Soutpan residents say they’ve adjusted to rough, crime-ridden life

Residents of Soutpan, in Soshanguve, have been left shaken following a botched cash-in-transit heist in the area, with some saying they now deem crime as part of their daily lives.

The  police shot dead three suspects during a shoot out after the assailants attempted to flee with the cash they had taken from CIT officials.

One resident was caught in the crossfire and sadly lost his life.

Some Soutpan residents say they live in fear as crime has become their daily bread.

A 33-year-old Soutpan resident, who asked YNews to keep his identity anonymous for fear of reprisal, says he mostly fears for his mom’s life as she travels between work and home every day.

The young man says he is hoping to secure a stable job soon so that his mother could be spared from having to undertake the dangerous journey to help her family keep hunger at bay.

He says although the exposure to crime pains him, they have all adjusted to the situation.

“Obviously we feel unsafe and uncomfortable because it just happens. For us, its part of life and that’s how we learn to live with it,” says anonymous.

“But the only way I think is gonna lessen the crime in our area is if the CIT vans change their routes or become more heavily armed and secure,” adds anonymous.

He also has no faith in the police, saying he suspects that some of the officers are complicit to the crime in the area.

“In our country, things are not balanced. What I can say is that we don’t trust anyone anymore. You might find the police are working with the criminals,” says anonymous.

He has also lamented the police’s response to complaints on crime, saying they take too long.

One female resident says the high employment rate in the country is costing them their lives.

Mpumi Makhafola (25) says people have now resorted to taking extreme measures, all in an effort to make ends meet.

She says it doesn’t sit well with her knowing that danger can strike next to her home at any time.

Although extreme crimes like cash in transit heist happen rarely in her area, Makhafola now fears a bomb being set off abruptly near her home after the cash in transit van was detonated not far from where she lives.

“It makes me feel scared because at the same time it shows that the unemployment rate in our country is high. People tend to do whatever they want to make ends meet at the cost of our lives,” explains Makhafola.

Eight suspects have been nabbed for the crime, which comes just over a month after seven Community Policing Forum (CPF) members were fatally shot, stoned and burnt at the Marry Me Informal Settlement, also in Soshanguve.

Given Ramela, who is a working 35 year old man living in the area, says he hardly feels safe traveling between work and home.

He says community members may not be the ones committing the crimes, but they stand a high chance of being complicit by offering outsiders inside information.

“For a person to have the audacity to break into a shop or home, they should be well informed that it is possible to get out with something from there. It is not people from our township but people from our townships are helping them to come do these things,” adds Ramela.

He says he hardly believes anyone would be willing to commit a crime themselves, which is that serious, in a place they are well-known.

Ramela suggests that the police need to be paid more than they already as motivation.

“I have a relative who is a police officer. So, I know he would never go to a crime scene as it happens. They don’t pay them enough to risk their lives. I wouldn’t say the police are not doing enough. They  could do better if the government chipped in and compensate them better. I wouldn’t risk my life for less than 20K,” says Ramela. Written by Odirile Rabolao