Community Safety
What intervention is his Department implementing with regard to the violence that is taking place in Gugulethu, Nyanga and Philippi at present?
A Provincial Operational Plan has been implemented. Integrated deployments and intensive patrols on a 24 hour basis have been implemented to curb the activities of public violence and violent protest actions.
Response received from the Department [Programme 2&3]
In the Gugulethu, Nyanga/Philippi area the Department entered into partnership agreements with religious organisations to conduct holiday programmes as part of the Youth Safety Religion & Partnership [YSRP] programme. These programmes reached more than 600 young people during the 2017/18 financial year. The aim of these projects is to keep young people off the streets and in a safe environment during the school holidays.
A number of Safety Promotion projects was initiated in the area, these include, raising awareness on woman abuse, exposing youth to alternatives away from crime through youth camps and encouraging youth to enroll at educational institutions for example, Northlink College.
Nyanga also forms part of the Alcohol Harms Reduction [AHR] pilot area. A safety kiosk is deployed in the area which is manned by the local neighbourhood watch members to increase visibility and create a safe zone.
Walking bus groups were established in Gugulethu, Nyanga and Philippi with more than 200 volunteers to improve the safety of learners in the area walking to and from school.
The Department of Community Safety supports the request made by the Nyanga Community Police Forum for another police station to be provided in the Nyanga policing area. The Department played a facilitating role between Province and SAPS in securing a suitable site for the much needed new police station.
In addition the Department also conducted the Policing Needs and Priorities workshops in the identified areas. Reports of the last several years have consistently identified gang related violence in the area as very problematic. The PNP reports have made several recommendations which include:
- The need for more intelligence driven investigation of gang related matters;
- The need for a specialised gang unit;
- The need for SAPS to adopt a gang-prevention and response strategy to target new gang activities, to utilise crime intelligence to profile gang members and obtain community/CPF support to identify gang members and report on illegal activities; and
- Sufficiently staffed crime prevention units in gang prevalent areas
Response received from the Department [Programme 4]
There are no interventions that specifically address the concern raised. It should however be noted that Security Risk Management is concerned with the Accreditation and Support of NHWs as contained in Section 6 of the Act. For the 2017/2018 financial year, one [1] NHW was accredited, namely, Gugulethu KTC. They have been supported in respect of the provision of Basic NHW Training which focuses on providing NHWs with the skills and knowledge needed to function and First Aid Level 1 training.
