By Daanyaal Matthews
The Mitchells Plain Town Centre serves as the hub of business and transportation in Mitchells Plain with numerous informal traders, formal businesses, taxi ranks, and bus terminus, crafting a vital hub for denizens of the community.
However, the centre has become almost synonymous with crime in Mitchells Plain, with its notoriety well established following years of degradation, with recent reports indicating that the trend has worsened as community members complain about deteriorating conditions with an increase in the illicit trade of narcotics, theft, and violence.
Abie Isaacs, Chairperson of the Cape Flats Safety Forum, argued that greater intervention is needed from all sectors of security in the nation, including local and national.
“Residents on various occasions have complained about the drug trade and quite a few illegal activities that have happened in the town centre. We note for a fact that 70% of the land belongs to the City of Cape Town, and we firmly believe that through a multifaceted approach we could deal with this surge of crime,” stated Isaacs.
This ‘multi-faceted’ approach argued for by Isaacs would include local and national authorities extending beyond law enforcement and police services, with the inclusion of the Department of Home Affairs.
The necessity of this multi-faceted approach for Isaacs becomes apparent if one evaluates the growing criminality, which, according to Isaacs, has worsened to the degree of criminal enterprises calling the Town Centre their own, stating:
“Drug trafficking is ripe within the town centre, to the extent that there are certain gangs even operating and calling it their ‘stronghold’. That is some of the concerns, and this does hinder [the denizens] specifically because it is one of the biggest interchanges in the Mitchells Plain area.”
In less than a five-kilometre radius around the Town Centre exists the Mitchells Plain Police Station, but, regardless of the centre’s proximity to police services, it does not deter crime, and for Isaacs, the present investment in CCTV cameras and other technologies by local law enforcement has not yielded sufficient results for the benefit of the surrounding community.
“From what we gauge is that the cameras are working, but let’s agree to disagree that the cameras are working, but how effective are they? Are there joint operations? Is there sharing of information between the two spheres, which are the city and the South African Police Services,” questioned Isaacs.
The greater concern moving into the festive season is the safety of community members who frequent the center to commute throughout the city and to procure goods, which for many residents is a necessity due to the lower retail prices. For Isaacs, this impending scenario requires the immediate involvement of government authorities.
“Just yesterday the festive season plan was launched by the South African Police Services, and we hope that the Town Centre would be part of it, and obviously the majority of communities would go to the Town Centre because that is where they can get something for R20 or R30 based on economic circumstances for an item, and I just want to cite any item,” stressed Isaacs.
Listen to the full interview here:
VOCNews
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
