Not long ago, there was an outcry from the Indian business community in Thohoyandou, that police were not doing enough to curb crime.

This came about after a spate of robberies that were directed to homes of prominent Indian business personalities.

The violent robberies started some two years ago when robbers would go out and rob families in the Thohoyandou and Sibasa area of cash, valuables like jewellery and sometimes firearms. However, for the past three months, crime in these areas has been drastically reduced and now communities are singing a different tune, praising the police.

This has brought much hope to the community and they felt they should share their joy with the police who have been working very hard to catch criminals responsible for the heinous crime.

A thanksgiving party was held at the Thohoyandou police station commissioner’s office on Monday evening. This newspaper has been part in facilitating the meeting after prominent and outspoken businessman, Abdullah Patel approached it with the idea of thanking the police after the arrest of one of the most wanted thugs, wanted in connection with a string of robberies in the com-munity.

He told those gathered that life has become hell for the community who had to be prisoners in their own homes and their businesses were at the mercy of criminals. “We had to peep through windows and no one dared venture outside our houses at night,” he said.

He said all this has changed and they could now relax peacefully with their families in the comfort of their homes. “We work very hard during the day but were forced not to sleep when we were supposed to be resting at our homes having to keep a watch over our properties and our lives,” he said.

Patel who has been very vocal about the police failing to protect the community said it was clear that crime has gone down in the past three months with no incidents reported in the community. He said it was clear that police have gone all out and have declared war on crime.

“Who are we to throw stones and point fingers at police when everything goes bad and keep quiet when they do well? He said as a community they felt it their duty to thank and appreciate the good work the police were doing in ensuring that crime is reduced. “We are here today not to point fingers at each other, but we have come to encourage you to continue doing your best to curb crime and to look at ways on how best we can secure our communities,” he said.

In response, Thohoyandou station commissioner, Dir Mbazima Nelson Marungane said he was humbled by the visit from the business community. “This is the beginning of working together between us as police and you as the community. We can never think of beating crime alone and we cannot win the war against crime but with the support from you as community we are sure criminals will have nowhere to strike,” he said.

He said police work hard to arrest hardened criminals, but those criminals are set free when businesspeople refuse to leave their businesses to give evidence in court.

“We can go all out and arrest these criminals and all our efforts would be futile if the prescribed procedures are not followed, please give yourselves time and work with the courts to build a strong case against criminals,” he said.