Frustrated with endless criminal activity plaguing their neighbourhoods for years, residents of the northern areas in Gqeberha have taken it upon themselves to join forces with private security to patrol their streets at night.
Police, however, have warned that neighbourhood watches have to adhere to the laws governing the extent to which such groups can carry out activities to fight and prevent crime.
Only three months after the Gelvan Patrol was relaunched towards the end of 2025, residents say there has been a marked improvement in the crime problem.
The Gelvan Patrol was originally started in 2014 by residents and various stakeholders in the area.
After many ups and downs, the group remobilised in November 2025 to protect residents and tackle theft and housebreaking issues.
The group — which has almost 1,000 members on its WhatsApp group — claims it has had no alternative but to carry out the crime prevention work itself because of a lack of support from the police.
During the community-based patrols, potential weapons from knives to housebreaking tools such as garden shears and pliers have been confiscated.
On Sunday, Nelson Mandela Bay district commissioner Major-General Vuyisile Ncata said there were rules that had to be adhered to by patrollers and neighbourhood watches.
“Before they work, they must contact the police station [and] get a reference number so that the station can deploy a person that they will work with,” Ncata said.
“By doing so, we’re ensuring the rights of individuals are respected because we’re not allowed to search individuals without permission and in the event there’s no search warrant, Section 22 of the Criminal Procedure Act kicks in.
“There are requirements to legitimise searches.
“Neighbourhood watches are allowed to [patrol] but once they see someone who is suspicious and is not co-operating with them, they are advised to call the police because police are the ones who are authorised to conduct searches.
“Neighbourhood watches are allowed to make inquiries such as ‘Where are you going? Where are you coming from’.”
Ncata said citizen’s arrest laws existed because police needed to be involved for a case to be enrolled.
He said the SAPS in the metro had managed a drastic reduction in violent crime statistics such as murder cases.
“There is no collapse in policing here.
“People are still killed but all categories of crime have dropped.
“The only area we’re struggling with is sexual offences.”
According to the most recent available statistics, released by the SAPS for the period between 2023 and 2024, in Gelvandale there were 25 murders, seven cases of attempted murder, 12 of robbery, 26 of common assault and 31 sexual offences.
From December 25 2025 to January 17 2026, the Gelvan Patrol group claims to have reduced crime to almost zero in the areas in and around Gelvandale.
Only one case of attempted theft was recorded in this period.
In just one four-hour patrol shift at the weekend — which The Herald witnessed — weapons, housebreaking tools and dagga were confiscated by patrollers.
The WhatsApp group, consisting of 952 members from the immediate area, keeps patrollers updated on criminal elements and activity in various parts of Gelvandale, which are then responded to by the La Gardi Security company together with community patrollers.
La Gardi Security director Wasief Lagardien manages the night patrols from 11pm to 5am.
“Community members pay R50 a month, and since December 25 this has allowed us to deploy two of our vans with security guards to attend to the various complaints we receive on the WhatsApp group,” Lagardien said.
“The R50 also goes towards petrol for community members to patrol in their own cars, the rest of the community keep an eye on their street and report any suspicious activity which we then respond to.”
Through contributions from the residents, two CCTV cameras have been installed in key areas to monitor any criminal activity.
A resident, who did not want to be named, said SAPS phones went unanswered and the Gelvan Patrol group “are the only people who respond and assist us”.
Lagardien said that in the period between December 25 and January 14, they had confiscated 51 knives, two blank bullet guns and a spray gun, as well as two hammers, five pairs of pliers and four pairs of scissors.
“I feel despondent when it comes to the police,” he said.
“We can’t rely on them to protect our area.
“Even the CPF [Community Policing Forum] is too friendly with the SAPS and they are not helping us either.
“The least we can do is patrols and this has become an effective way to stop crime in Gelvandale.”
A Herald reporter joined the Gelvan Patrol on Friday night from 11pm until 3am.
Five cars patrolled the eerily quiet streets of Gelvandale, splitting up and regrouping throughout the night.
Two security guards from La Gardi led the patrol with four other vehicles, approaching certain suspicious-looking individuals and searching them, and confiscating weapons and drugs.
A patroller, who did not want to be named, said he monitored every night of the week from 11pm until 3am and then went home to have a three-hour sleep before going to work in the morning.
“It’s a passion for me to stop crime because crime is rife in Gelvandale,” he said.
“The community comes first for me.
