Those who fall on hard times rely on customers

EDITOR – On a recent visit to Cape Town, I was truly impressed with residents’ participation in street, block and area crime-fighting committees.

Two way radios, luminous jackets, identification cards, flashlights and revolving roof lights were the order of the day in their collective effort to eradicate crime and manage wandering vagrants.

Fortunately in Amanzimtoti, we have the CCPO who carry the same burden on our behalf for a mere R155 per month.

On returning and stopping in Beaufort West to refuel, I was immediately approached by an individual begging for bread, followed by three car guards swarming my vehicle in the town centre, locked in verbal battle as to who exactly would be in charge as I stepped out my vehicle.

Turning into Bloemfontein for a quick bite, I couldn’t help but notice the number of women seeking employment along the sidewalks after 9pm.

There is really no difference whether you are in Pinetown, Durban North, Overport, Morningside, Glenwood, Queensburgh, Chatsworth, Bluff, Isipingo, Amanzimtoti, Umkomaas or any other area in eThekwini, or for that matter the country – everyone is facing the same problem when it comes to beggars, vagrants, illegal car guards, drug traders and prostitutes.

Meetings with SAPS, Metro Police and the private security industry confirms that their hands are for the moment pretty much tied, as it serves no purpose to impose a fine on a person who has nothing and is already reliant on alms. In turn, the court rolls are already overfull and cannot accommodate the volume of petty crime brought before it.

A recent visit to Westville correctional facility confirmed that their awaiting trial section (which includes petty crime) is 37% overpopulated and some inmates who are unable to post bail, have been there for five or six months at a daily cost of R375 (R11,250 per month) to the taxpayer. Interviews with ‘street people’ confirm that some are locals who have fallen on bad times due to retrenchment, ill health, death of a breadwinner and so on.

Others drift from town to town until the local population become unsympathetic to their plight.

Shelters don’t appeal to them, as they are of the opinion that they are inhabited by ‘bad people’, so they rather chance the bush, bridges and drains overnight.

Drug runners (at the lower end of the chain) confirm their trade as being driven by local demand, yet controlled by syndicates from other parts of the city. Cocaine, crack, ice, ecstacy, methaphetamine, heroin, mandrax and cannabis remain the most common street drugs.

Whoonga seems to be losing popularity in favour of a renewed demand for heroin.

Much has changed since the disbanding of police specialised units such as the South African Narcotics Bureau (SANAB), which was primarily tasked with vice-related infringements.

Likewise the vehicle theft unit which specialised in stolen and/or modified vehicles, family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit, the gold and diamond branch which focused on the trade in refined metals, the firearms unit that specialised in the identification and investigation of all firearm-related offences, murder and robbery unit, truck theft unit specialising in theft from and out of railway carriages, commercial branch that focused on commercial-related crimes and fraud, taxi violence unit and the crime prevention (ghost) squads attached to each police station that worked among the population in private attire to obtain information and prevent crime before it actually manifested. While it remains a national phenomena with no apparent resolve, we are presently in discussion with the National Prosecuting Authority in our endeavour to facilitate a workshop between all stakeholders on a possible way forward.

In the meantime, note that vagrants, beggars, illegal car guards, drug traders and prostitutes all remain reliant on exactly the same thing – customers.

CLLR ANDRE BEETGE

Ward 97