WATCH | Bheki Cele returns to Kliptown to find lasting solutions to crime concerns

28 April 2022 - 08:19
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Police minister Bheki Cele will on Thursday return to Pimville in the Kliptown policing area in Soweto to further engage community members on identified crimes and policing concerns.

Ministry spokesperson Lirandzu Themba said the ministerial street imbizo seeks to provide residents with a platform to discuss and engage the SAPS on identified crimes plaguing the community and at the same time promote and improve relations between police and the community at large.

Police are already in the area conducting an operation at the Chicken Farm informal settlement near Pimville.

Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalatse, who had an early morning start with a visit to the area, said some operational successes have already been registered with seizures of firearms, stolen cables, drugs and stolen vehicles.

In an interview with eNCA, Phalatse said the biggest issue in the area was concern for safety and security.

“They don’t sleep at night, their houses get robbed, these people come in they cut their shacks and they enter, they search them and they rob their belongings. There’s a child who was shot by a stray bullet on their way to school — a 9-year-old. So the gunshots at night, daily — people fear for their lives, that was the biggest concern,” she said.

A resident, Kgomotso Diale, was recently fatally shot during a march in Chicken Farm after frustration with power outages in Pimville zones 3, 4, 5 and 7 due to cable theft. Two suspects linked to the fatal shooting have been arrested while a third was shot dead after pointing a firearm at police.

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