Constance Petersen, 56, has lived in Mitchell’s Plain for close to five decades and runs an educare centre in Rocklands.
Ms Petersen, who attended the launch of the provincial police’s safer festive operation plan at Rocklands sports field on Thursday October 17, said she feels unsafe in her community, even after watching the police’s operational display and being surrounded by scores of police and law enforcement officers.
The sports field, which is not too far from the Rocklands park where three youngsters died following a shooting on August 23, was transformed into an operational showcase of the capabilities of several police and law enforcement units.
These included the public order police, tactical police and K9 units, and the City’s metro police, traffic, law enforcement, and fire and rescue services.
“I don’t feel safer at all because I don’t see the difference. (The police) show they have vehicles but you will never see those vehicles around. The only time you see them doing so many patrols is when they come and do something like today.
“They show the drones and stuff, we don’t see it around in Rocklands. My plea is that the police will not just be visible, but active. Stop showing that you are visible, but you are not active,” Ms Constance said.
National police commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, Western Cape MEC for community safety and police oversight, Anroux Marais, and the top brass of the Western Cape police were all present at the launch of the safety plan.
General Masemola outlined the focus areas for the upcoming festive season, which include gender-based violence, by-laws that will be enforced by the City’s metro police, traffic and law enforcement, road safety, the sale of stolen and fake goods, illegal firearms, extortion, aggravated robbery, murder and border security.
Speaking to the Plainsman, General Masemola reiterated the police’s commitment to ensuring the safety of all Mitchell’s Plain residents.
“We are committed as the South African Police Service that we will serve the people of Mitchell’s Plain this festive season. We also ask for the cooperation of the community,” he said.
Representatives from other government departments and community stakeholders such as the Hawks and National Prosecuting Authority, provincial and local community police forums and neighbourhood watches also attended the launch.
Mzwakhe Nqavashe, chairperson of the City’s safety and security portfolio, highlighted the important relationship between the police, the province and the City’s safety and security agencies.
“Our collaboration is essential in ensuring the safety of our communities. While SAPS is tasked with national crime prevention, the City plays a key role in supporting this key role at a local level, alongside the local SAPS in all our metro hotspots, particularly in areas like traffic enforcement, by-law compliance and visible policing,” he said.
The City has 55 CCTV cameras throughout Mitchell’s Plain, with most in and around the Town Centre public transport interchange.
Between July and September 2024, LEAP officers in Mitchell’s Plain conducted 353 operations, including joint operations, recovered two firearms and made 366 arrests for various offences including dealing in and the possession of drugs, and the possession of dangerous weapons.
Mr Nqavashe said more needs to be done in terms of dealing with gang violence, extortion, schedule three offences such as such as aggravated robbery, murder, rape and sexual offences, and by-laws in the city and province.
Jason Kumlehn, chairperson of the Mitchell’s Plain sub-district community police forum (CPF), said while there is collaboration between the police and the City’s safety and security agencies, gaps still exist.
“For the Mitchell’s Plain sub-district, we want to see increased visibility from the services.
“Some of our stations fall in the City’s LEAP programme servicing area, but we are still seeing massive issues. In Mitchell’s Plain, for example, in Tafelsig there have been a number of murders over the past couple of weeks, we need our services to come down hard and clamp down crime.
“We also need our community to stand together with our neighbourhood watches, community in blue and CPFs, and to report things what they see. Without them reporting, unfortunately, we are not going to solve the crime problem in our communities,” Mr Kumlehn said.
Sandy Schuter-Flowers, chairperson of the Strandfontein CPF, said she is confident in the partnership between the police and the City and urged the community to join existing safety structures.
“We hope the community can also work together with the law enforcement agencies to drive our community forward in terms of safety during this festive season and the new year approaching.
“To the community, join the safety structures. We need to become more actively involved in the fight against crime and not only online. We need to become boots on the ground in our community,” Ms Schuter-Flowers said.