THE Covid-19 lockdown regulations imposed nationally has brought into sharp focus the role neighbourhood watches (NHW) play in the preservation of safe and effective communities which, for many years, have assisted in crime prevention issues while upholding the values of Ubuntu.
Through dedicated management teams in the NHW network, service delivery issues are highlighted by holding State Owned Enterprises (SOE) accountable for poor service delivery issues that are often resolved amicably through the monthly CPF meetings and programmes.
In Pinetown and the Upper Highway area, we commissioned these networks, some go back to 2003, with the sole aim of promoting neighbourliness.
Neighbourhood watches in our community are dedicated to building partnerships and promote good neighbourliness while meeting all the requirements of governments mandates on CPF structures and how we partner with the SAPS and other SOE. NHW patrol groups were set up by volunteer residents and were trained and given clear cut mandates on how to operate, without overstepping boundaries.Community feeding schemes, medical response crews and career guidance networks sprung up to help families look after each other, especially as the SOE are constrained with budget issues.
Neighbourhood watches filled the need where government was failing and yet in 2020, the engagement of CPF networks was overlooked as an essential service.
If government had included CPF leadership in talks, we may have been able to help with testing of our residents in designated wards like we do during voting. These tests would be done every week and logged onto control sheets.
We would then engage with health departments and provide stats and data that would speed up the testing phase and eliminate the time wasted waiting for individuals to be tested. Going forward, the role of the neighbourhood watch volunteer, community nurse, trauma councillor, admin data collectors and the average committed citizen in an effective registered neighbourhood watch team must never be taken for granted.
Andreas Mathios
ProAct NHW Association
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
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