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City Meeting to discuss social concerns
On Monday evening, more than 200 residents of Oranjezicht, Gardens, Vredehoek and Devil’s Peak packed into the hall at Good Hope Junior School to listen to a presentation by Alderman J-P Smith on the subject of homelessness in the City Bowl. The meeting was opened by Councillor Brandon Golding (Ward 77), and Councillor Dave Bryant (Ward 115) was also in attendance.
J-P started his presentation with an overview of what the legal position is and what the City has tried within that framework. He made it quite clear that Law Enforcement alone will not solve this problem. J-P also emphasised that there are no quick fixes!Loitering is not a crime – the Constitution allows freedom of movement of all citizens and as a result a person can not just be removed by anybody. By-law offences are not arrestable offences, and Law Enforcement officials can only issue fines. However, without a proper address, if a fine is not paid, a warrant of arrest will not be signed off by a magistrate. It is also impossible for law enforcement officers to witness all by-law offences and the public who do need to make a statement before a fine can be issued.
Law Enforcement and the Social Reintegration Teams have on-going operations on a weekly basis to take down structures built by homeless people. The homeless are offered a basket of social services in an attempt to start the process of reintegrating people but in most cases this help is refused. They are not able to be at every hotspot each time but do rotate around to all of them. Legislation prevents them from removing the person or their personal belongings, and there is little they can do to prevent a person from rebuilding a structure. In most cases the homeless are back within an hour and have rebuilt their structures to the point that it appears that the structures were not removed in the first place. The City has a “ride along” policy which means that any member of the community can join them for these operations (after signing an indemnity waiver) to see first hand that these structures are removed and what exceptionally difficult work this is for the City’s teams.People living on the streets are regularly profiled and fingerprinted and those with outstanding warrants of arrest or in breach of parole conditions are arrested and dealt with by SAPS.
It was also made clear that the policing of criminal offences can only be done by SAPS who have the vastly superior resource numbers and budget. More needs to be done by the Justice System and Correctional Services to enable people go into diversion programmes and have better options when released on parole so they do not end up back on the streets. The city is now investing in diversion programmes as the request to National Government to fulfull this part of their mandate is not working. There is also very little assisance from Immigration in dealing with the many illegal immigrants who are now sleeping on our streets, this needs vastly better management which would include a refuge assessment centre.
While not abandoning Law Enforcement routines, the City has been exploring other possible solutions and is investing more heavily in social development options which have shown a far greater success rate.
The most recent survey of homelessness shows that there are some 7500 homeless people across the Greater Cape Town municipal area, of which some 700 live in the CBD. Key areas of concern in the City Bowl are De Waal Park (above and below Camp Street), Van Riebeeck Park, The Kraal and Stroompie; as well as the Castle, Culembourg and the Grand Parade.The homeless population consists of several components: local residents who have lost their homes or cannot live with their families due to lack of employment, illness or substance abuse; gangterism forces people out of their own environment; the search for economic opportunity draws both South Africans and foreign nationals to Cape Town; and there are regular releases from our prisons.
There are currently some 2500 beds available at shelters run by NGOs. Due to budget constraints, the NGOs working in this arena are not able to open more shelters, but the City is looking at ways of helping them to expand existing shelters to increase bed capacity. The Western Cape is the only province that allocates budget to NGOs in this sphere.Research has shown that homeless people are very resistant to going into shelters due to the way they are run. Seventy-five percent of people approached are not interested in the assistance being offered. Amongst the reasons for this are that family units do not want to split up into separate quarters; and many people do not want or are unable to give up the use of alcohol or drugs to stay in a shelter, and the shelters will not allow pets.
The City is busy developing a Safe Spaces concept and one of the pilot sites will be at Culembourg on the Foreshore. This will have ablution facilities, lockers, a food kitchen, medical and counselling services, access to EPWP work and other social assistance. The idea is that people can use the facilities and be safe overnight but they must vacate the property during the day. There will be a flexible attitude towards alcohol and couples will be able to stay together. Eighty-five percent of those interviewed said that they would consider using the space, but it is not a foregone conclusion that it will work. The pilot project will take in approximately 250 people.
