Kraaifontein horror week (14 dead): Communities must cooperate with SAPS - Mawethu Sila, Community Policing Forum

Africa Melane (in for Lester Kiewit on CapeTalk) speaks with Mawethu Sila, Chair of the Kraaifontein Community Policing Forum (CPF).

Listen below:

Kraaifontein is experiencing a horror week, with at least 14 people being murdered.

Three people were shot dead in separate incidents, and someone else was wounded in the early hours of Sunday in Wallacedene’s Phase Nine.

Another was stabbed to death in the Covid informal settlement on Saturday evening.

Community leaders say the police patrols are visible, but law enforcement is reactive rather than preventative.

Sila believes that policing alone is not enough to stop criminality and says communities must work with the police if they want to see a change.

“The Police are no longer a police force; it is a police service. This means the people receiving the service must cooperate. The communities dropped the ball a long time ago.” 

- Mawethu Sila, Chair - Kraaifontein CPF

He says some people will harbour criminals, and the rest of the community must push back against them and report them for committing crimes.

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“I think it's high time that all of us as community members stand up and fight back.”

- Mawethu Sila, Chair - Kraaifontein CPF

He argues that the best way to fight back is not to take the law into your own hands but rather to report criminality and allow the police to act and arrest those committing crimes.

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