Turn anger into crime-fighting‚ says deputy mayor after 9-year-old killed

28 May 2018 - 17:35 By Jeff Wicks
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The Hyundai ix35, that was involved in the attempted hijacking crashed into this truck and lost control.
The Hyundai ix35, that was involved in the attempted hijacking crashed into this truck and lost control.
Image: Jackie Clausen

Ethekwini Deputy Mayor Fawzia Peer says that the fight against crime is a collective social responsibility and that anger at mounting crime rates should be translated into action.

Peer was speaking on Monday at a stakeholder engagement session at the Durban City Hall in an effort to address the high crime rate. “The fight against crime requires the help and support of every South African.”

“It is no longer good enough to look the other way and assume that crime is someone else’s problem. Criminals can only thrive in communities where their actions are tolerated‚” she said.

The fractious meeting‚ with addresses from law enforcement heads and academics‚ sought to establish a working committee.

"We should translate our anger into action and we should not let crime thrive. That said‚ we dare not let this turn into vigilantism."

Peer’s diatribe followed the slaying of 9-year-old Sadia Sukhraj - shot dead during a hijacking gone awry.

She was rushed to Chatsmed hospital‚ south of Durban‚ where she succumbed to a gunshot wound in the stomach.

The girl and her father‚ Pastor Shailendra Sukhraj‚ were leaving their home near Marklands Secondary School in Shallcross at around 7.30am when they were accosted by three armed suspects.

The hijackers then hit a truck and lost control of the vehicle in a nearby park. One of the men was arrested as he fled the scene by an off-duty police officer‚ another died near the vehicle and a third man remains at large.


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