Armed gangs are terrorising the community in Diepsloot, Johannesburg, robbing people on the streets and hacking them to death despite additional police resources and personnel introduced to reduce crime.
Sowetan visited the troubled township on Friday after a resident sent an alert about crime in the area.
Residents told the publication that there was a difference in the first two weeks after the introduction of more police personnel by police minister Bheki Cele in April, but now, crime has gradually come back, haunting and leading to them living in fear.
In one of the incidents, resident Gibson Munyai was coming back from work on August 2 when four men stopped him on the road at about 8pm.
Realising he was in trouble, Munyai then ran, thinking he would beat the thugs with speed but unfortunately, he found the gate where he stays was closed.
“As I tried to take another route and run, one of the men pulled out a knife and stabbed me in the back. I fell down and after that I don’t remember anything. I woke up at the local clinic,” Munyai said.
The men also stabbed him in the leg and took R200 from him.
As Munyai lay helpless on the ground, he said he heard a neighbour opening the gate and the thugs ran. That is how his phone survived.
One of the men involved in the attack has since been arrested.
On July 29, Akanyana Moyo’s husband Sergio Mazanga went out of his shack to urinate at the communal toilet at night.
Moyo and Mazanga lived in different shacks at number one section.
Mazanga did not get to the toilet as a group of men attacked him with pangas.
Bleeding in the head, Mazanga had enough strength to crawl back to his shack and an ambulance was called. He died a few hours after arriving at the hospital.
He and Moyo have a seven-month-old daughter.
“The images of the wounds he suffered do not go away. Even when I sleep, those images resurface. It has been a very traumatic experience for me,” said Moyo as she broke down.
“Crime has not declined since Cele introduced his measures. My sense is that things are worse. It is just that before people were being shot but now, they are being hacked to death. That is the only difference I see,” Moyo said.
Diepsloot became the centre of attention in April when residents blocked roads leading into the township protesting against the high levels of crime in the area.
At the time, residents were calling for Zimbabweans to be sent home as they claimed they were responsible for the high crime rate.
Following the protest, Cele brought in 50 additional officers and 16 vehicles to help fight crime.
According to residents, things stabilised a little but have since gone out of control again.
On September 3, Mahlamvu Nkomo, 45, was on his way home after visiting his friend at about 9pm. His friend dropped him not far from his gate.
“After my friend left, I saw two men carrying pangas. As I turned to enter my gate, there was another group which was hiding at the corner next to my house. I then ran into my yard and tried to lock the gate but they were already here.
“I tried to push back the gate while the men tried to force it inside. I think I was too strong and the gate fell to their side. From that I cannot remember anything. I woke up at Helen Joseph Hospital the next day. Clearly when I fell with the gate that is when they hit me in the head,” Nkomo said.
Nkomo has two deep wounds in his head.
His neighbour Knowledge Maseko, 26, was with his friends on the night on July 16, enjoying the warmth of the brazier,, when he got up to go and relieve himself on the fence.
He was struck with a sharp object on the head.
“When I turned to see what was happening, they hit me again in the head and I was unconscious,” Maseko said.
The group of men then took his cellphone and left. Maseko spent two weeks in hospital due to the injuries he suffered.
Maseko’s mother, Hlengiwe Bhebhe, said since coming out of hospital, her son has not been himself.
“He struggles to remember some of the things that happened before the attack,” Bhebhe said.
On September 5, Mbonisi Nkomo was grabbed by a group of men while working at a local supermarket at about 8am.
Nkomo said the group took him to a shack where they beat him and asked about someone he did not know.
Seeing he was pleading innocence, the men then took a tyre and put it on Nkomo’s neck and set it alight.
“I was saved by one of the guys that I realised knows me. He told the rest of the guys that they must go to my shack to check if there are stolen things or guns.
"When we arrived there, they threw all my stuff outside. An old lady who is my neighbour came out and informed them that I work seven days a week at the Pakistani shop. I do not do crime,” Nkomo said.
Provincial police spokespersons Lt-Col Mavela Masondo and Brig Brenda Muridili referred Sowetan to Col Dimakatso Sello who was on standby for communications.
But Sello said Muridili had been commenting on Diepsloot. Muridili did not get back to Sowetan at the time of going to print.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.