Police soft on crimes against foreigners, say Westlake residents

At a meeting of more than 500 residents in Commando Hall on 17 March, residents said police were reluctant to take action when foreigners were targeted. Police officers denied this.

The meeting was held to address concerns about the recent killing of 24 year-old Alfred Fonde on 8 March and the stabbing of a Congolese man, allegedly by the same person. The man is in intensive care at Groote Schuur hospital.

A day after Fonde’s murder, about 200 residents marched to Kirstenhof police station demanding an urgent meeting with SAPS to address crime against foreigners in the area.

At the Commando Hall meeting, 15 community members described their dissatisfaction with the police.

Pastor Thulani Maki said he had been living in Westlake for 10 years. He said he worked in a hospital and he disputed the SAPS statistics for the area. Police had said that in the last five years 54 percent of murder victims had been coloured, 8 percent white and 38 percent black in Westlake. But Maki said he had seen a high proportion of foreigners brought to hospital for treatment of stab or gunshot wounds.

Maki and other speakers complained that criminals were often let out on bail or released for lack of evidence and then committed crimes again.

“Evidence … evidence what kind of evidence is needed to lock up criminals?” Maki asked.

A Malawian who identified himself as Robert said police took a long time to respond to crimes in Westlake. “One day I was stabbed here in Westlake and I was bleeding, my clothes were all red with blood and I stopped a police van for help. The officers drove off and told me to go to Kirstenhof Police Station, which is 45 minutes to an hour walk.”

Golden Manda from Malawi said: “When foreigners get into trouble, or involved in an accident, SAPS discriminate against us. They refuse to help us - why?” He said Fonde’s death could have been avoided and asked the police to help the Malawian community repatriate his body.

A South African woman who introduced herself as Jennifer said she was from the Eastern Cape and called for unity. She suggested the community set up committees to help curb crime in Westlake.

Station commander Lieutenant Colonel June Cilliers, who chaired the meeting, said community members should watch out for each other. The police would set up a forum where SAPS and community members could discuss issues concerning the community, she said.

She said one problem was that spaza shops closed too late. “ When I drive around Westlake at 11pm, I see three-year-old children at spaza shops. Where is the mother? If that child goes missing, it becomes my problem and I have to leave my child alone so as to help you.”

Cilliers said SAPS had limited resources and could not solve all the problems of the community. Members should also turn to departments like health and social development. She also encouraged the community to volunteer at the station, especially at weekends by answering calls.

When she told the meeting that the local councillor had sent her apologies, the audience shouted in unison, “all the time.”

Cilliers said representatives of other departments such as Justice and Correctional Services would be invited to a follow-up meeting to explain how and when suspects were released.

She urged residents to come forward as witnesses to crimes and make statements.

After the meeting, a Malawian community leader who preferred to remain anonymous said he had been living in Westlake for 13 years and there had always been problems.

“I have witnessed residents being robbed, stabbed and their groceries taken away when returning from the mall in daylight. It is disturbing to see police is failing to do their work in a very small area like Westlake. They do not arrest the criminals even if evidence is available, but are good at locking up foreigners caught with stolen goods”.

He said witnesses to the murder of Fonde were afraid that the police would not protect them from the murderers if they made a statement. “The whole community is scared of disclosing their names to the police.”

He said the same criminals had been named by the Congolese victim.

Westlake residents met SA Police at Commando Hall to discuss crimes targeting foreigners. Picture by Tariro Washinyira.

Another Malawian leader who also did not want to be named, who had been living in the area for 15 years, said the police had spent too much time at the meeting talking about their limited resources and their “fake” crime statistics. “The crime rate in this area is higher than those figures they presented.”

Residents had not been given enough time at the meeting to state their grievances, he said.

He said Fonde had been killed at about 9pm and the police had arrived at the scene only at 2am. He said witnesses who did not want to give their names to the police had told him Fonde had been murdered in front of a spaza shop which had quickly closed. Malawian passers-by had found Fonde still breathing, but he died before an ambulance arrived. No murder weapon had been found on the scene, but witnesses said a knife had been used to kill him.

“Police should not cite limited resources as their obstacle. They spend too many resources in areas like Muizenberg and False Bay, yet the crime rate there is low. They do want to spend time here, where there is a high crime rate. I acknowledge that communities will never be 100% safe, but police here are not doing their job effectively.”