Fighting crime through a moral revolution
SANDTON – Lawyer and anti-crime activist Jolene Leeuwner-Maritz aims to begin a moral revolution in South Africa to eradicate crime.
Bearing in mind the startling statistics of crime in our country, lawyer and anti-crime activist Jolene Leeuwner-Maritz is doing something about it.
She has launched the No Crime Culture Project and Justice Pageant to begin a moral revolution, which she believes will aid in the fight against crime.
“The No Crime Culture Project is in the first instance a cultural project aimed at the creation of awareness in individuals from ages four to 25 of the need for basic morality, ethics and norms of conduct… that will extinguish the tendency to criminal behaviour,” said Leeuwner-Maritz, winner of the 2016 Standard Bank Top Women of the Year Young Achiever award.
The project is a national campaign to change the mindsets of young schoolchildren and adults through the use of cultural ambassadors to teach communities about a crime-free society.
The Justice Pageant was launched in Sandton in 2015. Finalists are judged on their ability to teach morality as a necessity to children in schools and challenge schools to participate in and complete moral projects.
“We exclude swimwear and include business attire and our emphasis is placed on our moral debating section of the competition.
“The initiative is about changing the culture of our society to be anti-crime from a very young age, but, with different, tailored programmes enforced at schools, community forums, seminars and online and offline campaigns across South Africa.”
She added that the programme would be adopted in curriculums in schools.
Finalists will compete for the coveted title on 26 November at the Hilton Hotel in Sandton, with the main goal to identify role models who can execute general morality programmes in schools. Finalists will not prance across the stage in skimpy swimwear and tiaras, but instead, engage in debates on topics such as Can morality be taught? at the gala event.
Following the global turmoil regarding gender equity, it was decided to include a gender-neutral competition, where men and women can compete on the same platform for the coveted title of South Africa’s Moral Leader for 2017.
Details: To find out more about the No Crime Culture Project and the Justice Pageant, visit www.nocrimeculture.co.za
