Cellphone app launched to identify racism hotspots

The Ahmed Kathrada Foundation has launched a novel technological tool in an attempt to fight racism.

The organisation plans to use the power of cellphones and their Zimele Racism Reporting App (Zirra) to identify organisations or locations where racism thrives.

The app will allow the organisation to aggregate data and provide trend analyses of racism hotspots, which could, in turn, be used to direct intervention efforts.

Zamokwakhe Dlamini, the acting director of the information communication technology unit at the department of Science and Technology, helped launch the app at Mancosa in Auckland Park yesterday.

The app, which is currently only available for Android devices, works by collating reports of racism at specific locations.

If, for example, a school gets several reported incidents, the foundation will be alerted and can intervene by directing their own or other stakeholders’ staff to the organisation.

This could help to implement interventions, before situations spiral out of control.

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