Gender-based violence has decreased, criminals have starting moving out of the area, there are fewer guns on the street and business owners no longer have to fear for their lives and pay protection fees in order to make a living.
These are only some of the successes of the Jacks Road Neighbourhood Watch in Missionvale since they decided to take ownership of their community and ensure the safety of residents with a zero tolerance policy.
Chairperson of the neighbourhood watch, Mervin Januarie, said that not even churches had been spared but were vandalised to such an extent that even all their instruments were stolen.
He said that the idea of a neighbourhood watch started taking form in 2020 when criminals seemed to be taking advantage of the lockdown period.
“The neighbourhood watch was officially formed when a young woman was robbed one morning and all of the men in the vicinity came running from their homes at the same time to help her.
“During especially the three highest levels of lockdown, the institutions that were closed due to the pandemic were being targeted as if it was nothing. These included schools, churches and businesses and the arms of the law weren’t long enough to reach all these elements,” he explained.
“The dedicated men and women of our community started the neighbourhood watch because we were tired of crime increasing in our area and today we have more than 50 members spread over different areas that cover a huge section of Ward 31,” Januarie explained.
“Missionvale has a major challenge with robberies and gang violence and the area is dangerous because we never know what we’ll find at night when patrolling but there have been successes and we take it one day at a time.
“Every night before we head out to patrol, we pray together. There are times when we’re confronted by dangerous situations but all our members are passionate and want to make a difference in our community because we have families here.”
He said that their vision is to live in a crime-free environment and see their children play in the streets without worrying whether they could get shot or robbed.
“One of the main things we hope to achieve is also to restore Missionvale to its former glory.
“We have received so much support from our Ward Councillor, Teslin Booysen, and would like to thank him for giving us a platform in our ward to address the community; a concept that is crucial towards curbing crime,” Januarie said.
As part of their dedication, the Jacks Road Neighbourhood Watch even went out of their way to help the Missionvale Care Centre when it was plagued by constant burglaries and vandalism in December last year.
“Since our series of break-ins and vandalism they have assisted us so much. They even managed to retrieve our computers from a couple of houses in our community. They [patrol] our streets at night for a better future for their children and rely on their own resources entirely,” Missionvale Care Centre said in a statement after a break-in at their facility two months ago.
Januarie said that their journey with the centre started when Booysen asked them to guard the closed facility during the December holiday.
“I immediately contacted some of our foot soldiers to gather information about the possible whereabouts of the stolen computers. We couldn’t allow the centre to be plundered because the facility provides many important services to our community and has been doing so for years.”
Januarie added that the centre had not had another break-in since they started protecting the facility.
He also mentioned that they were still in dire need of some equipment to make their tasks easier, including two-way radios, pepper sprays, torches, tasers, safety shoes jackets and masks.
“If someone is willing to help us, whether it even be by donating equipment or giving advice, we would appreciate it so much, even training opportunities since 90% of our members are unemployed. Some of them have skills but can’t find jobs,” he said.
Anyone who would like to get in contact with the neighbourhood watch, can contact Januarie by sending an e-mail to mervinj2@gmail.com.
