By: Natasha Archary
The phrase snitches swim with fishes and get stitches was thrown around a lot on Kaya Drive on Wednesday afternoon.
This after MEC for Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko told communities to take the initiative and fight crime.
Mazibuko was speaking to the community of Vosloorus about the rise in crime in township communities, where hijackings, robberies and shootings.
Her address comes after the mass shooting that claimed the lives of 16 people in Soweto over the weekend.
Calling for the community to speak up and provide police with information about criminal activity, Mazibuko said communities need to work together with the police for social cohesion.
However, her views aren’t shared by all South Africans who say they will not risk their lives when public safety is something government has to ensure.
“Why should I as a working South African, who’s paying taxes, I go to work helping to build the economy, now I must come home and go out an patrol to make sure my community is safe? No. That’s not my job. Isn’t this why we have police? Or is this government’s way of saying, you’re on your own?”
Many listeners said they would turn a blind eye to crime in their areas because police cover up crimes and rat people out to the gangs, drug lords and criminals who are running things.
“Cops in the township are corrupt, they work with the criminals, they take bribes and when you snitch on their criminal friends, they come for you. I’ve seen it, it happened to me, the cop was literally telling a drug lord who was in a car to hide so no one knows he’s there.”
Other issues that are preventing people from taking an initiative include costs for patrolling and the increases in petrol.
“In some communities where there’s Community Policing groups, it’s residents that use their own vehicles to do this. Not only are they losing sleep but they must fork out their own money. When the police are doing what?”
Listen to the conversation on Kaya Drive
Crime in South Africa has spiralled, with some people saying it’s the economic times that are pushing people to commit more crimes just to survive.
We’ve seen this with the July unrest of 2021, when communities in KwaZulu-Natal looted food and other items. This was due to the continued lockdowns and restrictions which meant millions of South Africans lost their jobs.
There have been warnings that if the cost of living, petrol and food continues to rise, the country may see another unrest.
