THE FOUNDER of Thekwini Neighborhood Watch, Mr. Andile Jali, found the comments made by the KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, following the killing of three of their members in Bhambayi, Nanda, Saturday.
In an incident said to have happened in the early hours of the morning, gang members shot and killed three Durban Neighborhood Watch members. Among those killed were Mr. Nkosinathi Mhlongo (41), Mr. Mazuzo Nomonti (48) and Mr. Mdunyiswa Nozulela (64). It is said that Nozulela and Mhlongo died at the scene, while Nomonti died at Dr Pixley Ka Seme Memorial Hospital in KwaMashu. It turns out that Mhlongo was originally from Maphumulo, while Nomonti and Nozulela were from Flagstaff and Lusikisiki, in the Eastern Cape.
It is said that the three suspects who are said to have opened fire on the dead, two of them died as they fired without realizing who they were shooting. It turns out that one of them died in the incident, while the second died in the same hospital.
In a statement sent to the media, Mkhwanazi emphasized that crime-fighting agencies in the community should cooperate with the police, and avoid wanting to confront criminals directly.
“We encourage the involvement of communities in the fight against crime. It is the only way to help defeat crime, but public bodies such as the Community Police Forum (CPF) and other organizations should be the eyes and ears of the police, not doing something that will end up putting the lives of their members at risk,” said Mkhwanazi.
He said criminals have been seen shooting at the police and painting a clear picture that they will not think twice before shooting an ordinary person.
“We urge the leaders of these organizations to align themselves with the principles of the CPF operation written in the Constitution, and engage in programs to fight crime,” said Mkhwanazi.
Jali said that this statement did not sit well with them.
“We want Ndonga to retract this statement which he interpreted as saying that we are being shot and injured because we are pretending to be policemen. It has been said, let’s help the policemen, if we are killed, then this is what is said,” said Jali.
He went on to say that the thing that stops them from fighting crime in Nanda is that when they are called to crime incidents, the police complain that they are not enough, and sometimes they say that there are no vans.
He said they did not expect Mkhwanazi to speak like this after the incident.
“If he sees that we are doing something wrong, he should have approached us and given us a guide because the truth is that crime has gotten out of hand in Nanda. When it is said like this, we feel like we are sacrificial sheep,” he said.
He said that they are still preaching the gospel that crime in Nanda should not be taken up, he said that the police should be reduced from the stations that do not have many crimes, they should be deployed in Nanda, those of the Durban Council, they should strengthen the roadblocks in Nanda, to stop the gangsters hiding with cars and guns that they use to commit crimes, and then establish a system of wardens which has proved to be useful in Johannesburg.
He said that a total of 34 members of his organization have been killed by criminals in the townships of Durban, from 2022, and that the incident that happened on Saturday, has left them worried because we have painted a picture for them that their killings are still going on.
A person who was present at the incident, who asked not to be named, said that the burglaries in the area started on Friday night, and they were informed about them.
“We got together as a group of about 16 security guards, and we hid in different streets in the area. We kept hearing guns going off here and there but we didn’t see the boys either,” recalled a man.
He said that while they were running like that, they came across the three suspects on foot, tried to stop them and search them as they suspected that they were criminals.
“That’s when they opened fire at us, and we scattered everywhere, running away. Three of our members were shot,” he said.
He said that’s when he saw that when the criminals opened fire, one of them was shot and died in the incident.
“We told ourselves that two of them managed to escape and run away and we will hear later that of those who escaped, the second also ended up dying in the hospital,” said the man, who said that five people died in the incident.
He revealed that the crime that had started in the area was people being robbed, they were pointed at with guns, money was taken out of banks and their mobile phones were confiscated.