Organisation aims for harmony between foreign traders and local residents
ALEXANDRA - Community police forum and foreign traders establish partnership.
The Alex Community Police Forum (CPF) and foreign business operators in the township have established an organisation to promote co-existence between shop operators and local residents.
The forum and the police hope that East African Community Givers (EACG), a non-profit organisation which was started last year, will also address criminal challenges faced by the operators. Sometime last year one shop owner was allegedly killed by a compatriot, said to still be at large.
The forum’s Lucia Poko and Alexandra Police Station commander, Colonel Nhluvuko Zondi suspect the death to be linked with operators’ dislike for competition among themselves with some opting to hire criminals to either kill or hound their opponents.
Poko said the main aim of the organisation, though, was to create an environment of neighbourliness between residents and operators, which are said to provide cost-effective and convenient services.
“It will create a condition for their businesses to be supported by the locals without fear – provided they operate legally, are transparent in their dealings, respect the local community – and also for support structures to assist them on consumer and product-related issues,” Poko said. She also saw the platform as a mechanism to ease tensions which sometimes turn into xenophobic attacks.
At a recent meeting of the EACG, Poko said the forum would take information from EACG’s deliberations to the community for ratification as the initial step to consolidate relationships between operators and community members, and for the operators to gain the respect and confidence of the community.
Deneke Fitebo of the EACG appreciated the initiative and said it gave the operators an opportunity to stabilise their relationships with the community. “Most of us are here only for business and are keen to integrate wherever we operate and to obey the law. Also, we want to help out on needy cases as its a general African culture,” Fitebo said.
He expressed concern at the lack of police protection in some cases and of the trashing of shop entrances at night by unknown people.
Both Poko and Fitebo said they hoped the organisation’s initiative will be rolled to other areas and provinces starting with Limpopo, which the MEC for Transport, Safety, Security and Liaison, Mapula Mokaba-Phukwana asked them to explore.
