The festive season can be the most dangerous period of the year in Alex when residents with free time for pleasure and leisure let down their guard and become victims of crime.
The euphoria turns into nightmares especially for women, children, the elderly and men die or are maimed in fist, gun, knife and brick fights. Some of the elderly are left locked in their homes or taken to clinics by uncaring relatives wanting to go on outings or clubbing. Children are left to roam the busy streets with vehicles driven by drunk or reckless drivers.
This is part of the picture expected in the township in the festive season by Edwin Mashile of the Joburg City Council’s Emergency Management Services. Mashile urged residents to be extra cautious throughout this period when the impending dangers will increase the work load for agency officials who are discouraged to take leave.
He said old and scrap vehicles will be fixed temporarily to be on the road as transport to parties and used by drunken drivers resulting in accidents and deaths.
Parental supervision, which should be multiplied, will instead be lax when many schoolchildren will be roaming the streets and in crowded shopping malls.
Mashile urges parents to take the following safety measures:
- Parents should know where their children are and with who at all times
- If going out shopping, hold their hands, use a vehicle and be accompanied by an adult to remain with them in the vehicle. Never leave them locked in the vehicle alone to prevent suffocation q Be vigilant as children like exploring, are easily influenced by peer pressure to even get into and get trapped in open manholes, get injured playing on the slippery ground near flooded spots and swim in polluted water
- If you have a pool, cover it and lock its enclosure
- Don’t let children prepare food alone on appliances with illegally connected power sources to avoid burning themselves and the house
- Prevent children from playing barefooted particularly on wet soil in places where the power source is illegally connected through a naked wire to avoid electrocution
- Be more cautious as the festive mood also results in rape, teenage pregnancy and abductions when children are left alone, get drunk and are exposed to drugs
- Tavern and shebeen owners shouldn’t be overshadowed by profit motives over parental responsibility and abide by the law by not selling alcohol to anyone under the age of 18 years.
- Neighbours should confide in each other when going away and keep in touch telephonically
Fire safety tips:
- Shack dwellers should allow firefighters to scale over their homes to extinguish fires before they spread to their own home
- Dwellers should stop stealing from a fire truck, cutting water hoses and abusing or hijacking ambulance crews
- They should also number their homes and name the streets to ensure easy access by fire, disaster management and police officers
- Prevent summer fires through careful handling of cooking and lighting appliances, switching them off after use, ensuring paraffin is not spilt next to lighting and cooking appliances and there are no naked electricity wires around.
Mashile urged media to help through a year-round safety campaign together with door to door exercises, distribution of pamphlets, loud-hailers, high visibility of security personnel including in schools, organisations and also companies.
“Education and police visibility will ensure behaviour change and reduce the dangers, misery and risks associated with the festive celebrations.”
He advised residents to call 10177 for any emergencies.
Read: A festive season of rape in Alex
