“AS a Wentworth community, we have had enough”.
This was the message that echoed throughout the K1 Grounds in Wentworth on Saturday, 26 June, where the community has vowed to have protest episodes every Saturday (to resume when restrictions are eased) until justice is served in their efforts to address the crime that plagues Wentworth.
The peaceful protest, initiated by eThekwini Durban South Youth in Business and supported by Wentworth Angels as well as other community members, commenced three weeks ago and will continue in the weeks to come. It seeks to bring together people who have lost their loved ones or have been affected by crime to speak up and hold the police accountable to uphold their duty to fight crime in society.
“We first had a march as mothers where we went to the police station to speak to the station commander. After not being satisfied with the outcome of that meeting, the movement has grown from there. I decided to open a Wentworth crime prevention group on WhatsApp and it has been helping us a lot. We have women in different areas who report criminal activities in the group and this is further escalated to a trusted police member who does daily patrols in the community.
“Our ultimate goal is to change Wentworth and make it a safer environment for children. We want a ‘Joshua generation’ where children will rise and take a stand for themselves. Some children are scared to go to school because they will be stopped by other boys with big knives. Others are scared of falling victim to the shootings that have become common in our area. We have a lot of potential here in our youth of Wentworth and we can’t have them fall on the sidelines. What are we then if we can’t stand up for our children? The more people who stand up, the better our community will be. It takes a village to raise a child. We need to stand together,” said eThekwini Durban South Youth in Business spokesperson, Noleen Ogle.
In support of the movement was Wentworth Angels founder, Tracy Williams. “About three years ago we did the same thing and we had peace in our community. We have men and women who have lost their loved ones, and mothers whose children have been murdered as a result of gang violence, drugs and other crimes. We are also taking people’s case numbers as we have no faith in Wentworth police. We’re taking all these unsolved cases straight to province,” she said.
A comment from Wentworth SAPS was not forthcoming by the time of going to print.
