As crime and service-delivery frustrations escalate in Soweto, residents are turning out in large numbers at night to protect their neighbourhoods, saying the municipality and police have failed to adequately address the problem for years.

In Meadowlands, Soweto, about 30 to 40 community members walk the streets day and night. Armed with nothing but a torch and a two-way radio, they move quietly past darkened houses, listening for trouble the police are too stretched to respond to.

For several Soweto communities, rather than police with blue lights, safety now looks like ordinary neighbours who have chosen to take responsibility for protecting those around them.

Driven by a desire to see his community's crime-fighting work recognised, 56-year-old Collen Makgopela founded Put Patrollers First (PPF) in June 2024. What started as one group has grown into a network with multiple branches across Gauteng, working alongside SAPS and local Community Policing Forums (CPFs) to plug gaps in neighbourhood security.

Makgopela is one of dozens of volunteers patrolling nightly, unpaid and largely unrecognised. He finishes his shift at 8am, sleeps for a few hours, then goes to work.

On 22 June, Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia confirmed that R600-million earmarked for police stations and community policing had instead been redirected to security operations ahead of the anti-foreigner 30 June marches. For PPF, it's money that could have funded police and community safety groups. The PPF volunteers pay for all...