Locals celebrate their Youth Day together

The Department of Community Development, property company Valumax and Riverside View Residents Association hosted a Youth Day event in Riverside Square on 16 June.

President of Riverside View Residents Association, William Aphane said the event was aimed at raising awareness about the dangers of drugs and substance abuse while commemorating Youth Day.

“We hosted this event to remind our youth where our country came from and raise awareness about crime, substance abuse and drugs. We brought a number of speakers here to speak to our youth who have for a long time been part of gangsterism groups that we’ve dismantled. We want our youth to know that there is more to life than senseless fights that they were involved in,” Aphane said.

Addressing young people who attended the event, Vathiswa Ramufhufhi of the Department of Community Safety said they had introduced a number of interventions aimed at addressing the scourge of gangsterism and crime in

the area.

“In 2017, the department established a youth crime prevention desk to encourage young people to join the structure and come up with programmes that will keep them busy. We have also hosted youth camps in which those who were regarded as ring leaders participated in order to change their perspective of the world.

“What we’ve realised during the process of working with these young people of whom some were involved in substance and drug abuse, was the lack of proper parenting. We call upon parents to be part of their children’s day-to-day life in order to prevent them from falling into these traps,” Ramufhufhi added.