MBOMBELA – People in the Lowveld and the whole country are becoming completely fed up with crime. In Stonehenge, residents had decided that each incident was one too many, hence the Stonehenge Against Crime programme was born.
It is similar to a neighbourhood watch, which has proved on many occasions to be one of the most effective ways to reduce crime in a particular area.
Working in close conjunction with the SAPS, local security forces and Mbombela Local Municipality (MLM), Ms Irma Terblanche, Mr John Meintjies and Mr Jomo Shabalala aim to get as many Stonehenge residents involved in order to attempt reduce crime to zero. They have each been affected by this scourge. They reckon that it has gotten completely out of hand to the extent that no one feels safe any longer. Unconfirmed statistics show that an average of 21 offences are committed in this area on a weekly basis.
But a programme like this requires commitment from individuals and willingness to participate to keep the streets clean. At this stage, a mere 23 residents attend the meetings every month. Here they can share their experiences and identify the weak points in the area. But that is not all that is being done.
As with many similar programmes, Stonehenge Against Crime uses social media to its advantage. It currently has two active groups on WhatsApp – one for social interaction and the other for emergencies.
This means that people will get to know their neighbours and become vigilant and aware of their surroundings. When an emergency arises, they have the power of teamwork – something which has proved to spook criminals.
If you are in trouble, all you need to do is type 911 and the message is then circulated to all members of the group. As soon as your neighbours receive it, a chain of panic buttons is set off in order to alarm all residents and disorientate wrongdoers.
The plan is to get as many people involved as possible, and to establish a committee in every street. At this stage committees are in Kingfisher, Krombek, Jan Frederik and Sekretaris, but the group plans on getting the whole of Stonhenge involved, and eventually, the entire city.
These are some of the challenges that this forum has identified, which give criminals an advantage:
• Insufficient lighting
• Thick bush
• Too many entries to the area
• Residents not knowing their neighbours, let alone their environment and suspicious-looking people
• The nearby informal settlement
• Lack of police resources.
People should be willing to come out of their cocoons and fight crime, and not settle for living in cages. If you would like to join the group, you can call Terblanche on 079-588-2715, Meintjies on 081-344-0286 or Shabalala on 071-604-2969.
“So far we have had an amazing response from numerous organisations, including MLM, contrary to its reputation of poor service delivery. This reminds me of the Madiba legacy of people standing together as a rainbow nation,” Meintjies said.
