Foreigners and students blamed for Kazungula location’s woes
Residents of Flower-town in Kazungula have been urged to be vigilant, and work together to fight against rising criminal activities in their ward.
Speaking at a police workshop recently, Kazungula Station Commander, Phetogo Phillimon revealed the location was one of the crime hot spots giving his officers sleepless nights.
The Superintendent admitted that without assistance from the community, the police’s efforts would be in vain.
Phillimon noted the area’s proximity to the Zimbabwean border has made it a target for criminal gangs from the neighbouring country.
“When these people steal, they make it back across the border in no time. Going after them puts our officers in danger as they’re exposed to wild animals,” he explained.
Emphasizing his point, Phillimon cited an incident in September where officers in pursuit of thieves had to gun down an elephant that charged at them.
“The most shocking thing is that these wild animals never bother the criminals,” he added.
Held under the theme ‘Empowering the people to better their protection’, the workshop was also graced by the area Councilor, Simasuku Matengu as well as personnel from the Gender Office.
In his remarks, Matengu said he was concerned by the wayward behaviour of students, from both the junior secondary and primary schools in his area. He revealed there have been countless incidents involving students, stressing the situation must be addressed before it gets out of hand.
“Our kids bring knives and drugs to school!” stated the exasperated councilor.
“Statistics today show that the kids we’re bringing up today do not marry. What kind of a generation are we breeding as parents?” asked Matengu.
He implored parents to be more involved in the raising of their kids, and monitor them at all times.
“Let us not leave this responsibility to teachers,” he said.
Matengu warned that this wayward teenage behaviour is one of the catalysts for the rising number of rape, defilement and GBV cases in the area.
“We’re all affected as parents and this includes the police. We should not be ashamed, but work together to fight drug abuse, crime and GBV,” he concluded.