Eastern Cape Police Applaud Civil Society's Crime-Fighting Efforts but Stress Legal Boundaries

right so Eastern C police have commended the intervention of Civil Society organizations with assisting in combating crime inata however they do emphasize that such efforts must adhere to Legal processes in response to the call the crime combating Forum was established in 2021 by a group of volunteers who recognized that crime in omata was getting out of control uh my colleague Aldren Samia is out inata in the Eastern Cape with the founder of the crime combating Forum Shak on their response to dealing with extortion in the O Tambo District ALR good morning a very good morning yes um n we're coming live to you from Tata this morning and we will be stationed here through out the morning various people that we will be speaking to those who have been affected by extortion including those that have been um accused of extortion a bit later on one of the recent incidents um there's a couple that around 40,000 or 50 ,000 Rand was demanded from them we'll be um speaking to one of the victims of that particular incident a bit later on here on the am report right now though where we are stationed um is outside um what used to be the office of an opthalmologist that is um Dr yaku and this is actually the story that gripped the nation um after he sent out this notice and the notice as you can see is still on the wall of the office what used to be his office or his practice and where he used to practice from and I just quickly want to read from this um n and this was on the 13th of August this is what he said this offices pre premature and permanent closure is due to the Hostile criminal activities that have threatened my life and well-being and have forced the premature and forc closure of this Opthalmology Medical Practice permanently and that is it permanently we have reached out to him a couple of times and he has refused to speak because he fears for his life and right here in mtata some of the business people as well who have become victims of extortion also fear they fear for their lives they fear speaking um to the media especially on camera and this is the issue that has really gripped this particular um this particular town we spoke to the king of abatu um late last night he managed to squeeze us into his diary and just gave us a short interview about what his overview is of what the situation is in mtata but also frustration at the lack of action from the police as well as politicians take a listen to what he had to say if they continue to kill our people we will kill them back if they continue to harass people we will harass them back because we're capable of harassing as well so they must stop harassing people and they must stop killing people for their criminal gains and that interview n will will be playing a bit later on in the next few minutes just before 7 o' their full interview with um the ABA Timo King but you get a sense of the frustration um that the King has around this particular issue in relation uh to the extortionist gangs and here's the other thing about it is you have residents that have gone to the police who have complained but some residents also believe that the police are involved in these particular syndicates I'm now joined by Shak andu who's a leader of the crime combating for right here in mtata um shak's a very good morning to thank you so much for making time for us we we meet here under very difficult circumstances where a young opthalmologist has had to close down his practice but then you also find that these are incidents that other business people have also been experiencing tell us about when did this become a major problem thank you alen uh it's true H this this challenge affected us all because this is a place that was used by the people that are that are in need H this challenge started long ago but it was taken it so easy you know it was weak you know the way if I can mention that because some of other things were coming up then being ignored as you hear yourself that some of the people they were opening cases and when they opening cases nobody is taking taking taking care of now we find ourselves that we are at the at the back foot then we started to mobilize some few people that firstly let's start working cleaning the town uh cleaning the town by patrolling the town and and and and and and and make our our community safe whilst they are coming for for shopping and so on around town you see this one of extortion is it's h it's it's it's it's something that was also played like H we didn't get some a real information of who are the people behind this but we seriously we we are serious about it we we don't we don't we don't need it because our own black people you know victimize our own people when they progress you know these Services of this nature you know these people they are plowing back to our communities but there are people that are distracting them not to give those Services yeah because as Dr y yo also says in that notice that he has to unfortunately say goodbye to his staff members which means that there are people who who have lost their jobs here who have worked here and maybe that is also affecting other businesses but then you also have residents residents complaining that they are being extorted by a certain Chief in the town you see you see that thing that is why I was saying H we have we have to free ourselves you know because if we keep quiet we don't talk about it it means therefore we are still we are still keeping keeping quiet you know now as the minister promised that he will send some few uh units around Tata then that is why I'm also encouraging people to talk even if they talk to me I don't mind but but the people people that are sitting behind this their time is short because we are working around the clock trying to to to to to assist our our town because we don't want to find ourselves you know as in a ghost town whilst you are living in it tell us since that Announcement by um the National Police Commissioner fan masola as well as the provincial commissioner and the minister of police and the task team that has been sent to this area has things changed at all the the the things are starting to change because we are begging people to come forward and there's a different teams that are around here some other people they will they won't see them but we are working around the clock to to to to get more information so that we work on it I don't know you you see the one that you are talking about of people closing schools and all that stuff it's a serious concern you you when when you when you are a human being you just thought about where is the future of our kids when our own people you know close in school because of money you know the money that even doesn't belong to them we are working around the clock I think the clock is scking so each and everyone that is involved must become worry you you are rich you you you you you you you can be a person that well good be deserve but be worry because the clock is be worried because the clock is ticking that is shaku who is the leader of the crime combating Forum here inata very big concern of course and also n he mentions the issue about one of the schools which we will be going to one of those schools where the police had to send through a police force to ensure that the school reopens and this is also after the intervention of King Dingo and we were told that the police will be stationed at the school um for um for for I think we said the last time it was a month and then we were told that it would be um definitive we're not too sure around um how long that is going to be but here's the thing about it just think about it n lady you wake up in the morning as a child you go to school to a place where you're supposed to be safe but that safety is provided by the police you get there and you find police and your school a school which is supposed to be safe place that is supposed to be a friendly and inviting space but it has now become almost militant