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Late 2013 my colleague got an irresistible offer from a company organised by his brother in Australia. Judging by the email he showed me I also would not let it go by. The real work now started of emigrating and selling off all his staff. First it was the car and then all the other staff except the house itself and some small pieces of furniture. He didn’t want to burn his bridges by leaving the loan hanging so I offered to take over his payments even though it was also risky on my side as the house will remain in his name until I finish the bond.
I decided to take the risk and leave SOWETO to live in a very big house with a big stand and a swimming pool. It was like I was living my dream. The first problem started when we arrived home one day only to find that someone tried to break in and damaged the doors and was probably disturbed by something and then left as the house is at a corner stand overlooking the main road. Below is a litany of incidents that happened afterwards
· My wife woke me up one time because of footsteps in the yard. I went to check only to find that they’ve broken into the garage and stole garden equipment and the footsteps were actually leaving the yard when I woke up.
· Because the garage door was not yet repaired, they broke into my garage and stole whatever was remaining there.
· A few months later my wife called me from work and told me the house was broken into and the T.V., sound system without speakers, laptop and accessories, my son’s PlayStation and other items gone.
· I got a dog from a friend in Soweto and thanks god it was a loud dog when barking but one night something was amiss when it did not bark and the silence was from 10:00pm after watching soccer but I thought it is asleep and at 02:15 I heard noises and upon waking up someone was trying to open a window on the other bedroom and when I switched on the lights they ran away. I found that my dog was poisoned in the morning.
· I heard from a lady who is working for a family in the same street that they were held at gun point and the house was cleaned up.
· I heard that there is gang moving around in a bantam bakkie disguised as a security vehicle doing house robberies.
· In 2015 my neighbour asked the other guy in the area to go check at his house because his domestic worker’s cell phone was off and he found that the house was being robbed and immediately alerted the CPF and one of the guys was arrested. He is a Zimbabwean and he refused to give us information about his gang and their activities. Early in 2016, besides being linked to other crimes through his fingerprints, he got bail, obviously to continue doing his crimes.
· A guy was hijacked at his gate just before entering his home. It looks like he has been followed from god knows where. The car was only bought 8 months prior.
· I was almost hijacked from work but luckily I gave a lift to my neighbour who took his car back to the dealership to sort out a few things. Because I started by dropping him off his house before going to mine I noticed the red car stopping when I stop and moving when I do. I went around the street and parked at the back of it and they sped off. I don’t know in other areas but the police’s handling of crimes her is always tepid and in most of the cases oblique.
Last year we had a meeting as residents to look at options that we have probably to boom this area off because some have sold their houses and moved to other areas but this is not a solution. Another problem that has crept in is that of drugs. It has been there long before I lived there but because of some people selling or renting their houses out to foreigners it has become a bigger problem. A 17 year old boy last year was given drugs to try and is now hooked and has almost cleaned out his mother’s house and stopped going to school.
I’m now even used to always waking up in the middle of the night at least twice a day to look around if there is anything sinister before dozing off till the morning. I just don’t know what kind of a life is this.
During the Easters I visited my grandmother in Mpumalanga, I don’t know when last I had a wonderful sleep I had there. For some reason or another I could not wake up in the morning but I had a wonderful time there.
I don’t know if it is me, I can’t help but notice that since the new Minister of police Fikile Mbalula took office, there has been an increase in heists, business robberies and all other hard cash related violent crimes. I know that I don’t have stats to back this up but it looks like we are losing the fight against crime. Within this month there have been over 5 video clips of heist taking place in full view of onlookers in public places. The main problem that has exacerbated the whole thing is the foreigners because they are first illegal in the country and if you don’t catch them in the act you will not be able to trace them later because whatever evidence you might have will be useless if you don’t have a suspect to link it to. It is no surprise that Kenya has issued a caveat to its residents visiting South Africa.
Something does not add up with the alleged crimes committed by the Police Commissioner Kgomotso Phahlane. I’m getting the impression that he is somehow involved in these heists because it is alleged that he pays his debts with hard cash from his boot. My mind can’t get any other crime that can give you such hard cash other than heists and robberies. Bribery possibly can but it can be traced. I don’t want to believe that this is the case but I can’t think of any possible explanation for this.
In conclusion, I believe it is time for us citizens to take more action to protect our lives as the authorities seem to be not doing enough. I always read of different kinds of crimes everyday on the newspapers and it is getting worse.
Cry the beloved country.
