Kudos to Glebelands cops

LAST week the Durban Magistrate’s Court sentenced Mxolileni Hopeson Bhani to imprisonment for life for the murder of Sipho Ndovela in 2015 and 12 years for the attempted murder of another Glebelands resident.

Since March 2014 when the violence began, Bhani is the first – but we hope not the last – Glebelands hitman to be convicted for the murder of hostel residents. These hitmen have operated with impunity, cutting down councillors, taxi bosses and community leaders throughout southern KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.

Thank you to the three remaining SAPS provincial task team members who took over the Glebelands dockets in early 2015, and who have remained dedicated to freeing the hostel from the grip of hired killers.

These officers are to be highly commended for their hard work, commitment, dedication, honesty and integrity. They have faced seemingly insurmountable odds, not the least being corruption and inefficiency in their own ranks, a lack of resources, and the difficulty of convincing a fearful, distrusting community to put their lives on the line and assist the investigations.

This success towards reducing the flow of blood at Glebelands demonstrates what can be achieved when officers execute their duties with excellence. The community is often urged to “cooperate with the police”, but this conviction shows what can be accomplished when the police “cooperate with the community.” Hopefully this conviction will mark a turn in the tide of violence at Glebelands. It is hoped that one day soon, we will see Bhani’s handlers in the same place as he is today. — Vanessa Burger, KZN