Chronicle Editor
Simba Jemwa, Sunday News Reporter
JOINT anti-crime patrols have managed tame an area popularly known as Greenland in Phakama Township in Gwanda that had become a notorious haven for illicit activities.
Residents, council and Government were concerned with the criminality that had pervaded the area with people at the mercy of criminal elements that had descended on the former brick moulding stand engaging in all forms of crime. They were armed with an assortment of weapons ranging from guns, axes, machetes, knives and knobkerries.
Matabeleland South police spokesperson Inspector Nomalanga Mangena told Sunday News that since the outcry over the escalation in criminal activities in the area, they increased their patrols which resulted in no cases being reported in the month of August.
“Since the violent altercations that led to a death in the Greenland area, we as the police force increased patrols. We now have 24-hour patrols with a joint operation between the uniformed force and the Support Unit. With the escalation of visible patrols, we did not record a single criminal case from within this area in the whole month of August.”
Insp Mangena said since the police have also been making sure that businesses operating within the Greenland area close at 6pm every day. Matabeleland South Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Cde Abedinico Ncube recently met senior security officers and Gwanda councillors to find ways of clamping down on crime that was on the rise in the town. He called for a long-lasting solution to the menace.
Gwanda mayor, Councillor Njabulo Siziba also echoed the same sentiments urging stakeholders in the security sector to intensify the fight against criminal activities while calling on council to regularise business operations in an area. – @RealSimbaJemwa
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter