The community of Eldorado Park in the south of Johannesburg is calling for the removal of the local Station Commander Brigadier Mkhacani Maluleke whom it is accusing of incompetence and failing in his duties to stop violence in the area from spiralling out of control. Maluleke was appointed in March last year to replace former Station Commander Peter Henry Van Dyk who died in 2021, August.
An anti-drug activist, Dereleen James, accused Maluleke of failing to listen to the community’s concerns regarding the crime and drug activities in Eldorado Park.
“We tried so many times to talk to him to try solve the crime problems here but he has no open-door policy that’s why we want him gone.
“Since he arrived the high levels of crime have skyrocketed. Last Thursday I woke up to a lot of blood in my street so the killings in Eldorado Park continue on a weekly basis. It’s not normal to have killings weekly,” she added.
The Community Police Forum (CPF) Chairperson Dominique Palmer said despite being promised working equipment a while back, they still haven’t received it.
“We don’t have torches, we use lambs. This is embarrassing, police vehicles take too long to arrive when it is called and sometimes an hour and they don’t like working with us. It is just some of the challenges we face,” she said.
Then Member of the Mayoral Committee for Public Safety David Tembe in September 2022 deployed over 100 members of the Johannesburg Metropolitan Department but they have since left the area.
“They were here for the first couple of weeks and crime had gone down but they have since left,” Palmer said.
Another CPF member, Shiraz Mia said: “Because I’m in the ground everyday their presence was felt ,bringing them here was effective. They minimised crime and loitering, there was order. When they left, that burden came back to us.”
The Johannesburg District Major-General Max Masha expressed concerns about the killing of whistleblowers who turned state witnesses.
Masha warned that criminals will be allowed to win, if residents refuse to cooperate with the police out of fear.
“It shows responsibility to report crime to authorities so that criminals can be isolated and asking criminals to feel like they have people to support them makes the work of the authorities difficult,” he said, adding that they do meet residents in different areas on a monthly basis.
Committee Chairperson Bandile Masuku said they will take into consideration what the residents have alleged about the Station Commander and also pointed out that a lack of leadership leads to high levels of crimes.
“Police do not have enough resources to deal with crime but somehow there is lack of leadership in some of the communities in terms of engagement. The bigger part of fighting crime is that a community needs to be mobilised so that it can be effective,” he said while he promised to investigate all the issues raised related to crime.
