“Fix our access roads, give us jobs and provide us with more police members and resources.”
This was the plea addressed to premier Oscar Mabuyane and police minister Bheki Cele at the premier’s imbizo in crime-riddled Mqhekezweni village on Saturday.
Thousands of residents in many villages falling under seven KSD municipal wards said they no longer felt safe as criminals ruled the roost and their only police station, the Bhityi police station, was too under resourced to stamp out rampant crime in the villages.
They said illegal guns were still awash in their villages which were also in the grip of drug dealers.
Qunu resident Zandile Matikinca told Mabuyane and Cele that in her village seven people had been killed in what was believed to have been a drug-related mass murder.
She said many access roads were in a bad condition.
As a result, police often failed to respond to crime scenes. Ambulances were also not able to pick up sick people.
Fellow Qunu villager Wiseman Vinjwa said tourists had been robbed in broad daylight at a garage.
A school had been broken into and more than 100 tablets stolen along with school food.
Nobomi Ngqukumbana from Dalindyebo said police sometimes took three days to arrive when called to respond to crime.
If someone was stabbed, residents had to hire a vehicle for R1,500 to take the injured to hospital.
Matyengqina traditional council head and AbaThembu chief Mfundo Bhovulengwe Mtirara lashed out at the police saying more than 190 illegal firearms had been confiscated when a specialised police unit was sent to fight crime in the Bhityi area.
But to this day, not a single person has been arrested and prosecuted. He said six police cars in the Bhityi police station had been boarded.
“We don’t want to be beggars; government must create sustainable projects so that people can get jobs.
“In some parts here, people no longer report crime, because they fear they will be killed. We ask for reservists for the Bhityi police station.”
He also called for KSD municipality to draft a bylaw dictating closing times for taverns and other liquor-selling businesses in the area.
Sikhobeni villager Siphiwo Majangaza said criminals had killed at least nine people in his village in 2023 alone.
Cele, who was accompanied by national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola and provincial commissioner Lt-Gen Nomthetheleli Mene said alcohol was the biggest contributor to crime according to police statistics.
Previously Cele promised to provide five more cars for the Bhityi police station.
Two had already been delivered. Another two were delivered on Saturday.
He told Mabuyane and the villagers that about 217 people had been arrested for drug dealing in the OR Tambo district but all were out on bail.
“Maybe you should also ask our partners in the justice cluster and not just point fingers at the police,” he said.
He said government was pushing forward to turn the Bhityi station into a full colonel status, which would mean more police officers and more resources for it.
Mabuyane admitted crime had reached crisis levels in Mthatha and some of its surrounding areas.
He said it had cost the government about R8m to deploy a specialised unit for three months to fight crime in Bhityi.
Now a bottom-up approach was needed where communities themselves play a leading role in ensuring stability in their villages.
He told KDS mayor Nyaniso Nelani it was high time his municipality fitted CCTV cameras in its jurisdiction to deter criminals. He warned that crime was driving investors away.
Community safety MEC Xolile Nqatha confirmed that 62 KSD villages relied on the Bhityi police station.
“Murders, illegal firearms, rapes and stock theft were some of the biggest crimes ravaging the villages.
“The provincial government had built a Thuthuzela Care Centre at the police station to help rape victims with trauma counselling among many interventions.
“The Bhityi periodical court would be improved to a regional court and would sit at least four times a week to fast track cases.
“Some old cases had also been reopened including some involving stock theft.
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