The Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Community Safety welcomes the intervention by Police Minister Bheki Cele in Westbury following a spate of shootings and violence in the area over the past few days.
Today the Minister visited the Westbury community to establish the effectiveness of operational responses by various law enforcement agencies to curb the rising levels of gang related violence in the area.
Earlier this week, the Committee called for the deployment of additional SAPS members in the area as well as the strong visibility and presence of Police.
The Committee is encouraged by the Minister’s visit and hopes it will yield tactical solutions to restore peace and stability in the area.
Westbury principal says he is fearful for his pupils
“This message has just been a PR exercise because there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that this community can take from it to say that they are inspired and that they want to work with the police.
“Now we can only say how is that we are going to dodge bullets,” Harris added.
Magdalene van Rooyen, who is part of the local community policing forum in the area, told News24 they were invited to the meeting with Cele but were given a different time slot.
“We are very disappointed, because we were given a time of 09:30, but the meeting actually started at 08:30, which completely excluded us.
“The biggest problem in Westbury is that the community and the police are not getting along. People have no trust in the police. How are we supposed to restore that trust if we are excluded from meetings?