Cape Town - A number of provincial departments were present in Delft on Monday, for the launch of the Delft Area-Based Team (ABT), which will see the departments working together to combat high levels of violence.
The launch at the NEXIndawo Yethu comes just days after the start of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign and saw a number of community representatives and neighbourhood watch groups in attendance.
At the launch were premier Alan Winde, Health and Wellness MEC Nomafrench Mbombo, Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC Reagen Allen, and Social Development MEC Sharna Fernandez.
An update on the Violence Prevention Unit (VPU) was also provided. Winde, during his 2023 State of the Province Address, committed to establishing a VPU in the Health and Wellness Department. The VPU uses data from health-care facilities to identify and design interventions to better address violence in communities.
An ABT for safety is a group of government and non-governmental stakeholders in a defined geographic area, working together with the aim of sharing knowledge and data to address priority drivers of crime and violence in the areas.
Areas where ABTs are to be established include Atlantis, Gugulethu, Mitchells Plain, Nyanga, Philippi (including Hanover Park), Philippi East, Samora Machel, Bishop Lavis, Delft, Kraaifontein, Khayelitsha, Harare, Mfuleni, Beaufort West, George, Witzenberg, Swartland and Theewaterskloof.
“Those 18 we are piloting, we wanted more, but we start with the 18 because we want to have all teams,” Fernandez said. “The Department of Social Development works with many of the NGOs specifically in the area of GBV, they give us the names. So the ones you saw are mostly government officials but within their space, that’s why we say anyone is welcome to join, so it could be two or three NGOs that could be part of it.”
At the engagement, residents and community activists said it was important to work together with the community to combat gender-based violence, protect seniors, and establish youth development programmes.
Health and Wellness chief operating officer Dr Saadiq Kariem said: “It’s really a cultural shift from working as independent silos and independent government organisations or independent NPOs, and being able to work and bring a whole lot of government resources to be in Delft or in other areas we’ve identified.”
Reagen Allen said: “When we look at the entire contact crime category, which includes murder, attempted murder, assault common, together with grievous bodily harm, those are categories we want to reduce.
“Secondary to it are sexual offences, which include rape.”
Winde said: “The VPU is a prime example of one of our interventions which leverages health data to better make use of health-care and safety/ crime-fighting resources.”
In the latest Police Crime Statistics for the second quarter of 2023-2024, Delft police station was top station out of 30 nationally in terms of murder, fifth nationally and third top station provincially for contact crime. It was also the seventh top station nationally and fourth provincially for community-reported serious crimes.