ENTRANCES and exits to suburbs, as well as intersections around Durban were manned and patrolled on Saturday by residents, members of community police forums, neighbourhood watches and the public in general in a combined fight against crime.
People heeded a single call to create visibility at strategic points to make criminals aware that communities were taking back the streets. The exercise was created by a call to action from eThekwini Secure, urging communities to come out in their numbers for two hours on Saturday night in a show of force.
Operation Lockdown coordinator, Zaid Noor, said the exercise was a phenomenal success, better than expected.
“We thank a great team of volunteers and activists for your selfless contribution to a very success Operation Lockdown. Your time and effort is noted. Without any of you the exercise would not have reached the pinnacle that it did,” he said.
ALSO READ: Security officer escapes shooting in Berea
“For a month, we have been planning for all parties to come together for a common cause. We want to show what can be achieved when we work together. We will compare stats for criminal activities that happened before the lockdown and look at the impact of the lockdown.”
“I’m certain it will show zero per cent for criminal incidents during the lockdown and in this way, we will know we are making a difference,” said Noor.
eThekwini Secure and eThekwini Cluster CPF chairperson, Imtiaz Syed, said: “This is the kind of relationships that we need to build across communities as we speak one language in the fight against crime. Everyone needs to get involved, including our women and children. Everybody needs to be empowered. The measure of success is determined by the people involved. For two hours on one night, we forgot all our differences and came together as a single component of a community. Strength in numbers was realised. If we could achieve this once, we can do it always.”
Do you want to receive news alerts via WhatsApp? Send us a WhatsApp message (not an sms) with your name and surname to 060 532 5535.
You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Berea Mail WhatsApp number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts
