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Bullets seen at a crime scene.
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has confirmed that the death toll from Saturday’s shooting in Soshanguve, Gauteng, has now risen to five. He was addressing the Community of the Marry Me Informal Settlement in the area on Sunday.
According to police, at around 3 am on Saturday morning, a group of community-based patrollers encountered five individuals on the street and a fight broke out between them.
While addressing the residents of the Marry Me Informal Settlement, the Premier assures the community that he will come back next week Wednesday to address the issues that the community is facing.
“So on Wednesday, when I come here in the evening, we will have to deal with this issue. I’ve got detailed information including the people that are imprisoned they are still coordinating crimes while they are inside including those that are right leaders … doing things in this community.”
Premier Lesufi visits Marry Me Informal Settlement:
Criminal activities
Residents of the Marry Me Informal Settlement have raised concerns about ongoing criminal activities in their area. They say they have been reporting these crimes for a long time, yet no action has been taken.
One resident says, “We are tired of the crime that is happening here in Marry Me. We have been reporting and reporting with no luck. People have died, now what must happen, how are we going to get assisted?”
The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Community Safety in Gauteng, Dr Bandile Masuku encourages the community patrollers to get registered with the CPF.
He says had the patrollers been registered with the CPF, the outcome might have been different, as they would have had access to better resources to ensure their safety.
“Remember that we dealing with community policing, and community policing cannot be the same as the policing that is done by the police. Our patrollers one thing that we need to encourage – is that they need to work through formal structures like CPF. They need to be registered.”
The Premier says they have confirmed with the law enforcement agencies that the case is now being investigated at a provincial level. He says police have declared to hunt the perpetrators within the next 72 hours.
“I was taken through the information about the crime scene, evidence collected, exhibits that are at the disposal of the police and those that they feel can assist them with relevant information. I’m impressed with the information gathered and the work they have done in 24 hours or so.”
According to the Premier, this was not the first incident that occurred in the area this month.
“Actually three weeks ago, a woman was killed in a shack and after that, the community was very angry and they took a resolution to establish a team to patrol the community and to patrol the surrounding areas.”
The police did not allow the media to speak with the victims’ families, stating that it could compromise the investigation.
Meanwhile, police investigations are ongoing.
