Sports festival to help cut crime

In a bid to strengthen the Safer Schools Campaign locally, the Leo Mbini Foundation and the Berlin Police will be hosting their first Sport Against Crime Sports Festival at Berlin Sports Field on Wednesday. Three sporting codes, rugby, soccer and netball will make up the composition of the festival. It will see 25 schools from surrounding areas clashing for top honours as well as being educated about creating safer schools. The festival is expected to run for the next two weeks, with the pool stages commencing on Wednesday. Festival founder and organiser, Leo Mbini said he was pleased to partner with Berlin Police, Berlin Community Police Forum, provincial department of sport, recreation, arts and culture, the provincial education department which were also assisting with the logistics. “We are doing this festival in order to curb the crime rate as many primary schools are encountering a problem with crime,” he said. “So we want to jump on this bandwagon of Safer Schools campaign, let more people know about it and at the same time have our children playing sport. “Because you’d find there are children using drugs in schools and they carry deadly weapons. There’s a lot of things that have to be fixed in our schools and we can do that through sport.” Mbini, a schoolteacher by profession, said he was delighted to have the local policing authorities involved in the festival. He said police involvement would go a long way in ensuring the small community of Berlin that strides were actually being made to create a safer community. “The police in Berlin have been supporting me with the Berlin Schools Rugby Revival Programme (which started last year) and they thought it would be a good idea to get involved with this festival, as it speaks to their duties. “I’m happy that the department of education is involved as well. This festival is going to go beyond being a tournament but an event where our children can be taught how they can remain safe at schools. “Because we’ve seen instances in the country where schools are turned into the most dangerous places. We’ve seen teachers being assaulted by pupils or the other way round. “Stabbing cases have been reported at schools, but now we want to make our local schools a safe haven for our children. “And we want to thank those local businesses that have also pledged their support to the cause as we are doing this for future generations.”