Intractable crime calls for strategic interventions
ALEXANDRA – Sad, self-destructive crime in Alex continues.
Residents of Alex were urged to make a pledge to stop intractable crime blighting the township’s image.
This was said by the Alexandra Police Station spokesperson Captain Stephen Malatji as residents resumed life after the festive season, to the reality of crime engulfing their home.
Malatji urged for the pledge when he recently requested for crime to be regarded as a moral issue. This was after a father exposed the police to his Nyaope addicted son’s warrant of arrest for house-breaking and theft, seemingly with the intention to save his life from assault along with his friends, by angry community members –after they had been caught stealing.
According to Malatji, “The pledge will help remind residents that none of them is immune to the scourge.
“Those who aid and abet it will one day fall victim to crime either from those who hide from arrest or victims when they are in other areas.”
He added that while no one was born a criminal, any predisposition to it increased a likelihood of them turning into criminals when families do nothing about it. Malatji also linked the problem to those who benefitted indirectly from proceeds of crime and those who justified such action on poverty. “One’s circumstance is no excuse for committing a crime.”
He also berated those who incited crime only to call the police when those they provoked overcame them. “Such conduct should be avoided as police, with their limited resources, are not there for petty issues but to maintain peace and neighbourliness.”
One of the township’s premier NPOs Agisanang Domestic Abuse Prevention and Training (Adapt) also raised concern regarding crime at a recent workshop for its partners. This after research on crime found the country was tops globally on rape and, the continent was also in pole position on gender-based violence and abuse.
According to Adapt’s manager, Irene Khumalo, this was despite various awareness campaigns, projects and programme activities which seem to have no limited impact. The organisation proposed a pilot intervention that will be strategic, firm and inclusive of communities within a formal and accountable local government framework.
Khumalo said this is in response to the distressing sight of various disjointed partners who duplicate work and yet, still do not achieve the intended impact despite many years of resourcing. She said the multi-sectoral partnership approach, to be piloted in Ward 105, will share expertise, good practices, resources and seek regular attendance by participants in forums to maintain continuity. “Hopefully the pilot will achieve desired outcomes and be replicated to the entire township,” Khumalo said.
She added that this initiative will also enrich their ongoing women, men, criminal justice system, community education as well as training and schools programmes.
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