UVONGO Community Safety Forum is simply the best.
Last week, chairman Ernest Booysen and secretary Barry Smit represented the forum at the annual Hibiscus Coast Mayoral Community Awards function at Margate Hotel – and were honoured to accept the Best Community Policing Forum award.
“This achievement was only possible because of all the wonderful people in our community who involve themselves with our efforts to rid our area of crime. My greatest gratitude and thanks to them all,” Mr Booysen said.
Unfortunately it is not all good news regarding the crime scene in Uvongo. In spite of crime fighters’ increased efforts the number of housebreaking incidents has not reduced to the lower levels seen in previous months
However, Block Watch members and local security companies in Uvongo are doing excellent work and quite a few burglars have been arrested during the last week.
Uvongo residents are asked to warn holidaymakers with whom they come into contact to be vigilant and not to be caught off guard. Crime doesn’t take a holiday.
As Mr Booysen pointed out, the Uvongo Community Safety Forum had positioned itself amongst the top performing policing forums in KwaZulu-Natal. Its most valued achievement during the past few years was the trusting and open relationship it had established between the Margate Police Station management team and members of the public.
The Uvongo Forum covered the area from the Umhlangeni River in the north (St Michael’s on Sea) to Seaslopes Road in thesouth. Two SAPS trained reservists dedicated to the area patrolled day or night, as required. They were under the control of the SAPS Sector Commander and the forum committee. A dedicated SAPS patrol vehicle had been allocated to Uvongo for all-hours patrol, he said.
The whole of Uvongo had been divided into sectors where Block Watch patrols were conducted by members of the community on a voluntary basis. This was done according to a set of strict guidelines. He added that the Block Watch members received back-up support from the SAPS and all local security companies. The forum also had WhatsApp groups covering all sectors, These were a valuable means of reporting the presence of suspicious activities or people.
“We have had a very positive growth in support from the community over the past few years. The current funding for our operations is coming as voluntary contributions from private property owners, bodies corporate and Uvongo businesses. Contributions vary from R20 per month for pensioner households to R50 or more for other households or businesses,” Mr Booysen explained
Residents supporting the forum were issued with a forum gate sign, which identified them as forum membrs and acted as a crime deterrent. Mr Booysen said the forum could be reached for assistance by telephoning the dedicated emergency number, 084 249 8246 any time of day or night. The SAPS numbers to telephone were 039 3129864 for the control room and 039 315 9822 for the Margate charge office.
Mr Booysen urged Uvongo and St Michael’s residents to attend the monthly meetings at Uvongo Library activities room on every second Monday of the month, at 5.30pm.
