Pretoria - Police Minister Bheki Cele says issues raised by aggrieved Diepsloot residents concerning high levels of crime and undocumented migrants cannot be solved by police alone, but a holistic approach by government is required.
Cele said the Department of Human Settlements and Home Affairs should also be involved in fixing Diepsloot.
Last week, residents went on a two day protest over crime in the area and demanded President Cyril Ramaphosa come to the area and address their grievances.
“There’s an area called Extension one, in Extension one as I walk with you and patrolling the area, I can’t see you ... We need transport and human settlements to put roads, to put house, to put electricity so that when police are called, they have an address to go to,” Cele said to the community.
Cele was speaking on eNCA after visiting the family of late CPF chairperson, John Makula, who was gunned down two weeks ago trying to foil a robbery.
Cele commended residents for approaching the Presidency with their issues, saying this will prompt reaction from the relevant departments to attend their concerns.
He admitted that concerns of residents over undocumented migrants were legitimate. He said police have arrested a number of suspects who are undocumented and are believed to be commiting crime in the area.
“I don’t want to sound xenophobic, but our own cops were killed by people who are not from here (South Africa)... The people we arrested for the attack of the lady and her son, it was six people who are not South Africans.
“So, there is an issue in what they are raising, but we must come together and sit and account as government to the issues raised by Diepsloot residents,” Cele said.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, community leaders expressed their anger with the response they had received from the Presidency regarding their request to have Ramaphosa in the area.
The leaders said Monday's response from the government was disrespectful and described it as an insult.
“We are totally not happy with this acknowledgement letter, this is nonsense because they were supposed to send it last week immediately after coming out of the meeting.
“But now when we are expecting time-frames, they are giving us an acknowledgement letter and they are expecting us to give this thing to community members. I think we are highly disrespected here,” said one of the leaders at the time.
IOL