Ennerdale unites against crime

13 September 2015

 

Ennerdale residents and local police have pledged to cooperate in the fight against crime and other social ills to create conditions for economic growth in the area.

 

This followed a no-holds barred community engagement session at the Ennerdale Civic Centre in the City of Johanneburg’s Region G last week. Earlier, Ennerdale Police Commander Major Petros Morontsi had warned that if residents allowed criminals to do as they pleased, they would end up controlling their lives.

 

“You must own your area and you must not allow criminals to make you live in fear,” Maj Morontsi said.

 

The Meaningful Citizen Participation Empowerment Dialogue, facilitated by Regional Director Mickey Padiachee, was attended by a large number of residents, religious leaders, youth, representatives of non-governmental organisations, councillors and sports administrators. The main aim of the dialogue was to give stakeholders the opportunity to contribute positively to the reshaping of the community.

 

Similar engagement sessions will be held on Wednesday September 16 at the Lenasia Civic Centre and Thursday September 17 at the Lenasia South Civic Centre.

 

Speaking on the police’s short- and long-term crime prevention vision, as well as the safety measures that have been put in place in Ennerdale, Maj Morontsi said the police’s work was hampered by the lack of manpower. He said this was exacerbated by the lack of cooperation from community members, who were “reluctant to report crime committed in their doorstep and under their noses” because of their hatred of the police.

 

He said criminals created a division between the community and police.

 

“If we work together and join hands we can achieve a lot. If we work together nothing will stop us from preventing crime. We need to own our area. We need to own Ennerdale,” he said.

 

Maj Morontsi encouraged the community to become police informants. He said there was no danger in residents becoming informants because their identity remained confidential.

 

However, resident Natasha Selem disputed Maj Morontsi’s claim that people did not come forward to report crime to the police. Selem said it was difficult to trust the police because several incidents that had been reported to them had not resulted in arrests. She said the police always blamed the lack of resources for their failure to attend to crime scenes.

 

During the dialogue, residents drew up a list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats before coming up with the way forward. The stakeholders concluded the meeting by making a declaration to create a united front to fight against crime and criminality, including drug dealing.