Residents in Sebokeng, Vaal Triangle in Gauteng are gat-vol over a seemingly increasing wave of criminal activity affecting their wellbeing and livelihoods.
Vaal Observer engaged concerned residents over the theft of crucial infrastructure such as electricity transformers, robots and cables which has seen life go back to the stone age for most of the law abiding citizens.
Most who spoke to the topic pointed a finger at the government for sitting idle and not being proactive in preventing acts which sabotage the economy of the region and risk installation of vital tools such as ATM machines which get bombed frequently in the townships.
Mandla Nkosi, 27 of Zone 7 Sebokeng said it was now near impossible to access cash in his area because there is not a single ATM that works.
“My brother, if I need to have R50 from the bank I have to spend R40 to go to town or the nearest mall to get it. There had been ATM’s all over here before but they have all been bombed and we as residents have to carry the brunt of added cost just to get money,” he said.
He added that this is more painful when it comes to pensioners, the sick and the recipients of child social grants who have to part with the money they don’t even have to get their grants.
Nkosi said: “Go to Evaton, all through such a vast area there is not a single ATM, we are now forced to go to spaza shops which charge exorbitant interests to get the cash which is supposed to be our lifeline as the unemployed and the sick.”
The criminal element in the Vaal has also seen the area robbed of robots controlling traffic from Vanderbijlpark to Sebokeng, leaving the area as an unmarked stop sign for the vehicles.
Criminals in cahoots with allegedly corrupt scrap metal dealers are supposedly working hand in glove with regard to this crime.
The theft of transformers meanwhile has wreaked more havoc in the lives of residents in Evaton who have been living in the dark for years now.
They claim criminal syndicates allegedly composed of foreign nationals have been behind the spate of such offences in their area, taking the transformers and selling them to scrap metal dealers.
Maki Mkhize of Evaton said this is more painful for families who have sick patients who are also bread winners relying on refrigerated medication, or those in need of oxygen connection which is only electrically controlled.
She said the theft of transformers condemns such people to death and creates for society an added burden of orphans and child-headed families with no source of income.
“We see these things where we live, a spaza shop in my neighborhood that is our convenience store has been robbed more times than I can count, yet there has not been a single arrest with regards to that, so you can imagine if they can’t arrest shop-breakers how the hell can they arrest sophisticated criminals that steal our basic infrastructure,” she quipped.
Residents said they had lost hope in the community leaders to arrest the situation nor the police or the municipality to act.
Vaal Observer at the time of going to press was not in a position to solicit comments of the local municipality nor the police with regard to the rising crime spree.
The newspaper commits to engaging authorities in the next issue to answer on what is being done to curb the situation and allay the fears and concerns of the community.
