Background of Area | Project Overview | Community Meeting | The Way Forward | ALL MULTIMEDIA

On Saturday 17 October, we held our community meeting at Graeme College in their main hall.  This was the culmination of a terms work and we felt ready to confront the community and reach some viable solutions together.  However, our multi media group watched with dismay as the seconds ticked by and the realisation dawned that we would not be receiving the turnout we had hoped for.

Having distributed 400 fliers across three neighbourhoods and spoken face-to-face with many of the residents in our area, we had prepared for 30, maybe even 50 guests, but after waiting half an hour for late arrivals, we began our meeting with a grand total of eight concerned residents. Apathy was one of our main problems in the area, noted by the police and some of the residents themselves.

Guest speakers at the event were Inspector Milanda Coetzee of the South African Police Service and Sergeant Gay Mackenzie, the newly appointed head of Sector Three.

We structured the meeting around each specialization introducing their media products to the community residents and guest speakers.  After watching a documentary and viewing two sound slides, those present in the community were given an open forum to voice their opinions on the issues brought up in the presentation.

It became obvious that the issue which remained on their minds was their disappointment in the functioning of the police services, and the measures they have had to take to make up for this absence, in the form of private security, a subject which helped form the basis of our presentation.  Their experience of the South African Police Service was said to be exasperating and some described dealing with the police as “frustrating and ineffective”. 

Inspector Coetzee of the SAPS bravely stood up and gave the audience a presentation which shed light on many of the problems and challenges that are facing the SAPS.  She expressed her regrets that the relationship between police and residents has become so strained and responded to important questions and concerns from the community regarding the system of policing in Grahamstown as a whole.  

Despite the poor turnout at our meeting, those residents that did attend voiced some valuable contributions which added to the value of the discussion and the questions asked. The concerns and the opinions of the residents were voiced and, we hope, many questions answered.

The idea of a police community forum blog was raised, it would allow residents to communicate ideas and concerns while being kept informed about crime in their area via information released on the blog by the police.

After the meeting some community members stayed to chat to Insp. Coetzee and Sgt. Mackenzie, an action which illustrates a promising channel of communication between the community and their police. Community members also came away from the meeting with a greater realisation of the problem of apathy which is rife within their area, and an understanding that this apathetic attitude has to change if community solutions can be implemented and acted upon in the future.