Zukile Ntentema, a University of Cape Town (UCT) student and community activist has begun the process of establishing South Africa’s first youth violence prevention centre.
This anti-crime initiative will be housed at UCT and will assist the government, law enforcement agencies and civil society in effectively monitoring crime trends in the Mother City and informing new, targeted crime prevention strategies aimed at the youth.
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According to UCT, the centre will develop Afrocentric, evidence-based strategies and interventions to combat crime and make the city a safer place with the help of volunteers.
Ntentema has already discussed his proposal with UCT’s interim vice chancellor, Emeritus Professor Daya Reddy, who has given him the go-ahead to begin talks about establishing the centre at UCT. Professor Elelwani Ramugondo, the university’s deputy vice chancellor for transformation, student affairs and social responsiveness, has also committed to assisting him throughout the programme’s various stages.
‘Crime is a monumental problem in our country and plagues the youth living in marginalised communities in many ways,’ said Ntentema. ‘We can’t just look to the government to sort it all out; it’s our social responsibility to lend a helping hand. Establishing this centre is one way of mobilising different sectors of society and, through that partnership, witnessing the change that we desperately need.’
Crime-prevention centre
At the heart of the centre’s work is monitoring crime levels in the metropole, predicting if and when new incidents are likely to occur, and developing targeted crime-prevention strategies aimed at the youth living in dangerous communities on the Cape Flats.
Ntentema stated that the centre will work with non-governmental organisations, community policing forums and other stakeholders in hard-hit communities to successfully carry out this mandate and address the crime scourge.
‘The crime prevention centre will draw on the expertise of law enforcement, government and civil society because everyone has a role to play,’ he explained.
Ntentema went on to say that addressing crime in South Africa requires a united front.
‘The crime prevention centre will draw on the expertise of law enforcement, government and civil society because everyone has a role to play. We will assess the current crime-prevention initiatives out there, evaluate what works and what doesn’t, and collectively come up with new ideas on how to make our communities safe,’ he said.
A space to collaborate
The centre’s goal, according to Ntentema, is to serve as a space where volunteers can collaborate specifically to develop empirical Afrocentric approaches to addressing crime, share resources and ideas and document their progress towards building safer communities. He defined Afrocentric interventions as those that place a special emphasis on African values, experiences and cultures.
He explained that developing Afrocentric techniques for dealing with violent crime and serving as a resource for the government and other stakeholders working to reduce youth crime is a critical first step.
‘We also need to abandon those ineffective Eurocentric methods we’ve been using that have clearly not been beneficial because crime is on the increase,’ Ntentema said.
The hard work begins after receiving the support of both Emeritus Professor Reddy and Professor Ramugondo. Ntentema will now collaborate with other UCT academics who work in the field of violence prevention, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students, to get the centre up and running. He also stated that he intends to solicit academics and students from other universities to participate in the project.
Partners in fighting crime
Ntentema is confident that establishing the centre is an important step towards combating crime in the city, and he has already partnered with the South African Police Services youth desk, the Western Cape Government and the City of Cape Town to contribute meaningfully to his initiative.
‘Ours will be a first for South Africa, which is very exciting, and I’m confident it will make the difference we need.’
Ntentema stated that once the centre is operational, he plans to work on developing rigorously evaluated violence-prevention interventions to guide future government policies.
‘Centres like this one are already running successfully at several universities in the United States, including Harvard and Johns Hopkins University. Ours will be a first for South Africa, which is very exciting, and I’m confident it will make the difference we need,’ he concluded.
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