MANGWENI- The Mangweni local Community Policing Forum (CPF) is back on patrols again.

Recently, Tonga police, Mangweni local councilors, community members and the CPF gathered in the local community hall to discuss the return of the CPF.

Crime was reportedly rising in Mangweni because criminals knew that there was no police forum since late in May.

It is said that during the days when the CPF was not available many people were raped and some have been sodomized, some have been robbed and others lost their belongings through housebreakings and thefts.

Mzwandile Nyambi spokes person for Tonga police station claimed that since the CPF was banned many cases from Mangweni has been opened. Most of the cases are rapes, housebreakings and armed robberies.

“On Tuesday I was robbed of my belongings in my house. I also heard about other people who have been victimized in many different ways since the CPF was banned” said a woman who was robbed in her house last week Wednesday night before the CPF returned.

“If I was the police I was going to return the CPF back” she continued. The CPF was allegedly banned recently after it victimized three men who were suspected of the possessing an unlicensed gun but in the end the CPF didn’t find the gun.

One of the suspects was a member of the law firm, Scorpion, who took legal action on his behalf against the CPF and won the case. Nyambi advised the CPF not to take law in their hands and said they should take all suspects to the police.

Nyambi also outlined that the CPF is helpful to the community and the police because it reduces crime. That is why they decided to return it back.