Tsakani – Bloodline Safety is an organisation in Langaville Ext 8 founded by Dumisani Dotye and Happy Nell in 2021.
The organisation works with youth-related issues and aims to uplift, empower and train young people. It also aims to support the community, combat crime and fight social ills facing the area.
“To fight social ills and challenges, we must remain united. Our organisation advocates against crime. Criminals continuously cause devastation in our community, and they have terrorised the community in many ways.
“We decided enough is enough. The community must come together and look out for one another. That is what resulted in forming our organisation,” Dotye said.
He said criminal activities have led to abuse and substance use in their area, saying the issues have caused inappropriate behaviour and violence.
“We live in an informal settlement, and it is hard. We are often looked down upon and taken for granted.
“Drugs are becoming a problem, and substance users terrorise us. Most people cannot walk to the shops at night for fear of getting mugged or killed. Young girls get raped, and some have resorted to prostitution to put food on the table,” cited Dotye.
Dotye said they want to work with the various stakeholders to combat the social issues in their community.
“Our organisation wants to assist community members who find themselves in abusive relationships in their homes and are too intimidated to seek help and sometimes afraid to seek help at the police station, in case they are mocked or not attended to.
“We want to work with the police, social workers, government entities and other helpful people to try and establish ways to end the abuse,” said Dotye.
He added that the organisation runs a few programmes that work towards positivity.
“We clean our area almost every Saturday and call on young people to assist.
“We assist the youth with applying for learning programmes and job opportunities. We try to engage business people to form workshops to provide as many opportunities to our peers as possible. We form support groups occasionally and have also formed patrol squads in the area,” added Dotye.
He also said that the organisation helps high school learners apply for bursaries and to university and other shadowing opportunities.
“We assist with homework where possible. We form study groups for matric and other grade learners. We also want to form different projects, such as a gardening project that will keep the youth occupied and provide food to those struggling to make ends meet,” Dotye said.
Dotye mentioned that the organisation needs help from the community in the form of donations of stationery, gardening tools, and old gadgets such as computers and laptops.
They also plead with businesses to offer job opportunities, mentorship and guidance to those wanting to open businesses.
