The initiative was held to educate and empower residents about their rights and their access to different legal institutions in the country.
The Department of Community Safety’s Samson Mmadi says it is important for people to know and understand their rights.
• Read: Support the Know Your Rights Campaign
“In this way they will not infringe on the rights of others while exercising their own.
“It is embarrassing as a democratic country that we still have people who don’t know what their rights are,” he says.
Samson says that as the members of the CPF they deal with a lot of cases on domestic violence and mob justice daily.
“This shows that many people in the community still don’t understand that they are breaking the law by talking the law into their own hands.
“Those who do so can be prosecuted by law; all criminal cases have to be reported to the police,” he says.
The Community Policing Forum (CPF) Chairperson in the area, Oupa Mabiletsa, says that as a forum that bridges the gap between the police and the community they often receive complaints that the police are colluding with the criminals.
• Also read: Know your rights
“They allege the criminals are arrested today and soon released by the police because they were bribed, which is not the case.
“This shows that some of the people don’t understand how the law works and this leads to mob justice.
“We are hoping that through this initiative the residents will understand better how the law works and have more faith in the police,” he says.
He says that they want the community to know the various stakeholders, their roles and responsibilities.
Resident Maria Ndhlovu says that the campaign should be held regularly because it is informative.
“I believe that many people in the community can learn a lot from this initiative.
“There are many people who don’t know their rights and which institutions to go to for help,” she says.
