Neighbourhood Watches and Community Policing Forums claim they can combat crime in KZN
Neighbourhood Watches and Community Policing Forums (CPFs) can assist the police in reducing crime if they are funded, equipped, and trained.
Durban crime activist Imtiaz Syed, and Aidan David, the eThekwini district policing board chairperson, were providing their views on the two-day Provincial Council Against Crime (CAC) strategic planning session held in Durban on Saturday.
The CAC, launched in November 2024, intends to consolidate interventions, chart a way forward in the fight against crime, and build trust between the police and the communities.
Among the topics for discussion were:
- Shifting Realities: Understanding public perceptions of crime in KwaZulu-Natal.
- Crime survey study highlighting the hot spot areas in the province: Victims of crime report.
The Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Thamsanqa Ntuli, said KZN, like so many parts of the country, is grappling with crime that threatens the fabric of communities.
Ntuli said criminals are becoming daring as the day progresses, and this chases away investors and leaves citizens destitute.
Ntuli also touched on faction fights and mass murders that occurred in Hlokozi, Loskop, and KwaNongoma.
He said that these fights left communities fragmented and disturbed teaching and learning in the areas where they take place.
Ntuli said crime is also driven by complex social, economic, and political factors where some ringleaders are 22 years old.
Ntuli said that in the past eight months, he has held crime summits in communities to hear their plight.
“This council represents our unwavering determination to confront these challenges head-on. Our task is not just to review where we stand but to plan boldly for a future that is safer and more secure for every KwaZulu-Natal resident,” he said.
Ntuli said a technical Lekgotla was held recently that was attended by technocrats which included all heads of departments, the provincial commissioner, the district municipal managers from district municipalities, and CEOs of state-owned entities.
Ntuli said they reviewed the commitments made in the past five years and began to put together the plans for what the government is going to do in the next five years.
Syed, who was the chairperson of the Mayville CPF and other crime-fighting initiatives in Durban, said the Council Against Crime is an excellent idea on paper and in design.
Syed said the reality on the ground is that when you have funded organs of state and organs of state that are non-funded trying to work together the gap in expertise, understanding, and cooperation are great.
“Even though all structures of safety are important and more so on the ground at the cold front we see that those organisations like neighbourhood watches and CPFs are self-funded and in so doing limited in their reach,” Syed said.
Syed said it was imperative that through the CAC a strategy aligns these differences and brings together packages of investment into the fight against crime at the cold front.
“Communities by far are where criminals live and commit crime. If they are to feel safe they must have the support of all law enforcement agencies across the board and must be protected. The issue of neighbourhood watch and CPF authority over the communities they serve differs based on the influence these organisations have to bring justice timeously,” Syed said.
Syed said if these partnerships are not equitable and the environment unfavourable for a volunteer organisation to exist, these organisations will fail.
He said progressive framework to support safety organisations on the ground must be implemented.
Aidan David, the eThekwini district policing board chairperson, said Ntuli did not mention the impact drugs are having on crime.
“Ntuli misses the real root cause of crime which is drugs. He needs to engage with the proper crime-fighting structures. The CPF was promised tools of the trade to fight crime by the previous administration.
“Ntuli needs to follow up on those promises. I personally feel that playing politics and creating a new board being the ‘council against crime’ is just another way of funds being re-directed into the wrong hands for the wrong reasons,” David said.
David said the community and its current volunteer structures have been clamping down on criminals and will always get the short end of the stick.
“Many new structures to fight crime in the province have come and faded away because the budget was finished. All efforts made are welcomed but every new leader must learn to stop fixing things that are not broken and start building on what we have,” David said.
zainul.dawood@inl.co.za