A big high five to all my brothers and sisters who honoured the call to go and register to be eligible to vote. It is a pity for those who still feel that they have no reason to vote. As for me, my reasons to vote continue to pile everyday.
Just this past weekend, one of my friends’ sisters left her house (Pienaar) to go to Nelspruit. Within 10 minutes, she received a phone call that her house had been broken into. She immediately rushed back home and was struck by the fact that very few of the home appliances were stolen, the main goods which were stolen was her clothing.
After an hour of searching, the young man who had stolen the clothes was apprehended wearing the carvella’s he had stolen,while he was trying to sell the stolen goods.
The question is, why do young people implicate themselves in crime activities? Is it still a matter of poverty? Or maybe there are other emerging cultures like the ‘‘izikhothane” which demands for young people to steal. Part of the reasons I am personally excited by the University of Mpumalanga, is because academics in the field of criminology will be able to pay attention to areas like Pienaar and give more area-specific and detailed accounts on the main cause of such high levels of crime, which will further come up with recommendations on how this problem can be addressed.
I really do think that social development need to intensify their partnership with the department of justice and DCSSL to carefully select strategies and approaches that will be effective to deal with crime. It is a fact that the NPO sector is growing in Mpumalanga, but there needs to be engagements between government and civil society to strengthen partnerships in this regard.
Government can provide communities with training that will help communities register NPO’s that will help deal with crime and be ready to fund such institutions. Crime is a serious problem and it is saddening to see more younger people getting involved in it. Without doubt, crime remains a collective responsibility of government and the community, including business and religious institutions and so on.
Through many of its policies, including the NDP 2030 vision document, the government has committed itself to play an active role in the fight against crime. Many times, communities have pledged to partner with government, but clearly this is not the case because if it was, criminals would know that they stand no chance in our society.
Criminals have girlfriends in our communities, they have parents who bail them out, they sit with us at car washes and we say “akusiyo indzaba yetfu”. Where we have to mind our business we don’t, where we are supposed to speak out, we decide to keep quite. We are all living in fear and it is worrying because we cannot even stay in our townships anymore.
Recreational facilities are neglected in townships because people are not feeling safe to be able to participate. We are the generation that must change these things, we cannot live caged in our houses because of fear of being victimised.
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Hlengiwe is: A Corporate MC, Motivational Speaker, Radio entertainment reporter, Magazine features writer, Columnist, Young Professional, Mentor…