The other point made strongly is that communities have a big role to play: first, they give food, money and jobs to people on the street, which encourages the homeless to stay in the area. Secondly, it is important to ‘own’ our public spaces, and Brandon Golding cited Friends of Van Riebeeck Park as one of the relatively new projects which is working on upgrading facilities in the park to draw residents to spend time there. Research has shown that the more a community uses its public spaces, the fewer loiterers and squatters take over the space. The newly-formed Gardens Watch is also working hard at reclaiming Jutland Park with regular walk-abouts.
After the presentation, there were numerous questions and comments from the floor, with a number of the exchanges becoming quite heated! The issue of car guards around the Gardens Centre was also raised: car guarding itself is not an offence but begging aggressively is. However a law enforcement officer would need to witness this or the victim would need to make a statement to this affect to enable a fine to be issued. A suggestion was made that formalised paid parking should be put in place which would displace the guards.ADDITIONAL:
Jesse Laitinen Streetscapes, a project run by Khulisa Social Solutions, was asked to comment. Streetscapes grew out of the realisation that the same people were being recycled through the community court for the same by-law transgressions. With various sponsors in place, a food garden was established next to Fruit and Veg in Roeland Street, and has expanded to Tafelberg School. This project employs homeless people, paying them a stipend for hours worked. It also helps participants tap into any medical or social assistance they need. At least 50% of the people who have come through the project, has stayed employed, with drug and alcohol usage much reduced. Affordable accommodation remains a huge challenge and a hurdle to moving off the streets.WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Support the Friends of the various parks in your area – use your public spaces! Support NGOs working with the homeless: Streetscapes, The Haven, the Service Dining Rooms … there are many more to choose from. Give Responsibly!
Join CIBRA, join your neighbourhood watch, patrol, become active and help to change the situation. -
Easter Egg Hunt 2017
What an absolutely awesome day! With almost 200 kids taking part we had our hands full but loved every minute! So many people to thanks - Kapstadt International and Octotel for their generous sponsorship that made it all possible. Our local Spar who’s generosity never ends. Run Rabbit Run Coffee and Peas in a Pod for coffee and food. Cape Town Fire and SAPS who play along but also help us share very important safety messages. And the whole team who made it possible! And of course to the Friends of De Waal Park for loving this space and making it possible for us to use it
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#proud2beDPV
After the Deer Park fire affected so many in our area we celebrated what it means to be a part of this wonderful community by selling #proud2beDPV stickers in order to raise funds for the Volunteer Wildfire Services firefighters and our neighbourhood watch. Local businesses and members donated prizes and we had winners every day!
Thank you to our sponsors Cape Town Medi Clinic, Eden Dried Fruit & Nuts, Run Rabbit Run Coffee Roastery, Vanilla Concrete Ceramics, Red Sofa Cafe, Lazari, Deer Park Cafe, Red Sofa DVD, Carlyles on Derry, House of Taste, Kwikspar on Derry, Bella Italia Vredehoek, Charly’s Bakery, Russell S and The Woodlands Eatery for our main R1000 meal voucher prize!
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DPV Quiz Night 14 June 2016
Another great evening was had by all at the DPVwatch Quiz Night held at Deer Park Cafe!
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DPV Quiz Night 06 April 2016
The DPVwatch Quiz Nights bring our community together for a night of brain teasing fun! With prizes donated by local businesses the quiz nights are a wonderful way of raising much needed funds for our neighbourhood watch while bringing our members together at the same time. Book your tickets as soon as possible because they fly like hot cakes!
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Easter Fun Day 2016
A fun filled morning with 150 kids! There was Easter Egg hunts, magicians, face painting, arts and frats and of course a foam party. Thanks so much to SAPS, Fire Department, Jaques Le Seuer, Carobella Childcare, Vumatel! Looking forward to next year already.
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DPV Quiz Night 03 June 2015
Our first DPV Quiz Night, hosted by Marika’s on Upper Buitenkant, was a great success! If you missed it there will be more - great community fun, good food and awesome prizes donated by local businesses. See you at the next one!
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Easter 2015
Thank you to everyone that joined us for our Easter hunt in De Waal Park. All of the kiddies had a wonderful time and were so excited when the Easter Bunny made an appearance!
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Halloween 2014
A great day out with the family! Thanks to everyone who came along and support us.
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Mandela Day 2014
Thank you to the members who joined in with our Mandela Day project. This year was the most ambitious as we undertook to revamp the SAPS Parade room. It was quite a project that involved cleaning the room , repainting the walls, replacing the old broken blinds with new ones, pin boards etc etc.