“We are trying to avoid crime and get criminals off the streets so that our women and elderly people have a better place to stay.
“We don’t want people to be scared to leave their houses. We want them to claim their streets back.
“It can be my child [who is a victim], it can be your child, it can be any person in our area, and we want our community to have a safe place here.”
A resident, who also did not want to be named, said that seeing the Gelvan Patrol in the neighbourhood every night made them feel safer.
“There are people out here looking after us.
“We are united as a community.
“We report any suspicious activity to the WhatsApp group and the patrollers come out to check.”
Other residents said the unusually quiet streets of Gelvandale at the moment were due to the Gelvan Patrol’s work.
During the four hours that the reporter accompanied the Gelvan Patrol, only one police car was spotted.
While a person was searched, during which a knife and drugs were confiscated, a police van drove past without stopping.
The DA’s Yusuf Cassim said more support was needed for neighbourhood watches in the northern areas.
“Last year, I presented to the parliamentary portfolio committee on police on the rising crime and gangsterism and substance abuse in the northern areas,” Cassim said.
“In that presentation, the argument was that there was an abnormal level of violent crime and gangsterism taking place in our areas and therefore this required priority intervention from the national government and to prioritise resource allocation from the SAPS.
“The portfolio committee adopted the report and the National Assembly adopted the report as well.
“There were a number of decisions taken that had to be implemented by the minister of police.
“These included increasing the capacity of the anti-gang unit, beefing up the capacity of crime intelligence in the province and particularly Nelson Mandela Bay and allocating resources accordingly.”
Cassim said these decisions were not implemented.
“The anti-gang unit has only seven operational vehicles for 180 visible policing members.
“They couldn’t do their jobs because they didn’t have the tools and resources to do that.
“The Flying Squad had only one operational vehicle and that vehicle became inoperable.
“The K9 unit has only two narcotics canines for the entire city.
“We asked the chairperson of the portfolio committee on police to hold the minister accountable for not implementing the decisions of parliament in this respect.”
Cassim said Gelvandale was not the only section of the northern areas that had an effective neighbourhood watch.
He cited Malabar, Hillside, Cleary Estate, Missionvale and Bethelsdorp as some of the other areas with neighbourhood watch groups.
“The problem is that they are not being supported [by the SAPS] with the kind of equipment, resources and co-ordination to make their work more effective,” he said.
“The best way to ensure that the work of law enforcement is effective is to ensure that there is proper support for neighbourhood watches because they are the eyes and ears in the communities.
“These patrollers are putting their lives on the line and are sacrificing their own family time.
“Private families that are contributing to these patrols are not getting the support they should be.
“Where this can improve is the attitude of leadership towards neighbourhood patrols, but also towards private security.
“There is a trust deficit between law enforcement and the community.
“There have been instances where the police don’t want to open cases, where they have treated the community very badly.
“Many times, we have had to get the district commissioner involved, we have had to get the station commanders involved, to resolve these issues but they [issues] contribute to the breakdown of trust between the SAPS and the community.”
Another patroller said: “People are scared of the police in Gelvandale. They don’t trust the police.
“I could shoot my gun into the air now and phone the police and nobody will come.”
A group of men, aged between 21 and 26, were part of the patrol group on Friday night.
With their faces covered with balaclavas, they said they feared that revealing their identity might have repercussions for them and their families.
A 24-year old patroller said it was their duty to protect the next generation.
“Some of us have young children, some of us are yet to have children, but we feel it is our duty to the community to stop crime in our area.
“Criminals are stealing everything in Gelvandale.
“No piece of metal is safe here.
“They are stealing everything they can get their hands on.
“Street lights, electrical cables, water meters, anything [made of] metal or copper gets stolen.
“In one night, five municipal water meters were stolen.
“These guys sell the metal to scrap dealers and use the money for drugs.
“These criminals are also vandalising our schools and stealing everything that they can.
“They even stole a water pump worth R30,000 from Papenkuil Primary School, leaving the school without water for weeks.”
At the end of the patrol shift the reporter had joined, a number of weapons, housebreaking tools and drugs had been confiscated.
Four knives, three pairs of scissors, a hacksaw, a pair of garden shears, and a bag of dagga were all found in a single four-hour shift.
Safety and security political head Luyanda Lawu said he would only be able to comment on Monday and Ward 13 councillor Ingrid van Wyk could not be reached for comment.
