Fed-up residents destroy criminal hideout
'Police can't always be patrolling the same area, so destroying the structure was the only solution'
The Phomolong Station has been a source of concern to the Meadowlands community and commuters as it has attracted many drug addicts who have been living there for many years. Passing train commuters have often fallen prey to muggings, stabbings, and in other cases, have been killed near the station.
Many meetings have been called to address the issue and residents bemoan the fact that their pleas fell on deaf ears as the community had to trace the rightful owners of the house which they believed belonged to Prasa (Passenger Railway Agency of South Africa).
They said that after contacting Prasa, they were informed that the rail agency did not want to be involved in the matter. As a result, the Community Policing Forum(CPF) took it upon themselves to look at the situation and conducted regular patrols in the area to ensure the safety of residents alighting the trains.
After numerous meetings, residents became frustrated at what they perceived as a situation which enabled the criminals to continue mugging people. CPF chairperson Bafana Zwane and his colleagues had finally had enough of what they deemed to be an untenable situation and took it upon themselves to demolish the house.
Zwane said, “We had to demolish the structure as so many cases of robberies were being reported at the Meadowlands Police Station and it was time for us to take action.”
“Police can’t always be patrolling the same area, so destroying the structure was the only solution. When we came here, we found a number of these youngsters here who managed to escape the area.
“Now we hope that the area will be safe and the crime rate is lowered since there is no longer a sanctuary for them to operate from,” he added.
The Gauteng MEC of safety, Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane was made aware of the crime and at their last meeting, she contacted Prasa and summoned them to engage with the community about the house which belonged to them but by then, the situation had been taken care of and Nkosi-Malobane thanked them for the work they did.
