People urged to get involved
CRIME and a lack of community involvement are two of the biggest problems faced by members of the Kharwastan Civic Association, which turned 50 this past weekend.
The chairperson of the association, Sathie Moodley, said the association had been very active since 1967.
“We initiated a women’s forum and the senior citizens group. We have also built the Kharwastan Civic Hall, which is being used by residents for meetings and even functions. We also just started a community policing forum. So we are trying to show others that we can be a community that takes care of itself.”
Moodley added, however, that a lack of community involvement was evident.
“We need more people to come out and assist us. We found that the people in the area were mostly elderly, which meant the younger generation was slowly moving out of the area.
“So we realised we needed to get more young people involved in the association if we wanted to see the organisation reach another 50 years.”
One of the founding members, Logan Naicker, 77, who is still with the association, echoed Moodley’s sentiments.
“We need more people to come out and stand up for the community,” he said, adding that things had been very different 50 years ago.
“That time they (city officials) didn’t really care about these areas; we were just left here and we had to come together and stand up for our community.
“We fought so hard for proper piped water and tarred roads. There were no community halls and we would walk very far to school. The area was not cared for by the council; the people would be in groups cleaning up the area.”
Former finance minister Pravin Gordhan, the guest of honour, planted a tree at the civic centre to mark the anniversary.