The high crime rate in Diepsloot is driven largely by neglect of the area by the government.
Five men appeared in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court where they are facing among others murder and kidnapping charges in connection with the mass killing of seven suspected criminals at the beginning of the month.
Community leaders believe criminals running amok in the area because the conditions allow it.
Lefa Nkala, one of the community leaders said lack of housing, roads and other basic amenities created the perfect conditions for the commission of crime.
“ the area is neglected, we don’t have houses, there are no proper roads and majority of the people are unemployed,”said Nkala.
He said the seven dead men and those arrested as all part of the community as as being victims of neglect by the government.
“We took our time and visited the bereaved families because those the deceased and the arrested, they’re people from Diepsloot and as Diepsloot people we are faced with faced with lot of challenges. We are looking at the situation now of people who were arrested and people who have been killed if we can go to the roots we can find that its because of the social challenges that we’re facing as Diepsloot people. So we visited the families of the deceased told them that the Diepsloot community is not against them. They’re with them as much as we’re here to support who have been arrested because in our eyes they’re still innocent until the court finds otherwise,” said Nkala.