Police are calling on all spaza shops in Delft to kap toe at 9pm as a precautionary measure and crime prevention initiative to ensure the safety of the shop owners and the community at large.
SAPS spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm Pojie says: “Recent history based on the analyses of crime indicates that these shops are frequently targeted by extortionists and robbers alike.
“[These crimes] sometimes lead to the death of shop owners and community members, including children who find themselves at the shops late at night at the wrong time.”
“The request to close at a specific time is an attempt to mitigate and prevent the prevalence of extortion, murders, robberies and related crime in their precinct.”
On 1 January at 10pm, a spaza tuckshop assistant was shot through the counter window of the tuckshop by three males who pretended to be customers in N2 Gateway.
The local Community Policing Forum suspects it could be for extortion money.
In another incident, on 3 January, three gang members ran inside a nearby spaza shop to hide when rival gangs came inside the shop and opened fire at the three, killing two gang members.
Last Monday, Delft teen Bronwin van Willigh was shot dead in Junker Street shortly before 9pm while standing at a winkel to buy bread for her ouma.