IN one of his first public interviews as Deputy Minister of Police Fikile Mbalula, obviously excited by his sudden meteoric rise to power, promised the nation that the police were going to be "militant and vibey", whatever that meant.

Like many other South Africans, I have been waiting patiently for Mbalula to explain exactly what he meant.

When thugs broke into my property on June 18, the first thing that came to mind was Mbalula's first public commitment. I unfortunately did not experience any "militancy and vibrancy'' from the police.

After waiting for about six hours and the detective responsible for finger printing still having failed to arrive, I came to the conclusion that this "militancy and vibrancy'' was just cheap talk.

There are many similar cases throughout the country and what is annoying about the ANC is their continued unwillingness to accept that many of us did not struggle for our lives to be ruled by criminals and drug-lords, irrespective of their political affiliation.

Many of us still do not understand why the ANC does not want to release crime statistics more often and also accept that theirs is a failed strategy dating back to the early days of the notorious self-defence units.

Now we all know that the idea to dissolve or integrate the crime-busting unit the Scorpions into the SAPS was based on emotions. The new unit will find it difficult to be "militant and vibey'' under circumstances that lacked logic.

Lesego Mogotsi, AZAPO Tshwane