PRESS RELEASE 15 April 2005

CITY MAKES PROVISION FOR YOUTH TO STAND UP TO CRIME AND GANGSTERISM

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A leadership camp for Bishop youth which takes place from today until Sunday In the Strand aims to engage forty unemployed youth from the secondary schools and the Malawi Informal settlement in the Bishop Lavis area.

It will be an intense weekend programme in which they will actively participate in workshops and discussions aimed at making their area safe. The participants have been identified and selected by their various schools and community based organisations, as well those who are currently part of the Bishop Lavis Concerned Parents Group.

There will be workshops on team work and team leadership, leadership qualities, self esteem and the role of the youth in a safe community.

According to the City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee member for Safety and Security, Councillor David Erleigh, our youth have the energy to contribute to the safety of their communities but lack resources and assistance. The Safer Cities Programme of the City of Cape Town and the Bishop Lavis Concerned Parents Group are embarking on a collaborative effort to foster resiliency among the participating youth.

He added, “It is also envisaged that the participants will go back to their community and function as agents of change in a community that is on the verge of becoming absorbed in a state of moral decay.”

Crime and gangsterism have kept the Bishop Lavis community hostage for many decades. The recent escalation in gangster activity and drug abuse among youth has raised new concerns about the future of the youth and their vulnerability in terms of becoming engaged in crime.

Gangs have firmly entrenched themselves as “contributors” to the community.

They provide support, housing infrastructure and other necessities to impoverished communities. The youth are being caught up in gangsterism and crime because seemingly hopeless prospects cause depression and promote a fatalistic youth culture with no hope for the future. Hence young people can succumb to anything that can destroy them and other people in the process.

ENDS

Issued by Rosemary Hare Public Relations cc in joint venture with Lukholo Training and Development Services

P O Box 12521

MILL STREET

CITY MAKES PROVISION FOR YOUTH TO STAND UP TO CRIME AND GANGSTERISM

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On behalf of The City of Cape Town

Private Bag X9181

CAPE TOWN

8000

For further information, please contact Debbie Bergsman at Rosemary Hare Public Relations on (021) 531-2166 or 082 490 6048.

All news releases produced by Rosemary Hare Public Relations are available on the website www.rosehare.co.za