The Transform Alliance (TTA) president Abel Tau has called upon the government to reintroduce the death penalty.
Tau said this in an interview with Tshwane Talks over the week.
He was reacting to the recent rampant incidents of crime that have engulfed Jukulyn area in Soshanguve, Tshwane.
“Let the government bring back the death sentence as punishment for crimes of murder.
And the justice system must make sure that real culprits get hanged and avoid a situation where wrong people get hanged.
The death penalty will stop criminals from killing people like they do in areas like Jukulyn,” said Tau
“At the moment Jukulyn is a war zone.
And this has been happening for many years now.
We understand that most of the criminals are unemployed youth who lack job opportunities and are hopeless in life.
But that doesn’t give them the right to kill their fellow residents,” said Tau.
Tau also said the government must build a proper police station in Jukulyn urgently and protect whistle-blowers so that notorious criminals would be brought to book.
“At the moment the station that is serving the people of Jukulyn is a temporary structure.
The government must stop applying half measures in Jukulyn and build a proper, permanent police station there,” he said.
Meanwhile ActionSA chairperson in Tshwane Thabang Sebotsane told Tshwane Talks that it would be better if police officer who are not residents of Soshanguve are deployed in Jukulyn.
Sebotsane also said police at Rietgaat and Soshanguve police stations lack the capacity and equipment to deal with rampant crime in Jukulyn.
He lamented the fact that some of the police are part of the criminal syndicates in Jukulyn.
“Some station commanders are not committed to fighting crime.
They are afraid of the criminals.
The situation in Jukulyn resembles that of illegal miners (zama zamas) who do as they please in Joburg and surrounding areas.
We need national intervention to clean up the criminal syndicates in Jukulyn.
These syndicates recruit young people who in turn commit crimes in broad daylight,” complained Sebotsane.
“At the Centre of crime in Jukulyn is the easy and free access of guns and uncoordinated crime-fighting plans.
Both Tshwane Metro Police and the SAPS in the area are useless.
That is why criminals run amok.
Both these structures do not engage residents in their plans to fight the scourge of violence in Jukulyn,” fumed member of Xiluva
political party in Tshwane Norman Mohale.