Delivery vehicles escorted by security
Victor Mulangisi
Companies in Kuruman have resorted to hiring private security companies to escort delivery trucks to deliver consignments from one establishment to another.
This is caused by the menacing level of thuggery in the town, especially along Livingstone Street. Big haulage trucks and courier-labelled vehicles from outside namely Gauteng, Free state and North West were unintentionally delivering less stock after being pounced on by street muggers at the door steps of the delivery points.
Once the truck is identified robbers follow and pounce like hyenas sniffing a carcass. The muggers come in groups like quelea birds in the maize field to snatch anything within their ability and run away. The visibility of police is always scarce when robberies are taking place. Speaking to one of the hired security companies he said that at times the young muggers come in different groups of five or so each trying to confuse truck drivers or people responsible for ferrying the goods from the truck into the shops.
As few off-loaders deliver goods into the shop, the muggers jump into the truck and start throwing goods to their accomplices down the truck at the wink of an eye. This happens in full public view on a daily basis. One truck driver expressed his dismay of delivering goods in this town. It looks like in this town there is no law because thuggery has been accepted by the public. Muggers steal without any conscience of being punished or facing mob justice because everything is just normal.
Everyone is raising a very simple question, “How can there be a frequency of muggings and thuggery in the street next to the police station?” This misnomer is giving credence to the concerns raised by the community that the police in this town is in the league with the social miscreants and giving a blind eye when it is called to intervene. The community is leaning on a falling wall. One author said, “The earth has no sorrows that heaven cannot heal”. The police can stop the rot happening in the central business district of Kuruman town provided there is the desire.
