JOHANNESBURG - Former gang member Ayoob Toffie has said visible policing can help reduce crime, but it’s not enough.
He said communities become frustrated when suspects are released on bail and later return to commit more crimes.
Toffie said stronger sentences are needed to deter people from crime.
“The police visibility is always there. It makes it difficult for any criminal to move around and do his things. However, it doesn't mean that it is going to stop. I think it would minimize it, but at the very same time, the community are tired of situations where cases are not being prosecuted, guys going out on bail.
“It’s a wicked cycle that keeps on repeating itself. For me, I were sentenced to a double life plus 16 years and I spent 21 years in prison. At the time when I was sentenced, there was no legal directive for any lifer to ever go out. And that pushed me to a point of thinking very deeply if I really want to continue with the crime or not. And because of the deterrence, because of this sentence that was played before me without any legal directive, it forced me to understand that my life is over."
Toffie said gangs are operating across different communities, with their influence extending beyond individual neighbourhoods.
He said their main aim is to control communities through fear, leaving residents afraid to move around freely, especially at night.
Toffie said while visible policing is good, it is not enough to deter criminals from committing crime.
“You'll find that there are gangs, gangsters, a group of gangs that is in Reiger Park, that's got the same gang in Nigel. And you've got the same game or a different gang in Westbury that has got the same gang in El Dorado Park.
“And so, it goes from one to the other, but the entire modus operandi of them all is control. It is to control and to bring fear to our communities. And that is what cannot be allowed because nobody can live in a community where they're fearful, they can't go at night. Our elderly, they can't walk around after five o'clock, six o' clock. Nobody can walk at that time because the control is now in the hands of the gangsters," Toffie said.