Criminals are becoming more brazen and better-equipped with automatic rifles, commercial explosives and high-speed vehicles. These are some of the concerns raised by crime experts following the increase in violent criminal gang activity in KwaZulu-Natal. The accessibility of firearms in the province has been a cause for concern for years now. Zombuso Ngcobo is from Umlazi in the south of Durban. Her son, Mongameli was shot and killed by unknown suspects in 2008 at their home.
Ngcobo believes the killers were looking for money. That was the most shocking news and when I think about that day, I am just speechless and it has been a while but I still feel that pain. He was shot by the criminals at night and there was no one who saw them. And their friends saw him lying down, no eye witness nothing,” adds Ngcobo. A still grieving Ngcobo says she believes that it is far too easy to get an illegal firearm, exacerbating the crime situation in communities.
“It is hard to complain about these things as we are afraid for our lives. The crime is like the game in our days and we are now teaching our kids to be home as early as possible. We have to inform our loved ones about their whereabouts as anything can happen.”
Chairperson of Umlazi Community Policing Forum Mandlenkosi Ngcobo is optimistic that the relationship between police and local community structures has yielded positive results in fighting crime. The crime in Umlazi township was too high but we have managed to decrease it by working with police. The killing of people by guns is still high and petty crime is not high as it was. We have formed local structures in each every section and the formation of street committees helped a lot,” adds Ngcobo.
Meanwhile, criminologist from the University of KwaZulu-Natal Professor Nirmala Gopal says there is no doubt that the proliferation of illegal firearms is a firm contributor to violent crime. The proliferation of illegal firearms is most certainly a contributing factor to the amount of violent crime that we experience. So, we have both types of criminals and criminal activities that actually pursued.”
“I don’t believe at this point in time that our laws and our border controls are strong enough to ensure that we are more vigilant in terms of how these firearms enter our country.” Speaking at a crime scene in the greater Durban area earlier this week, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi said he is concerned about corrupt members within the force who have given criminals firearms and police uniforms.
“One of them that was found there is the police officer who was on duty and participated in the robberies and he also passed on. They were wearing police dresses, police caps and police bullet proof vests and it is clear that it is a police officer that has been supplying them with these police attire. It is going to help us to investigate more and to find who [are] other police officers that might be part of this,” explained Mkhwanazi.
Source: eNCA
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