And the women’s cells were also painted a lovely pink.
It took a huge amount of time and effort but the results were worth it. And SAPS were totally thrilled!
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Good Hope Seminary Clean Up
Thanks to the amazing volunteers who gave of their time this weekend to help with clearing the over grown vegetation at the school. It is a mammoth task and we made some great progress but there is still so much to do! Please consider joining in for the next round…
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Election Day May 2014
DPVwatch had an info and membership drive table at all three voting stations that covered our area. From 07:00 - 21:00. Pretty amazing!
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Halloween 2013
Thank you to everyone who came along in support of DPVwatch and to have a nice time! It was a super day and each year this event goes from strength to strength. Enjoy looking at some of the photos taken on the day. Also have a look at this webpage for some excellent photos taken by Laurence Savary - http://bit.ly/1aFCdwV
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Quarry Clean Up July 2013
Thanks to all the volunteers who came out to give the quarry a facelift by removing graffiti, picking up loads of rubbish & broken glass!
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Crime Free Operation
Thanks to all the 40 DPVwatch members who joined in for the Crime Free Day Initiative! What a success it was.
Looking forward to the next one - first to catch up on some sleep though! -
Weekend Fires
Sadly on the weekend we had two fires break out in Van Riebeeck Park just above the wash house. The first was on Saturday night around 8pm and luckily it was a windless night. The second was on Sunday and the wind was picking up. Thankfully the Fire Department and TMNP went swiftly into gear and sorted them out. Here are just a few photos taken by a member.
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Mountain Patrol
Members of DPVwatch patrolled the mountainside along with members of SANPARKS. It was an awesome walk along a dark still mountain. OHwatch also took part in patrolling their part of the mountain. In total 4 people were taken to the police station to be checked and 2 were arrested on criminal charges.
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Fireman in Action
A fire started today on the open ground at the corner of Chelmsford and Derry Streets. Well done to the Fire Department who arrived quickly and sorted it out! Thank you to StephenC - www.stephenc.co.za - for taking some photos for us.
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HALLOWEEN!!
So the weather finally played along on Sunday 6th November! The party may have been a week late due to the rain but great fun was had by all. It is fantastic to be able to use our parks for such lovely community building events. A massive thanks to the residents of Pypies Square for putting up with the onslaught on their doorsteps once again. Also it would not have been possible without the Spar, Timeless Toys or Knights Catering and so many volunteers. Here are some of the photos but please send us some more if you have them.
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DPVwatch AGM
Please join us for our AGM on the Tuesday 18th October at 19:00 at Herzlia Primary School (corner Clairwood and Clifford Rds). Hear what we have been up to over the last year, the highs and lows and our successes. Listen to the Don Pinnock who we are lucky enough to have as our guest speaker.
Hope to see you there.
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Dishing up the Haven
Thanks to volunteers who continue to go to the Haven and assist them in serving the evening meal.
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Haven Cook Up!
Thank you to the Haven Night Shelter for allowing volunteers from DPVwatch to invade their kitchens to cook and serve some meals for the homeless. DPVwatch arranged for two groups of volunteers to cook a lunch for 40 people and then a dinner for 100 people! Many thanks for the individuals who gave of their time to join in. It was such a rewarding day for all the volunteers and the Haven and people living there were really touched by it. There is a huge amount of value that DPVwatch volunteers can offer to the kitchen at the Haven – not only with their time but in their expertise as well. We hope that this is the start of regular adventures in the Haven kitchen and would encourage everybody to get involved.
The Haven is so important for many reasons but primarily as it is the closest night shelter to our area and as a result has a potentially significant impact on the homeless people in our area. The Haven has been a great support to DPVwatch in allowing their social worker to come to our area and see the issues we face with homelessness and assist us in tackeling the problem areas. If you would like to get involved with the next Haven Cook Up or assist the Haven in any other way then please send us an e-mail to community@dpvwatch.co.za.
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Meet our Top Cops!
DPVwatch and SAPS held a very successful IMBIZO on the 20th July. Thanks to Herzlia for again letting us use their Hall. It was a great opportunity for the community to meet the SAPS management and to see their fierce dedication to our neighbourhood. SAPS came out in full force with all department and sector heads as well as the Station commander.
