away for a long time, ask someone to look after your house. “ask a neighbour to keep an eye on it for you if you are stepping out quickly, and make sure that you lock the gate and the doors,” he said. ntombela said some criminals also enter with metre taxis, pretending they are coming to visit so that nobody will be suspicious. “we are doing everything we can in trying to reduce crime in our surrounding areas but we need to work together with the community in fighting crime,” he said. although housebreaking is still on the rise, ntombela said they are happy that the number of murder cases has decreased. “the patrols that we do, especially at night, have helped us a lot in preventing murders. “this shows that we are doing a good job and we will continue to work hard and ensure that our community is safe all the time.”