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National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola speaking at an event.
National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola has lamented community reluctance to come forward after witnessing crimes where they live.
Masemola is currently in Westbury, Johannesburg, where a mass shooting on Tuesday claimed the lives of two teenagers and left five others wounded.
Masemola says that the police know who they are looking for, but there are no arrests yet relating to the case.
Masemola urged parents to come forward and work with the police in order to solve this case.
“ People don’t come forward, in being witnesses, and if you were there when a crime has been committed, you’re not a whistleblower or an informer, you are a witness, you have seen what happened, so you must be prepared to go to court, and give evidence. Unfortunately, that part is where it is lacking.”
“Communities are not coming forward to assist, in terms of coming forward as witnesses. It’s one of the areas where we are asking the community to assist. We want the cooperation of the community.”
VIDEO | There is heavy police presence in Westbury:
Community living in fear
A survivor of the shooting incident, Carl Mentor, says he now fears for his life.
“We are not part of a gang. We play dice, we gamble every day and smoke a hookah pipe. Gang members here don’t have mercy. I’m scared for my life, I’m injured, but I can’t even go to the clinic to go fetch my medication because they were going to wait for me outside.”
Meanwhile, the grandmother of two of the five teenagers currently hospitalised says she is still struggling to come to terms with the tragic incident that happened at her home.
Maureen Davis says incidents of this nature are frequent in the area of Westbury.
“I was on my way to school yesterday afternoon to fetch my granddaughter. On my way back home, I just heard gunshots went off. When I arrived at my place, I saw all the boys lying down, all of them were shot. It was so disgusting, it was so traumatising. I didn’t know what to do, I had to stop the cars in the streets to assist us to take the children to the hospital. It’s not the first time they come to my house to attack these boys.”
VIDEO| Maureen Davis says she knows the perpetrators of the crime:
