In the last month, this newspaper has reported on at least 15 house robberies in Nelson Mandela Bay.
There were probably many more.
The one thing all these robberies had in common was that the assailants entered the houses while the owners were at home.
Another common trait was the fact that the intruders were armed and the attacks were violent, with people having to fend for their lives, in some cases being hurt.
On Wednesday, young mother of two Kelly Bain, 26, was brutally attacked in her Brymore home, in the middle of the day. She died of a stab wound to the neck.In the house was her one-month-old baby girl. Another daughter, five years old, was not in the house at the time.
The incident, so tragic, has sent shockwaves across the Bay.
On the other side of the Bay, in Uitenhage, a couple of hours before Bain’s murder, a 51-year-old woman was attacked in her home by an unknown number of people. She was hospitalised with serious head injuries. These incidents are forcing us all to come to terms with the reality – crime is rife in our metro.
The problem is not unique to us, of course. The scourge is a countrywide phenomenon.
But as a city that was previously regarded as relatively safe – if one compares it to the likes of Johannesburg and Cape Town – Nelson Mandela Bay is quickly losing that wholesome reputation.
Residents in some parts of the northern areas populated by gangs may beg to differ and argue theirs has never been a safe existence. The point is all of us are being affected by criminals, and worst of all, in the sanctity of our homes.
Is there a solution? As residents, we need to become more vigilant and increase our personal security – that’s a given. But even with the private armies of armed response companies to augment our police services, the invasions continue apace.
One way or another, we need to reclaim the spaces we hold dear. Allowing the bandits and murderers to terrorise communities is one fight we cannot afford to lose.