who to trust.
On Friday 19 January, nine heavily armed suspects entered the Kwikspar in Windsor East, holding staff at gunpoint and robbing the store.
Since then, many community members and workers in the area have felt even less safe than before.
Windsor has always had a reputation for being an unsafe area in Randburg, but, is the area even more dangerous than everybody thinks?
The Randburg Sun spoke to some community members and shopkeepers to get their opinions.
SHAUN BABU: Yes, crime in Windsor is very bad. As a shopkeeper, it is very difficult to feel safe, especially when you hear a shop across the road from you was robbed with guns. Sometimes you feel safe, but then you hear of another incident and you feel unsafe again. The police need to be here every day.
MUSA SANUMU: We need to enforce better security in Windsor. The police do not patrol enough and we need permanent security on our corners. At any time you can be mugged, and especially as a shop owner, I do not feel safe. Many shopkeepers are unable to accept card payments, so we have to carry cash. If we get robbed, we lose everything.
PRISON BABU: Yes crime is bad. We were also robbed not so long ago. Five people with guns held us up, took our money, cellphones and cigarettes. This place has never been safe, especially during the night. We come from another country to do business and have a better life, but it’s very hard when you don’t feel safe.
JOSEPH MONGO: We need some security and better response times. Sometimes things happen and the police respond, but by the time they get here, it is too late. If the police were here every day, I would feel a lot safer.
ANGELINA: We went through a period where the crime was low, but especially in the last year, it has only gotten worse.
JUNIOR ALEX: There is a lot of petty crime and we don’t always hear about big incidents like what happened at Spar, which can happen anywhere. But we do need the police to separate the ‘bad eggs’ and we will see a big change. Of the people who live here, 99,9 per cent just want to live a happy life, but it is that 0,1 per cent that makes life hard for the rest of us. Windsor is not another Hillbrow.
REVONIA: I can definitely confirm that crime is bad. I was working at the Spar on the night that it was robbed, and I am still traumatised. Just thinking of the events of that night and seeing those guns makes me realise that crime not only needs to stop in Windsor, but everywhere.
