By Hlulani Mashaba
Annually during February, the Gauteng Department of Community Safety is tasked with a massive task of developing and implementing programmes which are aimed at ensuring Gauteng as a safe and secure place for all its citizens. While the safety and security month focuses on reaching out to Gauteng communities to raise awareness on matters of crime prevention, it is also aimed at the promotion of safety. It is for this reason that the Department embarked on various outreach programmes to engage communities on issues that affect their safety, their rights and responsibilities as citizens.
The approach this year championed by the MEC for Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko, has been extended to focus on all sectors of society. This approach commenced at Kliptown policing precinct, followed by Eersterust, Rustervaal and Brixton just to mention a few. The MEC engaged with various role players such the Faith-based Organisations, Local Leadership, Business Community, Youth Formations, LGBTQIA+ Community, Community Police Forum, Elderly Persons amongst others. The visit by the MEC in various communities was in line with Gauteng Provincial Government’s commitment of spending more time in communities with an aim to resolving service delivery challenges.
The ultimate goal is to mobilise communities to join a social movement in the fight against crime and to enhance the existing campaigns such as Take Charge and Ambassadors Campaigns by encouraging both government officials and communities to join the Department’s volunteer programmes to sustain the fight against the scourge. The Department showcased and enhanced community participation addressing drugs and alcohol abuse, law enforcement focusing on road traffic legislation through series of activities, school safety programmes and police monitoring amongst others.
The MEC for Community Safety, Ms Faith Mazibuko during her interaction with communities stressed the need to build safer communities. As highlighted by Premier Makhura during the State of The Province Address, “Building Safer Communities is our top priority”. If we want to realise Gauteng as a safe and secure province, we must ensure that we have effective and functional safety structures within our communities. It is important that as members of various communities, we continuously engage on crime challenges and come up with interventions aimed at addressing the scourge.
Community members must always be encouraged to join a social movement in the fight against crime in their respective policing precincts. Safety structures such as Youth Desks, Community Patrollers, Community Police Forum, Women As Safety Promoters, Men As Safety Promoters are available at the local police stations. The fight against crime needs all sectors of society to join hands. Gauteng citizens should all be involved in community dialogues at national, provincial, district and local municipality levels. It is critically important that Gauteng citizens be encouraged to report any suspicious activities taking place in their respective communities to the law enforcement agencies. Therefore, social mobilisation should be the order of the day to strengthen the existing working relations in the fight against crime.
While addressing safety challenges, schools have been one of the sectors that needed the Department’s attention. The Department has met with the School Governing Bodies and management of identified problematic schools to develop a plan of action to address crime challenges. Other stakeholders consulted in this regard include Organized Labour, Representative Council of Learners and Student Movements such as COSAS and many more.
Incidents of bullying, gangsterism, break-ins as well as violence against learners and educators have been widely reported in recent in many schools across the province. It is important that a common approach is developed in tackling safety challenges in our schooling environment to enhance learning and teaching.
All of us have the power to stop bullying and harassment in schools. We call upon various sectors of society to oppose any form of harassment and violence committed against learners, educators and relevant stakeholders in schools. Together we can and must do more to prevent neglect, bullying, abuse, violence and exploitation of learners. It is our duty to create safer and healthier communities so children can thrive in schools and in society.
Lastly, we call upon communities to speak out against women and children abuse, report all incidents of abuse to the police immediately. The Department reaffirms its commitment in the fight against the scourge through adoption of 365 Days programme of action to fight the scourge. The time to build safer communities is upon us! A multi-disciplinary approach is needed to realize a safer Gauteng.
Mashaba is the Deputy Director of Media Relations at the Gauteng Department of Community Safety.