OPINION - Here’s the ugly truth: in KwaNonqaba, someone is being murdered almost every week these days.
Sometimes our newsroom ends up reporting on more than one murder there in the same weekend.
Are they domestic violence related? Not always, but often, yes. Many of the stories we cover involve suspects and victims who are familiar with each other.
I’ve been in this newsroom since 2011. Back then, a murder in KwaNonqaba would have dominated our front page, not because of its brutality, but because it was rare, whether it was domestic violence or not. Today it has become common.
The irony is bitter. The police station tasked with managing this surge in violent crime is in a dire state itself.
Over the years, Mossel Bay Advertiser has repeatedly reported on the deplorable working conditions the officers of the KwaNonqaba Police Station endure.
Back in 2019, we wrote about the staff there asking for the station to be closed permanently because it was non-compliant with basic health standards.
When the health practitioners visited again in 2024, five years later, nothing had changed.
Their findings? No proper waste storage. Officers still working in prefabs where rodents and insects freely roam. Evidence being stored in shipping containers.
It’s not only unfair, it’s unacceptable. Why aren’t any of our community leaders saying more about it?
Don’t shoot the messenger
KwaNonqaba is the most densely populated and geographically extensive policing area in the greater Mossel Bay, yet it has the least equipped police station of the four in our area.
Go and visit the Mossel Bay, Great Brak River and Da Gamaskop stations. The difference is stark.
Then there’s the crushing workload. In February, we reported that the KwaNonqaba detectives each have up to 300 dockets on their desks. The recommended number? Seventy, at most.
How can any detective thoroughly investigate cases when they’re drowning in that large number?
We’re staring at something deeply worrying: deep-rooted socio-economic despair.
Thousands of families call KwaNonqaba home. Many businesses operate in it, too. The people of this community deserve better - from government, and from every one of us who claims to care about Mossel Bay’s future.
Recently, I saw an online comment under one of our stories about yet another murder. A reader accused our journalist of “making stories up”.
To that I say: don’t shoot the messenger. We report it, because it’s real, and it’s getting worse.
Every week, another life is lost. Drastic action is needed - not tomorrow, not after another report, but now.
Mossel Bay cannot claim to be an iconic town if parts of it live in fear.
We need to join hands, take responsibility and make our entire community safe again - especially for our youth.
Louise Karsten is the editor of Mossel Bay Advertiser.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of Group Editors and its publications.
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