Kwa-Thema – Community members gathered at the Kwa-Thema Community Hall on March 11 to develop a community safety plan using the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) approach.

The event was an initiative of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) and supported by SAPS, health, social development, sports, economic development and key departments in the City of Ekurhuleni.

“CoGTA is turning around the municipalities and the support towards improving service delivery and we also want to align that with community participation,” said Fikile Matsinye, the deputy director for Community Development Workers (CDW) in the Ekurhuleni region.

CoGTA met with the community in December, during which 50 stakeholders identified key focus areas that need attention.

However, in January, there was concern that the gathering was not inclusive of all relevant stakeholders, which led to the March 11 meeting, which included every stakeholder in Kwa-Thema to develop plans.

Present at the event were seven focus groups/sectors, including prevention and management of GBV, health and wellness, economic development, disaster management, service delivery, school safety, and sport.

Each group was led by an ABCD facilitator who took them through how to compile a community safety plan.

“Each group begins by identifying the aspirations (where the community want to see Kwa-Thema in the next 12 months), secondly, they identify interventions that will help reach that goal, these interventions are accompanied by activities that are aligned to a department, community stakeholder and people who will make sure the goal happens,” Matsinye explained.

At the end of the session, each focus group nominated two individuals who would work on implementation. These individuals will also be linked with the ward committee, so the ward councillor can provide monitoring.

“The community needs to identify community strengths and map out available resources and then develop an activity plan defining what the community can do with the resources they have.”
Matsinye added that the plan will align with the department’s annual performance plans for the 2026/27 financial year.

“The plan will also inform the Kwa-Thema Integrated Development Plan for April 2026. Once the plan is finalised, all departments will review it and confirm that it aligns with their respective areas. CoGTA will conduct oversight on the implementation of the plans,” she said.

The focus groups/sectors’ main discussions:

• School safety – Random school searches, police visibility, stakeholder integration, moral generation, drug-free schools, development of maximum resources, weapon-free schools and parent involvement.
• Service delivery: reconstruction of the park (Bulithando Park), establishment of a safety forum, establishment of a soup kitchen, fixing of street lights, reporting to the municipality, and community patrollers.
• Health – Provision of safe food at schools, GBV campaigns, poverty alleviation, health education workshops, lessons on hygiene in schools, and family counselling.
• GBV prevention – Awareness campaigns; encourage religious institutions to spread GBV prevention messages.
• Local economic development – Protecting animals (farming), establishing poultry farming for income generation, and bylaws on animal and community safety.
• Sports – Functional sports facilities (Kwa-Thema Stadium, tennis courts, sports complex and Bulithando Park), activities such as cleaning and grading of Kwa-Thema Stadium.
• Disaster management: event safety management, fire, floods, storms, and load-shedding management, and better turnaround time for emergency services.