Close to three hours after he was meant to arrive, Police Minister Bheki Cele finally arrived at an empty Hanover Park Bus terminus ahead of his scheduled follow-up community imbizo on Sunday 14 April.
With a walkabout scheduled for 11:30, followed by the imbizo at Voorspoed Primary School at noon, the police band entertained residents at the terminus from 11:00.
When People’s Post arrived, uniformed officers from various police units accompanied by police vehicles flooded the terminus. The band and police horses had attracted a large crowd of locals, with many unsure of the occasion, while others were visibly irate at his intended visit.
One resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “Now they want to come with all this police. Now he wants to come here and just this morning they shot people dead in Hanover Park. They shoot here every day with no police, now they come with horses.”
With the band creating a jovial mood, locals were quick to point out that this did not create a sense of safety, but was rather seen as an attempt to “pull the wool over their eyes” or impress them.
Community policing forum (CPF) representatives Kashiefa Mohammed and Yaseen Johaar said this visit needed to come with action, and not empty promises.
“We do appreciate that the minister has acknowledged Hanover Park as a community to make it his duty to visit,” says secretary Johaar. “However, just hours ago, we had a couple of murders. We have had shootings daily. We represent the community and when we engage with the community, who elected us, the feeling we get on the ground is this just another tick-box exercise. Is this just another visit where empty promises are made?”
He says the CPF trusts in the leadership of police to curb crime, but hopes they stick to their promises.
“We are in a trying times, especially in the lead-up to the elections, when people have just lost faith. The number of murders currently happening in Hanover Park is pathetic.”
With technological investments of Shotspotter and CCTV cameras as well as mobile police units stationed in the area, Johaar continues that murders are still taking place constantly, which he questions.
CPF spokesperson Mohammed says the murders had been non-stop even close to the mobile police station.
“(On Sunday 14 April) at 01:00 we had three people shot, two injured and one woman died,” she says. “Again at 06:45, a man was shot in his home. People aren’t safe anymore inside their houses. Shootings are happening randomly, when children come out of school, when people come from work or go to church. Our community has so much fear, they can’t even go shopping.”
She continues that the community is angry at the continued bloodshed and that they have called on police to increase visibility.
At the school hall, various police and crime-related organisations had set up for the imbizo, including Correctional Services, PSIRA and the Hawks.
What was expected to be a full community hall at 12:00, reduced to about one third after 13:00 when People’s Post visited the hall.
After waiting for more than two hours, People’s Post left the community, but is reliably informed that the imbizo ran well after 16:00, after Cele eventually arrived in the area after 14:00.
According to a press statement by police ahead of the visit, the series of community imbizos is part of “ongoing efforts to flush out criminality through the aggressive policing intervention Operation Shanela which has seen the arrest of over 500 thousand suspects. The Police Ministry is turning its focus on improving community policing through fostering relations between communities and the police.”
It continues that this “engagement will focus on addressing serious and violent crimes impacting these communities as well as the police’s responses to these crimes.”
