Businessmen in Mthatha have donated 10 bulletproof vests and gloves to members of a Crime Prevention Forum that recently established itself at Munitata building to root out criminal activities in the CBD.
The members are allowed to stop and search people as well as confiscate any weapons -- but in their list of confiscated items recently were piles of identity documents. They are now calling on the public to help locate the rightful owners.
When they started to lose count of the number of IDs they had confiscated from people in these searches they reached out to the home affairs department to take the IDs and store them, but the department refused.
Now, they use social media to maximise awareness, as well as pinning lists of people's IDs on the walls at Munitata so people know where to collect them.
"Some members of our forum are security guards employed as private security in the town to guard property, but many of our shifts are at night as seven of our members are active as night watchers.
"When I approached them with this idea they jumped at it, without thinking twice, because they witness burglaries, robberies and unwarranted damage to property every day, leader Matshawandile "Shakes" Mbengo told Scrolla.Africa.
The forum operates without support from local law enforcement at King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality and confiscates various weapons daily, including axes, knives, guns and anything roaming criminals can use as weapons.
"When we have a large volume of weapons we take them to Madeira Police Station and tell the police of our findings so at least they can take them off our hands. We also take criminals whom we catch in the act of robbing someone, attempting murder, vandalising a building or shoplifting, to the police who decide what to do with them," Mbengo said.
According to recent statistics, Mthatha is number three of 30 stations in the country with the highest murder rates. In the Eastern Cape, the five stations identified as hotspots are Lusikisiki, Mthatha, East London, Ngqeleni and KwaBhaca.
In property-related crimes in the area, burglary at non-residential premises increased by 13.1%; stock theft rose to 1%; burglary at residential premises by 5.2%, and theft of motor vehicles and motorcycles increased by 28.6% since last year.
