“Let’s have fun and enjoy ourselves today”.
These were the words of Captain Nthabiseng Magowa at the Youth Day Celebration event hosted by the Hillbrow police. The event was aimed at raising awareness in the community and included a sports tournament organised for young people.
The tournament featured soccer and netball matches and, according to Magowa, was initiated in 2012 as part of a collaborative effort to deal with issues affecting young people.
“The main focus of this tournament is get the youth more involved in recreational activities and to discourage them from getting involved in crime,” she said.
She added that it was also the police’s way of raising awareness about crime together with the local community.
Magowa also expressed the hope that the tournament would bring about a better working relationship between the police and the community.
“We also wanted to show the local community another side to the police service not often seen by members of the public,” she said.
Featured in the celebration tournament were various soccer and netball teams, including the Youth Desk, Hillbrow police, Tactical Response Team, Revelation Church of God, Johannesburg Roads Agency and the Women’s Network amongst others. Magowa added that the tournament had always been held before 16 June since its inception, in celebration of Youth Day.
Also present at the festivities was one of the main sponsors of the event, C.A.M Security which works hand-in-hand with the police in their awareness campaigns in the community. George Moraitis, co-owner of the security company, praised the tournament and the work done by the police in the community.
He added that the company became involved in putting together the event through a partnership with Magowa and the Community Police Forum.
“In hosting an event of this nature, we hope to raise awareness especially against serious issues such as crime and abuse,” he said.
He added that it was great to see it grow each year and he hoped that it would spread to other areas too.
The tournament took place on 13 June at Barnato Park High School.
