A special team of detectives will be deployed to Harding, on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal province, following a recent spike in crime in the area.
The announcement was made by Police Minister Bheki Chele, who was speaking at the Imbizo Crime Prevention Ministerial Conference. The area has been plagued by organized crime in recent months, with many cases still unsolved.
Harding, a relatively peaceful neighborhood, has been marred by violent crime in recent months. For one resident of Slindil Sincuba, the rise in crime has cost her family dearly. She lost her husband and two children in June when unknown assailants opened fire on the taxi they were traveling in on their way back from church.
Her two other children were saved, but are still traumatized. No one has been arrested for the brutal murders since the shooting. Sinkuba says 18 rounds of AK-47 ammunition were found at the scene.
Harding resident Slindile Sincuba said: “Criminals killed my husband and two children. The other two are still traumatized by the incident.”
Another resident, Thandi Mbutuma, lost her 37-year-old son last month. Gkama Mbutuma was also killed when he was attacked in the town.
“My son was killed in broad daylight, while no one was arrested. We know who killed him and they are working in collusion with the police.’
The community expressed their concerns to Minister Bheki Chela on Crime Imbizo. They say crime has increased, largely due to poor SAPS response times at the local police station.
Chele was also informed that the local magistrate court had allegedly released 108 suspects on bail. Seven of them were suspected of murder and 20 of them of rape. Chele promised the community to send detectives from the national task force to investigate and solve crimes.
“The police do not respond to their cries. We will talk to the national commissioner to increase the budget so that we can have a special team of detectives who will come here and be able to deal with these unsolved cases and who will help collect the people identified by the special team and set up a secretariat in the station to find out , why people complain so much about this station,” says the Minister of Police.
Community members in the area say gender-based violence is not abating. There have also been allegations that some families of abused young women have been silenced and paid with livestock as compensation for the attacks.
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