Peering outside her small semi-detached house in Krugersdorp West, the year-old was surprised to see a group of local police and municipal officials enter the filthy, dilapidated drug den next door. They emerged from the burnt-out house with a drugged year-old girl who had allegedly been prostituted by a pimp for drugs. Inexplicably, the group of older men preying on her were set free. At last, De Beer and her elderly neighbours on this rundown street in the battered heart of the working-class area have a semblance of peace - for now.
Her mother is also a junkie. Nothing happened. Last week, residents of Kagiso, Munsieville and Krugersdorp took the law into their own hands, torched suspected drug dens and brothels.
On Monday the protests became more violent. Residents blocked roads and continued to burn alleged drug houses, brothels and a satellite police station. Some residents looted shops. In response, the police fired rubber bullets, with about 60 people arrested for public violence in the ensuing chaos.
On Tuesday, Minister of Police Fikile Mbalula visited the area, promising residents he would rein-in corrupt police officers colluding with local druglords. The year-old mother of four is holding her eight-month-old baby, his face smeared with dirt in her arms.
She opens her gown, revealing marks on her legs. There are at least five suspected drug houses in just two streets. From her house, Ansie Kruger looks at one across the road. No drugs, leave our girls, go away. Kruger toys with the large crucifix hanging around her neck. Sometimes you hear women screaming. In parts, Krugersdorp seems like a ghost-town. The doors of pawn shops, salons and cellphone repair shops are being hurriedly shut. We rather say those who are involved in criminality in our town must leave.
