Pumula residents in Ward 17 have taken the initiative to revive the neighborhood watch committee due to an increase in robbery cases in the suburb.
Neighbourhood watch refers to policing by civilians and this is necessary where the police force is hit by manpower challenges.
Speaking to CITE, Ward 17 Councillor Sikhululekile Moyo confirmed the development adding that residents have lost a lot of valubales to thieves.
“In our ward, we noticed that there was an increase in crime, as the leadership we sat down and formed the neighborhood watch team. As a community, we were now experiencing increased theft cases in our homes and even on paths which residents use when going to other suburbs such as Magwegwe or Pumula Old, residents would lose their valuables such as cell phones and even their clothing,” said Cllr Moyo.
She said her suburb was also receiving high cases of daily break-ins, a move which left residents vulnerable.
“At times people would even lose dishes when they remove them outside just to wash them, even laundry could be stolen during the day. Copper cables were also being targeted and also water meters. Daily we were receiving so many reports of theft cases, we sat down as a community and formed a neighborhood watch team.” Said Cllr Moyo.
Cllr Moyo also indicated that the community will fund some of the needs of the neighbourhood watch team as the police are also incapacitated.
“As a community, we are also helping the neighbourhood watch team as the Police also indicated there are some equipment which they do not have such as handcuffs, truncheons, torches and also reflectors so they can be easily identified while on patrol,” she said.
“We agreed as residents to pay US$1 per household to capacitate our neighborhood watch team so that they can protect our community as they will be working while we are sleeping.”
Councillor Moyo added that the increased cases of theft may be due to the poor economy and said she hopes the neighborhood watch program will lead to a reduction in cases of crime.
