Youth determined to rid their area of crime

Serious crimes have occurred in a busy stretch between the Thohoyandou central business area and the residential area at Block F. When darkness comes, it becomes very risky for one to cross the small rivulet that divides the area.

Those who dare to walk through this area have ended up losing their valuable belongings to ruthless armed robbers.

Fed-up with the crime that is taking place on their doorstep, a group of school pupils came up with a bright idea to fight the scourge. They came together and came up with the idea of clearing the dense bushes as a way of exposing the illicit activities that take place there.

Mpho Ramuongiwa (18), Emmanuel Ndou (15), Thompho Mudau (14) and Vhuawelo Mashamba (18) are pupils at Lukunde Primary, Tshiluvhi Primary,  Marude and Thohoyandou Secondary. They have become the toast of their community. On Sunday, they put on their working attire, armed with an assortment of working tools, and cleared the bushes along the dangerous stretch.

“We are tired of  crime that is taking place while we  watch helplessly. Criminals have taken over our area and no one feels safe in this area. So many people have been robbed here,” said Mpho Ramuongiwa. He said they had witnessed an upsurge of crime in the area over time but are worried that no one is saying or doing anything about it.

“We can beat crime, if we all get together and come up with ideas. There is no need to wait for the police to get rid of crime in our area. One of the ways to fight crime in an area like this is just to clean the area and criminals will not have a place to hide,” he said.

He said they had decided to take it upon themselves because their parents and other members of the community were suffering. “We do not have to wait for people from far away to come to rescue us from criminals. We will  rid this area of crime within the confines of the law. This is our humble contribution to our community. We are young, but we will fight until our community is safe. We are now asking our community to join hands and form a united front with the police, and crime will be beaten,” said Emmanuel Ndou.

News - Date: 06 February 2012

Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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