Our community crime fighters, who volunteer their time to patrol the streets in their respective Neighbourhood Watch Structures, play an integral role in building safer communities. They are the unsung heroes, spending hours away from their own families, and often incurring the wrath of criminals, to keep residents safe.

The City and Province recently held its inaugural Neighbourhood Watch Awards, to honour the dedicated men and women, from 80 Neighbourhood Watch structures across the Metro, who often use their own resources, towards ensuring that criminals do not get comfortable in their neighbourhoods.

The Table View Neighbourhood Watch walked away with the top honours as the “NHW of the Year”.

The Mayoral Committee member for Safety and Security JP Smith says the City will continue to find new ways to support NHWs.

“What we are seeing is a community led initiative around community policing. With as much as 20 000 trained NHW members in the City and probably closer to 50 000 NHW volunteers in some form or another active in our communities, you are at the forefront to improve safety in our communities and often teach both the City and police valuable lessons in community intelligence led policing.”

Smith also took the time to highlight the amazing work of the Westgate Neighbourhood Watch in Mitchell’s Plain. Smith says not only have they managed to significantly reduce crime over the last year, they have also raised over R50 000 for the installation of CCTV cameras by driving an initiative to manufacture and sell recycled drums and containers for rainwater harvesting.

Talk about killing three birds with one stone! They are recycling, helping residents save water, and raising funds to increase safety in the community.

One of the watch members, who is also an auxiliary City law enforcement officer, Ridwaan Nero, won the 2018 Patroller of the Year award at the NHW Awards. Nero’s reputation of keeping Westgate safe is spreading to as far as Somerset West, with calls from that community and other areas for assistance.

Nero says because crime has gone down in the area due to the commitment of the Watch members, which affords him more time to help in other areas.

As operational coordinator, Nero is a firm believer in the “Broken Window” principle, and it is something he carries with him when he assists other Watch structures. The Westgate NHW has actively tried to keep the environment clean, including removing graffiti to make it less attractive to criminals.

Nero says if there is one thing he cannot tolerate, its lawlessness. On a busy day, he will make several arrests for drug related offences, and recovering hijacked vehicles.

“Fighting crime is a real passion for me; it’s something I need to do every day.”

However, he admits his real motivation is to help his neighbours.

“What keeps me going is that smile on an elderly lady’s face after I’ve assisted her, and to see how community members get involved to take care of the area.”

His final message to everyone who wants to make a difference in his or her neighbourhood is to become an active citizen and to get to know one another.

“We often think, where is the South African Police Service, where is law enforcement, where is the Metro police? But we must start doing things for ourselves…it’s the only way to beat crime.

Janine Brink, a financial advisor at Liberty Life, noticed a serious need to empower women in the field of financial planning. She decided to plan an event for National Women’s Day in 2016 for her clients and a few other ladies, which included hosting guest speakers on different topics that women would be interested in. She called her event Empower Me. The event was such a success; she hosted the event the following year again. She noticed a common energy present at all different women’s day events – a positive and uplifting energy. Women loved getting together to be motivated, inspired and empowered by knowledgeable guest speakers.

Janine realised that in order to truly empower and motivate women to become the best versions of themselves, Empower Me had to become a monthly event, not an annual event. She said: “We are in a time of transformation and we cannot expect the women of our country to make a change, to take a stand or to be heard, if we attempt to empower them only once a year. It just had to be a regular event.”

On the 7th March 2018 she launched Empower Me, a women’s membership network aimed to inspire, motivate and empower women in all areas of their lives to help them become the best version of their authentic selves.

The network includes a glamorous monthly event with guest speakers, a separate exclusive membership “club” that offers special discounts and spoils from luxury brands, self-development workshops, business networking and social events.

Janine strongly believes that all women need to be educated, inspired, motivated and empowered to change their current situation and lead a different, better life. Thus, a percentage of the Empower Me event ticket sales and membership fees will be donated to NPOs who empower women and girls in less affluent communities.

A few NPOs that Janine has chosen to support are:

FeFine (Females With Finance)

Dress For Success (Provides professional attire for low-income women, to help support their job-search and interview process.)

POWA (People Opposing Women Abuse)

A21 (Abolishing human trafficking)

Janine hopes to expand Empower Me to Johannesburg in the near future and possibly the rest of South Africa too. Her aim is to genuinely make a difference to the lives of women. She said: “Even if only one woman’s life changes for the better, then it was all worth it.”

For more information on Empower Me, visit the website at: www.empower-me.co.za