EDITOR – What an excellent idea to have an anti crime march.
The benefits will be endless!
To name but a few:
- SAPS and Metro will be kept busy mustering the crowds and controlling traffic. Full car parks while owners are marching – a criminal’s dream.
- Criminals can have a field day in the suburbs with no cops on the prowl.
- School children will join the march – hooray! Another day of learning and teaching lost, and teachers get the day off. Most children will be bussed in – what a bonus for the bus companies. The children will need sustenance, again what a benefit for the suppliers.
- Extra cleaners will be brought in to monitor and keep toilets working. Job creation?
- Traffic will need to be disrupted. Well I suppose we should support the downturn in the economy.
- What an excellent excuse for workers to have a day off work to ‘join the march’. Another great opportunity to aid and abet our failing economy.
The march will indeed be a golden opportunity for the organisers (CPF?) to spend ratepayers’ money on organising this function.
My questions now, considering all these benefits and money ‘spent’:
- Will the crime rate be affected?
- Will I now be safer in my home?
- Can I stop watching my back for hijackers every time I get into my car?
- Can I now go for an early morning jog without being mugged?
My questions are endless.
LYNETTE ROWE
Response from Amanzimtoti CPF public relations officer
EDITOR – This correspondence has reference to Lynette Rowe’s response to your publication about the #CrimeMustFall peaceful walk against crime, police killings and social ills.
Firstly we wish to state clearly that we accepted in the initial stages that a small margin of society would critique the programme without raising solutions. These critics are most welcomed as it assists the main objective to proof the diversity within our communities but we never expected such shallow and narrow-minded criticism. Below we motivate our defence to this author’s sarcastic and ill-informed writing.
Editor, you were privy to the content of our briefing document and having been part of the successful stakeholders meeting, it is evident that Ms Rowe has little if any understanding of the objective of the #CrimeMustFall peaceful walk. In respect of Ms Rowe, had she as the chairman of the sector police forum honoured the invite sent to them to attend the stakeholders meeting, she would not have been in such an ill-informed position. In all reality, she would probably not have exposed her lack of capacity to see the bigger picture.
The facts that form the basis of our motivation for this #CrimeMustFall peaceful walk follow:
1) Leading up to the peaceful walk, a stakeholders meeting was called to discuss all possible negative impacts and positives. All stakeholders present raised issues which the CPF has and will take into account. This will be followed up with a community meeting on 17 March at 6pm at Amanzimtoti Civic Centre. This platform will be for members of the community to engage with SAPS, Metro and all relevant authorities on issues they feel have contributed to the current situation we find ourselves in. Coupled with this, the CPF will capture all the concerns and possible solutions that arise from this meeting into a memorandum of understanding (MOU).
2) On Saturday, 2 April at noon at Amanzimtoti CBD people of all races, gender, religion, cultural and age groups will commence towards Amanzimtoti Civic Centre where the MOU will be handed over to the Minister of Police, Nathi Nhleko and his delegation which will comprise of the acting national commissioner of the SAPS, head of Hawks, KZN SAPS commissioner and the MEC for Safety and Security and Transport. This peaceful walk will fall in line with national and international trends for citizens to show solidarity for a particular cause and in this case #CrimeMustFall. Unique to this #CrimeMustFall peaceful walk is the fact that all stakeholders are being engaged and people of all race groups, gender, religious groups, political formations and young and old are uniting against crime and bringing forward solutions (per the outcome of the community meeting) to authorities.
3) Following the handover of the MOU to all signatories, all stakeholders ranging from tourism, business, security companies, schools and NPOs will meet with the delegation led by the minister to discuss its contents and what immediate interventions are to be made from their side, after having witnessed a community in solidarity against crime.
We took the liberty to highlight the extensive programme under the uniting call #CrimeMustFall for those who have not been privy to the briefing document like Ms Rowe and others, to ensure there is no further misunderstanding about this initiative to bring together everybody within our diversity and to take a stance and say #CrimeMustFall.
We trust we will see all your readers in this clarion call to unite and participate fully in both the community meeting and ultimately the #CrimeMustFall peaceful walk against crime, police killings and social ills.
Yours in partnering with the SAPS
#CrimeMustFall
Tommy Ackermann
Amanzimtoti CPF public relations officer
