Residents often complain during service delivery protests that they were not receiving services from government particularly from local government. Bad road infrastructure is one of the things that come up. Infrastructure requires financial resources.
One of the sources of income for government is money that is collected during the registration and renewal of motor vehicles and driving licenses. Therefore residents who own vehicles should register their vehicles where they reside and not in other provinces.
This is according to Mpumalanga Community Safety, Security and Liaison MEC, Pat Ngomane who was speaking during a Public Participation Programme (Imbizo) that was held in KwaMhlanga, Thembisile Hani Local Municipality over the weekend. The MEC says income generated from licence registrations will assist in development of local infrastructure.
Ngomane went on to say that community members should assist government in the fight against road crashes saying that government alone will not win the war against road crashes and crime without communities.
“Police should work with communities in order to bring crime suspects to book. They should not compromise whistle blowers but ensure that whistle blowers are protected so that they can freely come forward to help solve crime cases.Expose those the few among you are corrupt because they are tarnishing your image and thje good work that most of you are doing,” Ngomane added.
He also noted that R568 Road (Moloto Road) continues to contribute to most crashes and all stakeholders needed to work to turn the situation around for the benefit of the communities. Moloto Road links both Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces to Gauteng via Pretoria and it is one of the busiest roads in the country.
He has also called on the municipality to arrest the challenges associated with population growth. According to the MEC, with increased population, crime trends also change.
On the other hand residents told the MEC and his entourage to address challenges posed by crime in the area. They say housebreakings in other instances happen during the day. They have appealed for the arrest of drug peddlers saying it is sometimes pointless to keep arresting users when dealers are not arrested.
The community believes that arresting of drug peddlers would assist in eradicating the scourge of Nyaope in the area and this will impact positively on government’s effort to eradicate crime. Proliferation of drugs in schools is one of the concerns that residents complained about.
One of the residents pleaded for the building of a police station in Moloto. The resident explained that the population has grown but no provision was made at the police station in terms resourcing it adequately to deal with increased population.
The police were also slated for not responding timeously to crime scenes. Other residents alleged that police are not doing anything about taverns that operate beyond their normal time. This they believe contributes drastically towards increased levels of crime. They also alleged that corruption by some police officers make it difficult for whistle blowers to come forward and report crime for fear of their lives.
Saturday’s programme was among others supported by Thembisile Hani Local Municipality, SAPS, local traditional leadership and other government departments.
Ends…
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