By Bokang Khuto
The crime rate in the city of Makhanda,, which is situated in the Eastern Cap, is gradually increasing. In the past two months, three business premises have been burgled and several students have been assaulted.
Two honours degree students, Nobuhle Mangena and Samkelisiwe Makhanye from Rhodes University, were assaulted by two males at the corner of Hill & Huntley Streets on the 12th of April 2019 late at night as they were walking back to their homes coming from the institution. They were requested to take out their cell phones and wallets, while pointed with a knife by one of the offenders. “He instructed us to take out our SIM cards which is the main thing we were permitted to keep, and they took our phones and my wallet”, Nobuhle stated.
The two students took further means of reporting the crime to the police. However, they still have not gotten feedback from the police. All they have is a case number and faith that their items will be returned to them.
There have been break-ins in some business premises whereby three of the stores on High Street had break-ins where millions worth in stock were taken. Stores such as Lewis Stores, Markham, Edgars, and American Swiss lost merchandise which resulted in a major loss of profit.
The Manager of Edgars, Stacy Watson, stated that the criminals targeted shops with glass windows, and it is not the first time that Edgars’ glass windows got smashed. The criminals have been attempting to smash it but they failed on many occasions until on the 15th of March 2019 when a burglary took place at 2 am. According to Watson, “it took them six minutes to take merchandise worth R160 000”. “By the time I arrived at the crime scene, there were police officers around the crime scene”, Watson said.
Watson further stated that she is not pleased with how the police are handling the entire issue as she was requested by one of the warrant officers that she should not speak to anyone about the burglary, but she has not received any feedback from the police.
Watson is not the only one who was told to not share any inside information about the burglar. Nandipha Maake who is the sales assistant at Markham, and one of the sales assistants at American Swiss, who requested to remain anonymous, mentioned that a warrant officer requested that they ought not to converse with anybody about the issue.
According to a reliable source, Sakhekile Nikelo (car guard), the burglary at American Swiss, on the 25th of March 2019, occurred at precisely 4 pm. Nikelo mentioned that “a student who was passing by American Swiss with her friends noticed that there is something obscure taking place. Nikelo mentioned that “there was a man standing at the door; I can say he was looking suspicious as he seemed as though he was checking the coast and two other men were occupied at the back of the tills with a black bag”. He further stated that usually at American Swiss there are always 2 -3 ladies working, so seeing men only in the shop gave him an uncertain feeling so he decided to inform Hitec security company about this matter. Three men who stocked worth R50 000 in a black bag got arrested. The community’s confidence in the police started lacking severely. Since the crime rate of Grahamstown started increasing outrageously, some of the community’s residents are scared of going to their workplaces during the day.
Diversity Times 