Youth urged to help fight crime

POLICE Minister Bheki Cele delivered a keynote address at the National Youth Crime Prevention Indaba hosted by the SAPS at the Olive Convention Centre in Durban this week.

The indaba was a follow-up to the Provincial Crime Prevention Summit hosted by the provincial government recently.

The three-day indaba, which ended yesterday, was attended by a number of stakeholders including SAPS national commissioner General Fannie Masemola, various provincial commissioners, the National Youth Development Agency, the National Youth Crime Prevention Steering Committee, the SA Union of Students, the SA Technical Vocational Educational and Training Student Association, the National Gender-based Violence Steering Committee, the departments of Basic Education and of Higher Education and Training, and their social partners.

The purpose of the indaba was to get the youth involved in fighting crime and to develop a youth crime prevention implementation framework in strengthening relationships between the SAPS and the community at large, as well as the capacitation of community police forums across the country.

Masemola said it was important that the youth helped in the fight against crime, even if it was just by making a difference in their communities.

Cele said proper action was the key in making a difference in fighting crime.

“Crime is a societal matter.” He said 11 000 women were raped in the country in the last quarter of 2021, adding that “50% of that number were assaulted in their own homes by people who are supposed to be protecting them”.

“We won’t put the police under people’s beds, lying in guard, which means that families must take responsibility,” Cele said.

“You can’t tell me no one knows who’s perpetuating crime in their areas. Criminals are known.

“Where is the mother when 6-year-old is raped by their father?

“We hear of cases where families put pressure on victims to withdraw cases. Crime must be fought across society and the government,” said Cele.

He said another problem was that most communities have more shebeens than schools and even fewer churches, “and we expect our youth to be okay”.

He said further discussions needed to be held about teachers having sex with pupils, who ended up getting pregnant.

“If women don’t rise, if families don’t rise, forget about fighting crime,” he said.

Cele concluded by saying that there should be a commission to look into the economic empowerment of young people, with a view to creating employment opportunities for them.