STINKING POLICE STATION DETERS ORDINARY KOKSTAD RESIDENTS FROM REPORTING CRIME SAYS DR CRAIG
Greater Kokstad Municipality rate payers believe that victims of crime in this town are not reporting crime as they are deterred by a stinking police station that is serving this town. Rate Payers Association member Dr Brett Craig said this in a meeting on Tuesday where stakeholders were evaluating the crime stats in this town.
Dr Craig, said he understood why crime stats are so low. It is hard for an ordinary person to open a case in the police station because the situation there is tedious, not pleasant and the reception is not good.
“No one bothers to open a case at that police station, surrounded by dirt, filth and where people could be able to throw in drugs into the cells just behind the police station. There is no water to wash hands after taking fingerprints,” Craig said.
He said fighting crime is a battle hard to win but could be defeated if they own the challenge by joining hands together as the community, law enforcement agencies, stakeholders and business and refuse to surrender their town in the hands of criminals.
He added that to be able to deal with major crime, they should start with minor crime.
Dr Craing was not the only one who could not believe that crime has gone down in Kokstad. Speaker of the Greater Kokstad Municipality Lwando Madikizela also rubbished the claims saying should they report this to the community they will be asked which Kokstad do they stay in.
“Kokstad is a den of iniquity, a lawlessness town and reports that crime has decreased, according to police statistics, is a pure contradiction and pretence as if everything is right while it is not the case out there…”
“I believe crime has decreased according to books but practically not…and this thing of sugar- coating for compliance purposes has destroyed many government departments instead of dealing with issues as they are at hand…” said irate Madikizela.
Incidents of housebreaking where in some cases criminals knock at the doors of civilians at night pretending to be police have become the town’s daily bread.
The criminal incidents are said to be not only life threatening where some civilians have been shot dead at their homes but it has also affected the town’s electricity infrastructure resulting in constant power cuts.
Theft of electricity cables and copper pipes are happening on a daily basis with the municipality having to spend money to carry out repairs.
However, murder cases where people get shot randomly in the streets or attacked in their houses have frightened the community and is affecting the local economy as businesses are looted daily and have to close early.
Despite the reports, police are adamant that crime has decreased in Kokstad.
Colonel Sipho Thabethe said he was happy to see the residents taking ownership of their town but it should be understood that the statistics are gauged through the cases reported to the police.
He said they are willing to work with anyone who is willing to fight crime. He said they need to start neighbourhood watch programmes and effective patrols.
Kokstad municipal manager, Sipho Zwane, said they are beginning to lose the list they have and it pains him to find Kokstad smelling of urine in the streets, a place where everyone wanted to be because it was a clean town.
