East London – The Eastern Cape provincial government has embarked on a mass mobilisation campaign to encourage communities to actively get involved in the fight against crime.

Addressing the Provincial Community Police Cluster Boards Summit on Tuesday, Eastern Cape MEC for Safety and Security Thobile Mhlahlo said mass mobilisation would assist in fighting crime and building a caring society.

“Our main target is to promote the formation of street committees as a key crime prevention mechanism and accelerate the roll-out of Community Safety Forums [CPFs] throughout the province in partnership with the local sphere of government.

“I strongly believe that through community mobilisation against crime, great achievements can be made in this province,” the MEC said.

MEC Mhlahlo said through the mass mobilisation, priority would be to build a line of defence for the vulnerable groups such as women, children, the elderly and the physically challenged.

“Through this approach, we can be able to maintain a decreasing crime trend up to 2010 of between 7 percent and 10 percent, which will be conducive for stabilising high incidents of contact crimes that include murder, common robbery, rape and assault.”

“We believe that this is a workable approach, which will encompass all aspects of community safety, including improvement of safety and security in schools and prevention of gender-based violence,” he said.

The MEC said as the provincial government, they will continue to capacitate CPFs so they can be the bedrock in the fight against crime.

Later this month, the MEC said they will have a study tour involving all CPF structures, department officials, Senior SAPS Management and Office of the Premier in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape.

According to the MEC, the tour will be intended to enhance and promote an integrated collaborated approach to crime prevention. - BuaNews