Criminals will soon have nowhere to operate in the rural town of Thohoyandou in Limpopo. Plans are at an advanced stage to have security cameras installed all over the town, and if the plans are anything to go by, it will be one of the first rural towns in Limpopo to be equipped with such devices. This is a joint proposal by the municipality, the police and the business community in the town. The much-awaited announcement was made during a meeting between the Indian business community and Thohoyandou police management. It was held at the Thohoyandou police boardroom on Saturday evening. The meeting, one of the many meetings which the Indian community and police have from time to time, came amidst the upsurge in attacks on the Indian business community in Thohoyandou and Sibasa by armed thugs. Some of the issues the meeting deliberated on included the safekeeping of money by businesspeople, profiling workers before hiring them to work in businesses, security issues, discussions and a way forward. During the meeting, it became evident that the Indian business community was not happy with the manner the police were handling their cases. It is alleged that more than ten attacks were reported since the beginning of the year and not a single arrest has been affected in all of them. The business delegation proposed the use of closed-circuit television CCTV in town that will make it easy for police to spot criminal activities in town. They said they were even prepared to meet the police halfway in purchasing the equipment as this could be a lasting solution to crime in the city centre. In response, Thohoyandou station commissioner Brig Nelson Marungane acknowledged that they were having challenges, which could only be overcome by close cooperation between the police and the business community. Marungane pointed out that some of the solutions in the rampant crime lay with businesspeople themselves. He said there was a need for them to have regular meetings as most of the issues they raised were not known to the management. He urged them not to have large amounts of cash on the premises at a time and if that happened, to ask police to assist them in taking it to the bank. They were also asked to profile their workers who might be leaking information on their cash flow. They should also report all strangers lingering aimlessly in their vicinity. The police also promised to step up mobile and foot patrols. “Let us all communicate; some of the issues raised here are new to us and if we do not communicate from time to time, we would never know what is happening. Let us work together to stop this monster called crime,” Marungane said. Leading business personality and lndian community leader Mr Abdullah Patel said he was happy about the way the two parties had deliberated. He said it gave them hope that the situation would soon change and that crime would be rooted from their midst.