During December 2020 AfriForum’s control room in the northern region assisted AfriForum’s neighbourhood watches in the northern region (Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga). The purpose of the control room is to strengthen AfriForum’s neighbourhood watches and to ensure that assistance and the necessary resources can be called faster.
More than 260 cases were handled by this control room during December. Here are a few highlights:
- The control room called the SAPD during a housebreaking in Pietersburg where the suspect was caught.
- The control room also assisted and called the SAPD during an armed robbery in Warmbaths and the robbers were arrested.
- After a vehicle accident in Centurion the control room assisted by calling the emergency services and the SAPD to the scene.
- During a housebreaking in Krugersdorp the control room called the SAPD and one suspect was caught.
- During a housebreaking in Standerton the control room called the SAPD again and one suspect was caught and arrested.
- The control room also assisted in Ellisras by calling the emergency services for a male patient who was battling to breathe. The emergency services arrived just in time to help him.
“The successes achieved and assistance given by this control room once again emphasise the important role that this control room plays to strengthen and safeguard our communities,” says Hillel Coetzer, AfriForum’s Head of Safety for the northern region. “AfriForum’s neighbourhood watches are busy on a daily basis to safeguard their communities and it is for this very reason that AfriForum takes on projects like these to ensure that our members, who offer their time willingly, have better resources to function optimally and to combat crime within the framework of the law.”