Zama zama’s blamed for Pigg’s Peak violence
POLICE: We are very much concerned about security around the town. There are no longer police patrols yet they are very important to ensure security within the town. Criminals are also taking full advantage of this.
PIGG’S PEAK – There is infestation of guns to commit crimes at Pigg’s Peak bars. This was revealed by Pigg’s Peak Ratepayers Association Secretary Busta Vilakati during a continuation meeting with Pigg’s Peak Town Council yesterday at Pigg’s Peak Hotel.
According to Vilakati, who is also a police officer but was suspended, South African criminals known as zama zamas, have invaded the small town and have been lured by the abundance of minerals around the area. He was addressing Constable Sibusiso Shongwe who represented Pigg’s Peak police at the meeting.
Vilakati, before making his remarks on the issue, declared that he wanted to make it clear that he was speaking in his capacity as a Pigg’s Peak ratepayer and resident. The secretary, apart from the issue of infestation of guns at local bars, raised a number of other criminal related issues within the town.
“We are very much concerned about security around the town. There are no longer police patrols yet they are very important to ensure security within the town. Criminals are also aware of this fact and take full advantage of it. Police now do not want to attend to crimes at night, I can make a number of examples, but all I want to emphasise is that the residents are losing confidence in the police.
Bars
“In bars they fight to an extent that the fights are taken to hospitals but police on duty wouldn’t show up even if such fights last for hours. I can bet, if the police can conduct a random raid at any of the bars around town, they will find at least two illegal firearms,” said Vilakati. The resident said it was a pity because the police took an oath to serve the public and alleged that those who were in possession of guns at the bars in most instances were zama zamas, from neighbouring South Africa, who flock the country in search of minerals such as gold and the Green Chert stone.
“In a number of instances, these criminals would fire in the air but the police would not show up to even try and collect cartridges as exhibits or evidence to investigate the crime,” he said.
Vilakati further alleged that a known criminal who drives a stolen car would occasionally pass through the town driving in that very stolen vehicle and would draw attention by honking the horn. He said this crippled the credibility of the police because the suspect was showing that he has not been arrested for his crime.
The secretary said it was also a pity that following a string of crimes that occurred in the town since last year, not even a single suspect had been arrested. “There are people who went to fight inside a hospital for about four hours, putting in danger the lives of medical practitioners and patients who now do not feel safe in that environment but nobody has been arrested for that crime. We are not safe as we have seen money taken at gunpoint from Mobile Money (MoMo) vendors around town,” he said.
roBBeries
Vilakati also applauded the installation of a neighbourhood watch at Glen Township, where a string of armed robberies have occurred in recent times.
However, he warned that the people of that area have been extensively abused by criminals and would soon commit murder through mob justice. He said it was possible to even hurt an innocent person mistaken for a thug.
Constable Sibusiso Shongwe, who presented on partnership policing, meaning working together with the police to curb crime, said it was a mistake for any police officer to spread wrong information in that police at Pigg’s Peak do not attend to night crime.
He said the National Commissioner (NATCOM) of Police William Dlamini’s famous ‘Phume’leshashalazini’ statement meant they were committed to fighting crime in all situations.
It is alleged that those who were in possession of guns at bars in most instances were zama zamas from SA.