Kraaifontein still a murder hot spot
KRAAIFONTEIN community leaders and anti-crime activists say they are not surprised by the latest crime stats, nor that the community has retained its spot as one of the murder hot spots in the country.
Ongoing gangsterism and the new influx of residents settling in the newly-formed informal settlements bordering Wallacedene and Bloekombos have been given as the top contributing reasons for Kraaifontein retaining its spot among the top five murder communities in the country.
Kraaifontein Development Forum (KDF) secretary Zingisani Moepa-Brazil said: “In Kraaifontein, we are battling many known and some unknown forces, when it comes to the escalating violence and crime. We are sitting with a potent gender-based violence (GBV) crisis, gang violence, and criminals are terrorising our residents.
“As the KDF, we think that to tackle some of the issues we are facing – like GBV, for example, we need a more unified educative system that will resonate with our community with respect to the different races and cultures we have here.
“We believe our young men and women should have access to psychological support, and be taught early on the importance of protecting, respecting and uplifting one another, especially our young boys who, at times, are influenced by what they see at home and on the streets.
“Regarding the problem of crime, in general, and rampant gangsterism, we have been saying that our police station is not big enough to deal with the load of all communities that fall under Kraaifontein.
“We need more resources and a bigger police force to stamp out the unnecessary violence.
“If you take a look at how our communities, especially Bloekombos and Wallacadene, have grown over time, one can see why we are sitting on the list for top murder stations. Our police station is overwhelmed.”
KDF is also calling on residents to participate within set structures to fight crime and uplift their areas.
Moepa-Brazil said: “Our support structures, such as our community policing forum organisations and neighbourhood watch groups have become politicised. We can’t have that, it causes disunity and we need to do better for the betterment of our community.”