Chief Stephanus engages NamPol on criminal activity in Vaalgras

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Chief Joel Stephanus of the Vaalgras Traditional Authority on Monday met with the Namibian Police Force’s (NamPol) ||Kharas Regional commander, David Indongo, to discuss the increase in stock theft and illegal shebeens in the Vaalgras area.

Stephanus in the meeting said the use of alcohol and drugs have become a great concern in the area as it appears to be on the increase.

“We have a lot of illegal shebeens in our area and if the police are called in they seem reluctant and once they do show up the owners of the shebeens tell them they are not selling alcohol but instead having a party. We know these people are selling alcohol but we cannot do anything, that is why we are here to figure out how to go about this problem and others issues we also have,” said the chief.

Stephanus also raised the issue of community members not adhering to the COVID-19 regulations.

With regards to stock theft, the chief alleged that thieves come from elsewhere to steal in their area.

In response, Indongo said the issue of police officers being reluctant while they are supposed to attend to cases or crimes is being investigated internally.

“We have received complaints of our members being reluctant, we will deal with that internally. Soon we will have a community meeting at Vaalgras area where we will discuss how the police, traditional authority and community members can work together to fight crime,” he said.

Indongo also urged community members to report crimes committed to the nearest police station which is the Tses Police Station rather than calling an individual police officer to report a crime.

He said during the 2019/20 financial year 61 cases were opened from the Vaalgras area compared to 28 in the 2020/21 financial year. Of these cases 26 cases were withdrawn, 20 were finalised in court and the accused persons were sentenced, 36 are still pending and in 16 cases there are still no suspects.

The most prevalent crimes in Vaalgras are stock theft and drug use.

Source: Namibia Press Agency