Sello Shulas Mashula
President of Security Personnel Party of South Africa (SPPSA)
By Sello Mashula
Founder and President of Security Personnel Party of South Africa
Security Personnel Party of South Africa calls on municipalities across the country to clear bushes that have been allowed to grow next to roads and anywhere else in their territories.
These bushes, along with abandoned buildings, have for many years, provided cover for criminals to carry out their unsavory activities undetected including the dumping of bodies as we have recently observed in Kempton Park, Springs and most recently in Rustenburg where the mutilated body of a young woman was found at Lefarakgatlhe.
Just like in Rustenburg, the nine bodies found in Ekurhuleni were dumped next to roads in overgrown grass that should have ideally been cleared.
Security Personnel Party of South Africa believes abandoned buildings, equally present an environment where opportunistic crimes thrive with hardworking residents being targeted while enroute to their public transport stations to and from work.
We are aware of areas in which Community Policing Forums escort residents when they walk through these dangerous paths and while we commend their efforts, we are convinced greater safety could be achieved if these routes were cleared and street lights repaired to ensure brightness.
It is a shame that those tasked with running our municipalities have to be pushed just to clear bushes and fix street lights, more than 30 years into democratic rule.
We are also aware that not all land that’s neglected belong to municipalities and that in some cases those are properties of State Owned Entities such as Transnet and Eskom as well as private companies.
We accordingly call on all of them to clear unnecessary hazards in and around parcels of land that they own in order to create a safe environment for all.
Security Personnel Party of South Africa will in the coming days, write to the City of Ekurhuleni and others to urge them to start clearing unnecessary vegetation in their areas that have created safe spaces for criminals that are maiming our women and children with impunity.
Women should be able to walk to wherever they wish to without threat of violation. Security Personnel Party of South Africa fully appreciates that cleaning alone will not necessarily end the scourge of crime overnight but it will significantly reduce the opportunity that thugs currently have.
While Security Personnel Party of South Africa does not want to speculate on the nationalities of those involved in the recent killings of women, the organisation remains concerned about illegal immigration and fully aware that some of the undocumented migrants retreat to such heavily densed areas in between their hustles which makes them almost invisible and thus dangerous.
Security Personnel Party of South Africa believes in local government that works and crime-free communities.
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