Cape Town - Western Cape Community Safety MEC Lennit Max has called for calm after a member of the Mitchells Plain Community Policing Forum (CPF) was gunned down at the weekend.
The Forum members condemned the shooting and promised to retaliate. However, Max cautioned them against taking the law into their own hands.
Max said that retaliation against the suspected killers or criminals will be counter productive and the untimely death of the victim, Vincent Naidoo, will be rendered meaningless.
He praised the work and commitment of the late Naidoo who, although bound to a wheelchair, still valiantly fought crime in his community.
"This commitment of Naidoo remains an inspiration to all communities and CPF's. His contribution will sadly be undone if the community resort to any form of violence.
"Any form of vigilantism will not be tolerated in our communities as this will undermine the peace and stability in communities," he said.
Max reiterated that while law enforcement remained the duty of the police, the job of the community was to oversee effective policing and assisting the police with information.
"The police and the community will continue their partnerships to make our province free from the fear of crime," he said.
Max is on a road show to all five regions in the province to hear from the CPF's how they experience crime and what their expectations are from the Department of Community Safety as well as the police to address crime.
