Residents march to hand over memorandum to station commander

Residents of Ward 26 marched through the streets of Diepkloof on Friday to hand over a memorandum of demands at the police station.

ALSO READ: SWGC students embarked on a peaceful march to Orlando Police Station to submit a memorandum against gender-based violence

They slammed the local police station calling it a crèche, for its failure to deal with crime.

Community leader, Mbali Radebe said the march was aimed at finding effective and long term solutions to challenges faced by the community.

“We are here to call on the police to outline clear prevention measures to tackle the high crime in the community. We are demanding an increase of sector cars, which will patrol the community and limit crime. We further call for the deployment of more officers to deal with the shortage of staff at the police station which will ensure a quick turnaround time for the community,” Radebe said.

Radebe added that the demonstrations were an effort to further foster a working relationship between the community and the police station. She added that the only way to win the war against criminals was ensuring that the community and police maintain strong relations.

“There is a clear division between our community and the police. Police officers in the area are not visible, we don’t see them,” she said.

Lack of police visibility, response time to cases, vehicle and staff shortage and alleged corruption by police officers were some of the issues listed in the memorandum of demands from residents. The document also appealed to police management to priorities the recruitment of individuals from the community.

Members of the PAC, Peter Nkutsweu Raboroko Diepkloof branch who joined the march in support of the demands said they felt the police station was not doing enough to fight crime in the area.

“We have seen a spate of crime in our area. Criminals feel they can do what they want because there is no deterrent and nobody can arrest them. So we felt as people who stay in Diepkloof we needed to participate in the march,” said Paul Ralekwale, Chairperson of the PAC Diepkloof branch.

Ralekwale said the lack of resources is the main reason why crime in the area was out of control.