Crime 'killing Joburg'

DA TOUR: SHOP OWNERS, RESIDENTS TELL OF CBD'S PROBLEMS

- Jarryd Westerdale

At the foot of each of Johannesburg's claustrophobic concrete towers are the men and women who keep the city ticking over.

For those outside the city, the smothering buildings cast intimidating shadows, but at street level, attitudes grow harder daily.

Desensitised to the lingering threat of crime, business is conducted on streets not so much crumbling, but simply stripped of their value by those acting with relative impunity.

DA members took a tour of the Johannesburg CBD yesterday to gauge the effect crime was having on business owners and residents.

Shop owners all have similar stories to tell, emphasising a desire for the municipality to do more to make the streets presentable and safe.

A store owner on the corner of Eloff and Market Streets, selling high-end camera equipment behind thick iron bars, said the mere perception of the city's crime was enough to keep people away.

Delisile Muwonge of SA Camera Land said when those enquiring about her competitively priced products over the phone realised her premises were in the heart of the CBD, the phone line would more often than not go dead.

She claimed her store had been robbed four times in recent years and even witnessed the police unable to apprehend suspects who fled within a few metres of officers.

"We need more police in the streets because we never see them unless they are coming to check if I am selling stolen goods," Muwonge said.