Police Minister Bheki Cele says urgent intervention by all sectors, including the community, is required to prevent the youth from turning to a life of crime.
He was speaking at the Khayelitsha Response Summit which was held following a spike in crime and mass killings in the township.
Various community organisations and relevant stakeholders took part in the summit.
Cele says, “If I take you to Pollsmoor, or any correctional facility, they are full of young people. Not only that, the cemeteries are full of young people, most of the people we picked up here with these mass killings, most of them are younger than 40, they will start from 18 to 35. That is the situation that must be changed. The youth of 1976 did not fight for the thriving of crime and criminality and criminals, they fought for a better life and this is not it.”
[YOUTH AND CRIME] On #YouthDay Police Minister Gen Bheki Cele says the youth must be part of the solution to the country’s crime solutions, this as he @SAPoliceService & safety &security stakeholders are meeting to find tangible solutions to high crime rate in #Khayelitsha pic.twitter.com/s2Wpau0gaP
— Lirandzu Themba (@LirandzuThemba) June 16, 2022
March
Northern Cape youth commemorated Youth Day by holding a peaceful march to highlight youth unemployment, suicide, substance abuse and gender-based violence.
Simanye Community Nutrition and Development Centre led the march.
According to the centre, the issues highlighted are burning issues the community is dealing with.
Bernaldo Venasiu is one of the young people who took part in Thursday’s march.
Venasiu says, “To be a young person, it’s really fun, I have a youth against crime group. In the group we have people that are ex-drug addicts, ex-convicts that have been in jail. We encourage them to interact in sports, interact in talking to one another. We also provide counselling.”
VIDEO: Young people at Roodepan in Kimberley march against GBV, substance abuse and suicide:
Additional reporting by Nobelungu Nowapane.
