Sophiatown ready for battle

Following a huge spike in crime topped by the loss of a valuable community member succumbing to stab wounds in a robbery attempt, Sophiatown residents are keen to claim back their neighbourhood.

Sophiatown Community Patrollers were launched with a Know Your Neighbour campaign recently.

Ward Councillor Steve Kotzé welcomed the community and the patrollers and expressed the importance and the need for community patrollers.

“The community patrollers are independent and they are there to ensure that the area is kept safe,” said Kotzé.

“This is important so that families can have a feeling of safety; this is an amazing thing that the volunteers are doing because they are putting their lives at risk to ensure the neighbourhood is safe;, they have already even been shot at by a suspect,” he added.

“We are trying to get all the residents to get involved by donating, volunteering and reporting any suspicious activities in the area.

“We therefore appeal to businesses and residents to donate so that this new project has funding for bullet-proof vests and all the gear needed for this patrol unit to work efficiently,” he concluded.

Thabo Thipe from the Department of Community Safety spoke on the significance of the Know Your Neighbour campaign that encourages the community to know everyone who lives next to them.

“The campaign is to ensure that criminals don’t have an easy way of perpetrating people’s properties,” said Thipe.

Any Mashiale, chairperson of the Gauteng Provincial Cluster Board Community Police Forum encouraged the local South African Police Services to work hand in hand with the community patrol to increase safety.

Mashiale further alluded to the training of the patrollers and the need to train domestic workers on safety.

“Patrollers must do oversight and ensure that there is no demilitarisation of officers. Patrollers must operate within the confines of the law,” concluded Mashiale.