‘Be our eyes and ears’
ALEXANDRA - Police call on the community to work closely with them to rid the township of illicit goods traders.
Alex police have called on the community to work closely with them in the fight against the rampant trade in counterfeit goods.
This was the message from Constable Bongani Mbalati, Sector 4 manager at Alexandra Police Station, who spoke at a ‘Stop selling illicit products’ meeting which was held for community members and traders at Sankopano Centre.
The educational meeting was called by the Greater Alexandra Chamber of Commerce and Industry in partnership with the South African Informal Traders Alliance, at which various members of the public openly blamed the lack of law enforcement in the country as the source of the scourge.
Zacharia Ramutula, founding president of the One Voice of All Hawkers Association, which is based in Johannesburg CBD, said as much as he was happy that apartheid had died, it had sadly taken law enforcement with it to its grave.
“Our new political dispensation seems to lack the will for law enforcement. The country has become a banana republic where people just walk from all over the world and do as they please. I am happy the police are here and they will answer for themselves. We also need Metro police as well,” said Ramutula.
In reply, Mbalati urged community members to work closely with law enforcers in order to deal with the scourge of illicit goods traders. “There are only a handful of us at the station, and you [community] in your numbers can be our eyes and ears on the ground,” said Mbalati.
He also pointed out to the public that law enforcers can only do so much, enforce the law and effect an arrest where a breach has been committed. “But, we cannot judge or convict as there is a separate organ of government to deal with that.
“All we can do is arrest, and what happens thereafter is beyond our jurisdiction. Whether the accused gets bail or not, is convicted or discharged, is all matters way beyond us.
“As police officers, we also lack the expertise to determine a fake and real product. Only the courts can source such expertise.”
A declaration of commitment to fight the presence of fake goods and an assurance from members of the public not to buy fake goods was read for all in the hope it would become binding to all sides.
Edited by Stacey Woensdregt
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