Buziwe Nocuze
Community members from Steenberg, Hillview and Muizenberg marched together with taxi drivers on Thursday to demand that cops do something about gangsters.
The marchers handed over a memorandum to Major General Thembekile Dyantyi, in an open field in Steenberg. Among the list of demands are for police visibility and for police to do their job of arresting criminals who are terrorising them.
They said all they wanted was peace in their communities.
Brandon Suleiman from Retreat said taxi drivers were being targeted and threatened by thugs.
“Two weeks ago, one of our taxi drivers was shot and killed, and nothing was taken from him. They just killed him,” Suleiman said.
He said that in 2010, 14 drivers from the Retreat association were killed, but nothing happened. No information about arrests was ever received.
He said passengers cannot walk freely to the taxi rank because they’re robbed of their taxi fare and belongings.
One taxi driver revealed that three men who he thought were passengers had stopped him. One put a gun to his neck while the other two started robbing passengers.
One community member said going to work has become a challenge because of the high crime in their area. She said they all want police visibility and more safety measures for these communities.
She said their kids cannot play outside safely because anything could happen.
Dyantyi received the memorandum and promised it would reach all relevant departments.
Reagen Allen, cluster commander and MEC for police oversight and community safety, said it is crucial to build relationships between the South African Police services and communities.
