North, south, east and west Jozi
In Brixton, Themba Buda (20) is in his second year at the Academy of Sound Engineering at the SABC. He lives in nearby Hursthill with his brother.
He was mugged in the street at gunpoint in September. A friend, who was with him, had his phone, money, sweater and shoes stolen. “I mean, they stole the shoes off of his feet.”
A few months before that his brother was attacked by knifewielding criminals. “We need more protection.”
Buda says students experience crime first-hand and, for this reason, he believes they deserve to have a voice about the problems they face.
Nondumiso Dubaza (22) is a fourth-year computer sciences student at the University of Johannesburg who lives in Brixton. For her, the most pressing problem is crime.
“Safety off campus is pretty much nonexistent,” she says. “You can get robbed in the day, right outside your gate at 11am.”
She says criminals pick out students because they are likely to have laptops or tablets. “You feel like a target.”
She says safety on campus is also a problem with many cases of rape taking place. “How am I meant to feel safe as a woman on campus?” she asks.
Thulane Mdlalose (18) is i n his first year at the Campus of Performing Arts on the eastern side of Johannesburg, in the suburb of Kensington. He lives in Dlamini in Soweto.
His biggest concern in Kensington is crime. Students don’t feel safe going to the nearby Rhodes Park. A friend from campus was recently mugged near there and another had his guitar stolen while walking home to Bezuidenhout Valley.
In the neighbouring suburb of Troyeville, Albert Kheoane (59) says he tries to make a living doing odd plumbing jobs. He lives in Hillbrow where, he says, drugs, prostitution and human trafficking are out of control and he needs to find somewhere else to live. “Crime is too much. If any political party says they can stop crime, they are lying.”
Kheoane says the police i n Hillbrow are either turning a blind eye to crime or are involved in criminal activity. “Our policemen are criminals. I have seen with my own eyes police selling drugs.”
He believes that the only way to fix crime in Hillbrow is to replace the entire police force in the suburb.