Minister Fritz joins forces with Garden Route district to present provincial safety plan
Correspondent BOB HOPKIN reports on a two-day summit targeting domestic, communal, and traffic safety in the Western Cape
Most of us consider ourselves lucky to live in this province at the southern tip of the country where hard statistics have shown that, in general, our provincial, district and local municipalities govern better than most.
Last week this optimism extended a little further when, during a two-day conference in George, a joint presentation by provincial staff, local SAPS and Garden Route District Municipality, more definition was provided as to how safety in all its forms would be enhanced within the province.
The topic was treated holistically by addressing public safety at home, in communal actions such as shopping or leisure activities, at work, or on the move.
To no one’s surprise, generators of crime were defined as poverty, unemployment, and alcohol and drug abuse. Western Cape Minister of Community Safety advocate Albert Fritz, who gave the keynote address, painted a bleak picture of prospects for youths and children in disadvantaged households.
“They have little or no prospect of gainful employment. Peer pressure often leads them to start smoking dagga before they even start school and in terms of self-esteem the best they can expect is to be accepted when joining their friends to become gangsters,” he said.
Some progress has been made to counter this progression thanks to the activities of Chrysalis Academies around the country, where youths aged between 18 and 25 attend a voluntary three-month programme that provides a means to experience “civilised life”, care for others, self-care, awareness of nature, skills development, and growth of self-esteem.
The ‘chrysalis’ analogy with butterflies captures the issue of a turning point for impressionable youth, when choices made determine the course of future life: health and prosperity or not.
Having touched on the issues of causal factors, local SAPS Cluster Commander major general Oswald Red-dy then addressed the prevention and detection of crime and criminals.
Recently, provincial premiere Alan Winde announced a police recruitment drive that looks to appoint an additional 3,000 officers and 50 investigators – a very welcome move according to Reddy, who said that he was 7% understaffed and 5% short on vehicles.
In addition, a reorganisation is underway and includes the merging of Eden and Mossel Bay clusters to become the Garden Route cluster, with improvements in communications and access to facilities.
Finally, N2 Traffic Management regional director Nathan Arendse indicated a tragic situation on local roads where some 1,400 fatalities – a mixture of mobile and pedestrian, many alcohol-related – occur annually in the province. The ambitious target is to reduce this to zero.