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Light Vigil Walk
On the 13th April Candle Light Vigils are held across the city to raise awareness of the crime situation. They were started in the BKMwatch area to commemorate the murder of Jane van Zyl. This year we wanted to try and unit the community together but also do something active which is why we opted to walk. Thank you to those members who were able to come together for this walk. A neighbourhood watch is not about somebody else looking after us but each of us doing our bit to look after our individual and collective safety. Many thanks to the Spar as always who were keen supporters of this walk. They not only joined us for the walk but also donated a fantastic prize which was won by Riaan after the walk. We urge you to try to be active in your area as many hands not only make light work but can mean a fantastically safe area for us all to enjoy.
Please join us for the next DPVwatch event or join us on a patrol.
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World Cup 2010 - patrolling!
Click on the image to view the description.
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Light Vigil
On Tuesday evening, 13 April 2010, community members from across the city bowl gathered on Tafelberg Road in remembrance of victims of crime. The light vigil was one of a number of similar gatherings across the greater city initiated by BKMwatch and organized locally by the city bowl neighbourhood watches. After introductions by Solli Philander and short speeches by our ward councilor Belinda Walker and Mayco member for Safety and Security JP Smith, the crowd was further inspired by the newly released SHOUT song. Community members stood together to physically spell the word SHOUT with torches alight greeting a low-flying helicopter which filmed the vigils across the city. It was a powerful moment and was followed by words from Colonel Joseph from Cape Town Central SAPS, who also lead the crowd in a period of quiet reflection. The event showed that it’s not only important to remember those who have suffered at the hands of crime, but reminded communities how important their collective roles are in the fight against crime. DPVwatch has no doubt that this will become an annual event that will grow in numbers and strength.
Click on this link to view flyer: light_vigil_m….pdf
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Raffle
DPV held a raffle at the end of 2009 to raise funds to give something back to SAPS to show our appreciation. We were overwhelmed by the support that the neighbourhood showed in this initiative and we are super grateful to the people who bought tickets - whether it was just one ticket or 50 tickets, a big thank you! A massive thank you must also go to the people who kindly donated the prizes. We exceeded our target and the excess funds raised will be kept aside to be used when we host a braai for SAPS which we hope to do later in the year. We were able to give something to all the shifts working in the area as well as the people who are down at the station managing the phones and the radios in the control room.
Congratulations to the following prize winners:
Peggys Famous Christmas Cake - A Jones
J&B Whisky - Alma Taylor
Chivas Regal - Mark Allwel
Wine - Heye DuanA massive thanks for your generosity from all at DPVwatch!
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Grass Boots FC Training fun
Local kids and those from the Amy Biehl Foundation enjoying themselves while learing the game of football!
Well done to Stuart Diamond for turning a neglected piece of land into an area for kids to enjoy! -
Halloween Fun - 31 October 2009 at Pypies Square
An afternoon of Halloween fun was had by all!
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AGM - 8th October 2009
DPVwatch held its first AGM on the 8th October and a big thank you to Herzlia for hosting us once again. Thank you to the community for the excellent turnout which is an indication of the support and interest in this initiative. Advocate Andrew Brown was the guest speaker and gave us a unique look into the world of being a reservist, advocate and somebody who has had their own brush with the law. We had representatives from SAPS, the Community Police Forum, CBAR, ADT and our ward councilor Belinda Walker was also there to field some questions from the audience. We heard about the activities that DPVwatch has been involved in over the last year and what is planned for the future. The chairperson also spoke about the crime in the area and the significant impact that DPVwatch has had on bringing this down.
But as always it was stressed that we can’t do this alone. Everybody involved is a volunteer who has given a huge amount of time and resources to their community. However we are very aware that we need to increase the number of members, patrollers and radio holders in order to ensure the sustainability of the watch! DPVwatch calls on all members of the community to get involved in whatever way they can!
The audience was all invited to attend the Halloween Party on the 31st October and to keep their eyes peeled for information about an end of year braai with SAPS.
