Hostel residents call on police to remove addicts from the premises
Mamelodi hostel residents say the number of drug users on their doorstep has grown since they complained to the police.
Drug addicts that have invaded the Mamelodi hostel grounds are still a concern.
The hostel residents earlier this week told Record that since they brought the problem to the attention of the police two years ago, the number of the addict who came there to shoot up had grown.
They said that the police and local CPF were unhelpful, and that the addicts had brought with them crime such as prostitution, robberies and burglaries especially at the Kingsley hostel in Block D and the Mamelodi hostel in Block Y next to Sun Valley.
The residents said they were fed up with the nyaope drug addicts who had turned the “Place of Song” into hell.
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The residents wished to remain anonymous for fear for their lives.
A resident who only identified himself as Samuel last year, drug lords openly sold drugs there too.
“All the police did was promise to bring in the K9 unit to search the hostel,” said Samuel.
He said he had noticed that children of school age were spending time there shooting up.
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“They no longer go to school,” he said and that the police who patrolled the area collected bribes from the drug lords rather than preventing crime. “That is why this drug problem is not being solved.
“As residents we tried to do something. We patrolled the hostels and chased the addicts away but the police intervened to stop us.”
He told Record the police had assaulted a residents for taking a photo of them taking a bribe from a drug lord.
Mamelodi West police spokesperson Captain Johannes Maheso was not available for comment but last year said the police had met the residents to warn them against taking the law into their own hands and explain that the police could not just walk onto the hostel premises and arrest anyone who looked suspicious.
“The police are doing their job and they will arrest anyone who is possession of drugs and someone who is dealing with drugs that is the law,” said Maheso.
He denied all the allegations made by the residents.
He advised the residents to take the registration numbers of police vehicles involved in taking bribes and record the times they saw this happen to help any subsequent investigation.
The residents also appealed to the Tshwane metro to intervene and help them fight crime.
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