Municipal

Amajuba District Mayor holds Urgent Safety Forum and commends community for efforts

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Despite concerns, Newcastillians across the province refuse to stand by and allow looters to win, joining forces in their hordes with security companies and police—forming a united, armed rainbow nation.

With this in mind, on Wednesday, 14 July 2021, Amajuba District Municipality held an urgent District Community Safety Forum in response to the ongoing protests and looting of shops.

Community Safety Forums (CSF) emanated from the requirements outlined in the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) of 1996, and 1998 White Paper on Safety and Security. Both sought to improve, among others, the functioning of the criminal justice system (and in particular the police) in the local domain and to enhance crime prevention activities.

CSFs are based on the premise that increased co-operation and interaction would improve the functioning and deliberations within the local criminal justice system and the delivery of crime prevention projects.

Therefore, the meeting aimed to allow engagements around restoring peace and ensuring that normality is restored within the district. The said meeting, held virtually, was attended by the Justice Cluster and other government and non-government formations to deliberate on the recent protests that have left many businesses around the Amajuba District looted and destroyed.

Cllr Dr Musa Ngubane, The Amajuba District Mayor, who led the meeting, notes the ongoing criminal events with great concern since these acts will leave deeper scars, especially in the government’s efforts to fight poverty, unemployment, and crime in general. The Mayor’s biggest concern is the impact this whole situation will have on the lives of businesses and the district’s economy. Furthermore, he thanked all the people of the Amajuba District who stood against the acts of looting and destruction of properties, especially within the township areas.

He acknowledged that several law-abiding and responsible citizens from various sectors took it upon themselves to coordinate themselves and protect their areas and businesses. It is through their efforts that we still have our beautiful towns intact and safe. He also stressed, “We are disappointed that a number of businesses were looted and destroyed especially around Madadeni and Osizweni. We are still to ascertain the total loss and costs caused by these events. At the same time, we feel obligated to thank all the responsible citizens who protected our towns, our malls, and other business areas. These men and women who stood against these barbaric acts will remain in the beautiful pages of history of our country. We call upon all our people to stand up and fight against the ongoing criminal activities.”

Unfortunately, the ongoing protests have caused significant disruptions in the government’s efforts to fight Covid-19 and the vaccination programme. These events have seen people breaking the Covid-19 protocols and regulations announced by the country’s President, including breaking the curfew times, people not adhering to social distance, and people having illegal gatherings.

Moreover, Major General J. Sayer from the SAPS indicated that the SAPS is on the ground dealing with the protests and looting with their members deployed in all key areas. He indicated that the challenge might be the limited number of officers they have deployed, but they are doing the best they can and appreciate the support they have received from the community and private security companies.

Suzanne Vdwesthuizen from COGTA presented the following as recommendations which were the outcomes of this meeting:

SAPS to share their plan, including deployment and contact details for emergencies,
All leaders to be visible and assist on the ground,
Tangible plans to be developed by all local municipalities to restore peace and order,
The business sector to be engaged,
SAPS to ensure that there is coordination and co-operation between them and the private security companies,
Leaders to refrain from sending out inflammatory statements,
District to identify hotspots and share them with SAPS,
Revival of war-rooms,
The district to monitor the food security issue and ensure that there is no racism involved in this like shops opening for a particular group,
The district to safeguard the health centres so that the vaccine programme is not interrupted.

The Mayor, on behalf of the leadership of the Amajuba District, urged people to refrain from looting the shops and destroying property. In addition to this, a request has been made to the private citizens who have been assisting—to do so within the prescripts of the law and respect the availability of the SAPS.

Forming part of the Amajuba District, in a statement issued by Newcastle Mayor, Cllr Dr Ntuthulo Mahlaba, on Tuesday, 13 July 2021, he noted that over 40 shops in Newcastle West were looted. “Some of these shops are already experiencing a shortage of supplies due to this ongoing volatile situation which has gripped our province.”

The Newcastillian – Online News honours all those rallying together to uplift and protect the community during these difficult and trying times; we have got your back!

Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

RELATED NEWS

Newcastillian News invites your input. We ask that you keep your remarks courteous and on-topic. We do not allow any form of hate speech, such as racist or sexist comments. All comments are subject to moderation in line with our User Rules and Commenting Policy.

PARTNER CONTENT