Clive Jacobs, community leader, Lavender Hill
I was concerned about the safety of the school children who were robbed by gangsters and how those local gangsters attacked foreigners and robbed them at the canal and the intersection at Military Road.
The hiding place of the then robbers and gang members had become a den for drug users. However, this morning I took a slow walk down Military Road and noticed all the business stands and how businesses developed over the years.
It blooms down Military Road and I am so happy and not a famous robber or thief was seen around here. I am sure most of them are in permanent Covid isolation or safe where they belong and I call it out of sight and mind.
My only concern was to see so many children on the street. I also had a walk around in Lavender Hill and noticed that there are no open holiday programmes as the children run around with no supervision and no City of Cape Town volunteers in sight.
After the school holiday, organisations send photographs of holiday adventures which never happened as whoever gets or got funding never spends it correctly.
I had four holiday programmes where applications were made by the then awesome chairman Kevin Southgate of the Steenberg Community Policing Forum and I received great open and honest audit reports by the government as honesty is the best policy.
My programme is eight years old. The memories live on as I can see it was never about me. Our children don't have to roam around like headless chickens. If your organisation is so huge and updated you can apply on your yearly holiday programme for stipends towards your planning.
So many leaders in the community have nothing happening for our children. But we have deaths almost everyday and parents rather wait for gunshots to echo and run to murder scenes.
Please people, we had our times as kids and youth. Go out there and look at avenues where you as a parent can also make a positive contribution and difference.