The Randfontein Police has unofficially declared war on drugs in Toekomsrus.
They also have the backing of the community.
Last Friday, the Randfontein Police together with the Randfontein Traffic Police, Community Policing Forum (CPF), Boys and Girls Town as well as various other organisations held a safety imbizo dubbed Vuka Mphakhathi. Which in this context translates to wake up, crime watchers or wake up, community.
All speakers at the event had one thing in common in their messages and that was the youth. Thabiso Lebitsa, Boys and Girls Town manager, spoke about model parenting and extended the institution to reach out to other schools to assist them with problem children and equip them on how to deal with such children.
Captain Appel Ernst, Randfontein Police spokesperson for the Randfontein police made a significant statement before Lebitsa spoke and said, “When you’re pregnant and when you have children, they don’t come with a manual.”
Zaheer Gangat, chairperson for the Randfontein CPF spoke about partnerships and how various organisations need to team up in the fight against crime as not one organisation can do it alone.
With regards to the youth he said,
We as a community and as families need to be united for our children. We need to give them a sense of belonging.”
Randfontein station commander, Brigadier Mashole Jacob Manamela was his usual joking self but quickly turned serious when he spoke about crime, drug abuse and Toekomsrus’ youth.
In his address he stated that when he was instated as station commander his main focus has been to mobilise the community. In doing so, he said, the criminal element can be eliminated if the community works hand in hand with the police.
“I have engaged with this community and the one thing that always comes up is drugs. This is the issue in Toekomsrus and we need to eliminate it. Community members have also alerted me about officers being involved with the drug dealers.”
“Speak to me. Let me know when you see an officer colluding with the criminals. There’s no space in the police for corrupt police officers. Talk to me about your cousin who’s on drugs, talk to me about your husband who’s on drugs. Don’t keep quiet about it,” he said.
Mashole said many arrests have been made in Toekomsrus since he has been station commander and said the arrest rate of youth is alarming.
He said if the police continue to arrest youngsters in Toekomsrus as they do, in five years a whole generation will sit with out jobs.
Who would want to employ someone with a criminal record? This is not just about arrests, this is about prevention. We need to prevent this,” he said.
The community was pleasantly surprised by Mashole’s approach to addressing crime in Toekomsrus, the way he spoke gave parents and grandparents hope for their children.
Mahole did not only make promises to the community, he told the community he doesn’t want to talk about the same thing over and over.
“I need to deliver on my promises so remember this and take me up if you see me not delivering.
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