Residents of one of Wits University’s residences say they are concerned about their safety.
Wits Junction residents were the victims of two muggings outside the residence in Parktown earlier this week. These occurred less than a month after a break-in at the residence on April 22.
Wits Protection Service director, Mokgawa Kobe, has confirmed that the institution is aware of the two incidents, one of which happened on Monday night at a bus stop outside the residence’s main entrance when a student was robbed of a cellphone.
The next morning, another Junction resident was robbed of a cellphone at around 10am by a man in a car.
A meeting with the house committee was held on the same evening for students to express their concerns. The house committee vice-chairperson and all residence council safety and security officer, Thando Ngubane said “students are scared to even go outside and pick up something that has been delivered to them because of the security risks”.
Nazime Randera, the acting head of residence life, outlined some of the proposed security measures that would be implemented to improve security around the residence. These include the installation of security cameras at the external bus stop and an increase of campus security in and around the residence.
Some students said they were not confident in campus security because they are not armed and are therefore not equipped to protect them against armed criminals.
Kobe told Wits Vuvuzela that, “The campus security are not allowed to be armed however we have armed reaction at on the outer perimeter”.
RELATED ARTICLES:
- Wits Vuvuzela, April 2017, http://witsvuvuzela.com/2017/04/24/robbery-at-wits-junction-residence/