Sport antidote for crime among Khayelitsha’s young people
TO TRY to keep young people away from crime, the Khayelitsha Community Policing Forum (CPF) has initiated a sports against crime programme.
It aims to mobilise communities, especially the youth, to become involved in sport, thereby avoiding drugs and crime.
Khayelitsha Site B CPF spokesperson Phindile George said if young people did not become involved in programmes, criminals would recruit them.
“These programmes are very important for our communities, in particular the youth, as it gives them something to do and keeps them motivated in sport and other productive activities other than what they are constantly exposed to on TV (violence, alcohol, substance abuse) which is also happening in front of their eyes in our communities. These programmes become a divergence to the youth being recruited by criminal elements in the community.
“Idle young people are vulnerable to bad influence, but these events give them an opportunity to expose their talents. This is why a deliberate approach to prioritise young people should be the new way of doing things by all community stakeholders as young people are the majority affected by drugs, substance abuse and crime,” George said.
He said more programmes were needed in the area.
“We intend to host these programmes frequently by mobilising more resources and also working closely with stakeholders to see if we can’t collaborate more to bring them to various communities where they are needed so that no community should stay without youth activities.
“Our aim is to engage ward councillors to prioritise budgets on their operational budgets for youth activities and prioritise building of multi-purpose development centres in our communities wherein young people can get access to the internet, library services and gyms,” George said.
Khayelitsha CPF Cluster chairperson Francina Lukas said the work of the CPF was crucial in offering alternatives to drug abuse and crime. She said this must be supported and commended.