Last weekend AfriForum’s neighbourhood watches in Limpopo participated in a national patrol.
On 12 March AfriForum’s neighbourhood watches in this province participated in a nationwide operation to maintain increased visibility and test functionality of national communication networks and synchronisation. The neighbourhood watches also worked together with other safety authorities, security companies and the police.
In all 228 neighbourhood watch members participated and 130 vehicles of neighbourhood watch members and other authorities completed 9 058 km between 18:00 Friday evening and 06:00 Saturday morning. During the operation support was provided in housebreaking and attempted housebreaking cases. There was also an attempt of vehicle theft which was prevented in cooperation with the police. Neighbourhood watch members in cooperation with the Heritage Protection Group foiled the recycling of presumably stolen copper cables.
The main aim was however to establish visibility of alert communities. The reflective jackets, vehicle magnets, vehicle roof lights and torches that lighted up the streets, resulted in this goal being achieved. All along there were national synchronisation and liaison with all AfriForum’s neighbourhood watches that participated in the operation countrywide through AfriForum’s control room for Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. All neighbourhood watch members in Limpopo could see the exact location of all other neighbourhood watch members in Limpopo that participated through the Limpopo Operational Telegram app.
Andries Opperman, Safety Coordinator for Limpopo, thanked the neighbourhood watch members for their selfless service. “Here we see how communities take ownership of their safety in a professional and disciplined manner and purposefully establish a network of cooperation within the framework of the law to thereby ensure their prosperous existence. Our most important weapon is our reflective jackets and liaison and synchronisation at a national level. Criminals withdraw themselves from a community that is visibly alert and that work together.”
To join AfriForum’s safety structures in Limpopo, download the Telegram app and look for @AfriForumBuurtBot (https://t.me/AfriForumBuurtBot).
