By OBAKENG MAJE

The North West Community Safety and Transport Management has visited the Popo Molefe Informal Settlement, in Boitekong Township, outside Rustenburg to engage with the community ahead of healing and social cohesion campaign.

This comes after nine people were gunned down in the area in December 2023, due to an alleged war turf between Xhosas and Sothos. The North West Department of Community Safety and Transport Management spokesperson, Tshegofatso Mothibedi said the pre-community engagement was in a form of door-to-door consultations.

Mothibedi further said this is ahead of the North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Sello Lehari’s community engagement scheduled to take place on 25 January 2024.

“The objective of the engagement is to promote healing and social cohesion following the massacre of nine people in the area last year in December. The massacre took place after allegations of a war-turf between isiXhosa and seSotho speaking people.

“Lehari has pointed out that, while investigations by law enforcement agencies are afoot – a multifaceted approach to quell the simmered tension is urgently needed. As such, Lehari directed that the engagement take place in the area,” he said.

Mothibedi added that, Lehari has called for intensified visible policing to ensure that all criminal activities and social ills bedevilling the area are attended to expeditiously, with vigour, to a-certain that the fight against the scourge of crime is effectively brought forward. He said all the build-up activities, including the Community Crime Engagement are implemented on a District Development Model (DDM), where all sister departments, District and local municipalities are part, including private sectors.

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