Cape Town - Deputy Police Minister Maggie Sotyu says as the country commemorates Women’s Month, women need to join hands to fight crime as the perpetrators that terrorise communities are their children.
The Deputy Minister said by being a women you are not only a mother, but a leader and should take the responsibility to ensure that an effective counter offensive is put up against crime in the area.
She said this when Ministers in the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) cluster held an Imbizo in the Nyanga township in the Western Cape, on Thursday.
“The role of a woman is very important in society. I tried to remind myself of my role in the society because I am a woman, mother, and above all, a leader. If we, mothers, don't work with government to fight crime, we will never win the fight against crime.
“We are the ones who gave birth to those killers, we are the ones that gave birth to these gangsters. You know your child, you know your neighbour’s child. Why do we keep quiet as if nothing has happened,” she questioned.
The Deputy Minister said her heart broke during her recent trip to the Eastern Cape where she was told about a 95-year-old woman who was raped by her own grandson, as well as a 55-year-old woman who was raped by her son.
She said these and many other incidents were the reasons why communities, especially women, needed to take a stand and instead of protecting the criminals, they needed to work with police to reduce crime.
“Nyanga is notorious for crime. It is our role to ensure we raise our children in a good way. It is important that we as women assist government in fighting crime especially when it comes to rape, drugs and gangsterism.
“They say when it comes to rape, Nyanga is number one. Mitchells Plain, domestic violence is the number one crime. You can't say that because you are unemployed you must go and commit crime.
“You can't say because you are unemployed you are going to commit domestic violence,” she said.
Other problems identified in the area includes vigilantism, violent service delivery problems and drugs.
Calls for public to police their own backyards
State Security Minister David Mahlobo said following complaints that gangs and drug syndicates were terrorising communities, government decided to implement Operation Fiela, a multiple agency national crime fighting operation that was aimed at “sweeping the dirt” from communities.
“We are sweeping the dirt in our streets, in our communities.
“We started the operation in Johannesburg. There were certain parts of our country of our communities were taken over by gangs. We took a decision that we will not allow our communities to be terrorised by gangs.
“We are here in the Western Cape, working with the security cluster we will leave the stone unturned to limit the space of movement for criminals in this community,” he said.
The Minister also urged members of the public to be the extra eyes in places that the police could not reach.
He said people knew what was happening in their own backyards and that they should take the responsibility to help police with any info that they can pass on.
“The enemy has taken a different form, they are our children. The police and security cluster will do its best to help but we will not know what is happening in our own backyards. The security cluster cannot fight crime alone.
“You, the members of the communities, are also policemen.
“The solution around fighting crime is in our hands. It is better to make a decision to say this can’t happen in my neighbourhood,” he said.
He also called on Nyanga residents to allow police to do their jobs and that should there be one or two rotten apples, they should report them to appropriate institutions and let the law take its course.
The Minister condemned police killings.
“When we make mistakes, you must also tell us so that we can improve and work together.
“Even you don’t trust some in the police, you can’t take the law into your own hands and kill people. Vigilantism in the Western Cape is a problem. How do you solve a problem by killing people?”
He also said people needed to avoid being swayed into participating in service delivery protests. – SAnews.gov.za
