A Makana councillor who has had first-hand experience of crime in the city centre says unless authorities make tackling crime a priority, Grahamstown – and its citizens – will get poorer. No one wants to do business in an area rife with crime, according to newly elected councillor, Brian Jackson.
A Makana councillor who has had first-hand experience of crime in the city centre says unless authorities make tackling crime a priority, Grahamstown – and its citizens – will get poorer. No one wants to do business in an area rife with crime, according to newly elected councillor, Brian Jackson.
Jackson says the recent Grocott's Mail Page 1 headline, "Muggers rule city centre" was sadly accurate. He has first-hand experience. "I was pick-pocketed near Church Square," said Jackson.
Recalling the incident, at the end of July, he said, "I remember this guy wearing a red shirt bumped into me and he started apologising profusely. I kept on saying, 'Okay, okay, it's fine'."
He thought everything was fine – but when he got home, he found his wallet had gone missing from his pocket. The next day, Jackson had to go to his bank to have his bank card replaced – only to discover, while he was chatting to the bank employees, that an increasing number of people were coming to the bank to get new cards, for the same reason.
"I fully concur with Grocott's Mail's recent coverage of crime in Church Square," he said. Jackson said the issue had to be dealt with in Council, because crime was a vicious circle: not only was it often prompted by poverty, but crime also perpetuated poverty.
"People are not willing to go into high-crime areas; they are not willing to invest in crime areas and are not willing to create jobs in high-crime areas.
"An area is more likely to be uplifted by investment If it has no crime, or low crime."
Grocott's Mail continues to receive, daily, first-hand accounts of muggings in the central business district.
