The spike in crime is expected to drop drastically in the Princess informal settlement area following a gesture from Laerskool Dr Havinga.
The effort being made by the Princess Neighbourhood Watch to reduce crime received recognition from the Witpoortjie-based school when the principal, Leon Visser, donated a number of two-way radios to the forum.
The handover was made at the school on Thursday, 14 March, to the chairperson of the forum, Anthony Mathiba, who was accompanied by the Roodepoort Police Sector 2 commander, Warrant Officer Johan Loots, and the communications officer, Captain Juanita-Anne Yorke.
“We became aware of the problem that the forum has with communication. So, as a school that sees itself as the friends of the police and the community, we decided to assist them by donating two-way radios to help in their fight against crime and for the protection of the school,” Visser explained.
The gesture was influenced by the forum’s latest success after performing a citizen’s arrest of a suspect they cornered while he was selling stolen property in the area on 13 March.
Mathiba told the Record the donation will go a long way towards alleviating their resource problems. “I appreciate the donating of these radios, because we’ve been looking for such resources. We are looking forward to using them and also working with the police and the school,” he said.
Yorke added, “This is a wonderful opportunity to show that in Roodepoort there is zero tolerance all round and that the community stands by the police, CPF and the neighbourhood watches. We would also like to thank the school for the generous donation that they’ve made to the Princess Neighbourhood Watch”.