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Plantation Clean Up - August 2009
The area known as the Plantation in Vredehoek has become increasingly popular with vagrants. Unfortunately, it has degenerated not only into one big drinking spot and dumping ground for rubbish and human excrement but also, most recently, a place of danger especially for women who take short cuts through the plantation from De Waal Drive to Crassula Avenue on their way to the Vredehoek Devil’s Peak area. Because of this, a work party of DPV Watch volunteers, equipped with power saws, hedge cutters, black bags & bins, gloves and lots of energy, had a clean up of the area on a very cold August Saturday morning. While this was in progress, people walking though the plantation on their way to work were asked to be cautious and, if possible, to walk in pairs or in a group. Various ‘hot spots’ in the plantation were cleared of dense bushes and undergrowth or flagged for follow-up and, hopefully, ongoing maintenance by the Cape Town City Council Cleansing and Parks & Forests. Many thanks to the DPV watch team for this community effort.
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Devils Peak Fire
Attached are some of the photos of the fire that caused a night of chaos for most residents of Devils Peak and Vredehoek. We have been saddened to hear that Chantal Seerman passed away - a week after her husband, Raymond Johnson. Thank you to the members of DPVwatch and the rescue services who tried to assist them.
A massive thank you to everybody who assisted on the night, who rallied around to support the fire fighters and brought them bottles of water and food. A big thank you to Pick n’Pay for their donations and to Baccinis’ Pizzeria on Kloof Street for providing pizzas for the exhausted firemen. We certainly owe all the firefighters a huge debt of gratitude.
Because of our radio network DPVwatch was able to be on the scene - waking people up and evacuating them before the authorities arrived and the roads became a virtual gridlock. Thank you to all the members for spending the night assisting residents and working tirelessly to try and keep the roads open so that the emergency vehicles could do their work. We have received such warm feedback from members which is greatly appreciated. Some feedback is below:
“Many thanks to all from the DPV Watch who did such a sterling job last night. We are proud of all of you.”
“No doubt, you’re exhausted so I just want to say for now…. A huge, huge Thank You for waking me and for the amazing effort you put in throughout the night.”
“You are one of the heroes”
“We have recently joined up to DPV Watch, what a great service thanks guys!”
“Thanks to you for all your hard work and focused energy ” -
Community Clean up
A massive thank you to everybody who so generously donated their time, money and energy to the greater good of the entire community. Despite the intense heat and amazing amount was achieved. Not only are there now less places for would be criminals to seek refuge but we were also able to rid the area of a lot of alien vegetation. There is still some more clearing needed which we hope to get in the near future – perhaps on a cooler day! Thank you to those of you who were not able to make it but most generously donated come extra manpower!
Thank you to Theresa and Earl for spearheading this project – lets hope it is the first of many to come!
Don’t forget that even if you are not able to be an active patroller for your community that there are still many other ways to assist! -
Self DefenCe Course
On 25 November about 30 DPVwatch members elected to attend a two-hour self defence training session kindly offered to us at no charge by an organization called CSO (Community Security Organization). The course was held at Herzlia School in Chelmsford Road, in the same room that we had our very successful DPV Watch launch on 2 September 2008. So, almost three months later there were 30 people all fired up and ready to learn about self defence.
We were split into two groups of 15 people each; our group went into a room where two instructors took us through the steps of information gathering that we should be doing as active members of the community. We were made aware of what criminals look for when planning a crime, which helped us assess our own security at home as well as while just going about our daily routine. One point that was strongly made was that we should trust our instincts and report suspicious behaviour and not wait hours or days before doing so.
NOTE
When on patrol, we should carry a whistle, camera, torch, cell phone, pen and paper.
When we see someone suspicious or an incident to report:
*write it down immediately so details not scrambled or forgotten.
*describe things that can’t change/then move on to things that can be changed, for example:- Male or female
- Colour of person
- Age of person.
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Height don’t use mm or inches – compare the person to your height or something which other people will know.
5 Build - Hair
- Look for shoes and watches generally people don’t think to change them, even if they change other clothing
We could hear quite a lot of loud thudding in the room where the second group was doing self defence.
After an hour we swapped with them and were taken through the steps of defending ourselves against the more common forms of unarmed attack. These included two types of strangulation each having its own particular response. It was well put together and we all got involved practising on a partner; the instructors were superbly trained and provided protective gear so we could go all out at practising the defence moves.
The two sessions were one hour each, we learnt a lot about ourselves as well and the workings of a criminal. Thanks to CSO for giving us their time and sharing with us their expertise.
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Halloween in the Park
Well done to the Vass Family for organising a wonderful evening in the Pypies Square park. It was fantastic that so many of you came along with your families, picnics and wonderful outfits.
Lets hope that it is the first of many community events in our parks!