Neighbourhood watches were honoured for their courage and crime prevention efforts at the City\u2019s annual Neighbourhood Watch Awards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The nomination process, which started in August and closed on 6 October, afforded communities an opportunity to acknowledge work done by watches in their areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking at the award ceremony that was held at the council chamber last week, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said neighbourhood watches demonstrated the highest ideal of active citizenry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe City is deeply appreciative of the community service spirit and volunteerism of every neighbourhood watch member across Cape Town. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn a caring society, we look out for each other and the bond of trust that these groups build with their respective communities is incredibly valuable.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Award winners included Nicole Lynn Jacobus from Carola Neighbourhood Watch in Grassy Park who walked away with the individual Courage in Action award. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jacobus said it was an honour to receive the award. \u201cI believe when you serve it must echo into eternity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe as volunteers don\u2019t always get a thank you, many times we are criticized and sworn at.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She added that giving back was something she learnt from an early age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGiving back was instilled in me as my parents were both involved with community work since 1992, if not longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt feels good to give back when the intentions are pure and at the same time you have been skilled with knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others recognised for their work included the Ottery Safety Patrol that walked away with the group category award Courage in Action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Inspiration of the Year individual award went to Stanford Grass from Stephen Road Neighbourhood Watch in Grassy Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grass tells People\u2019s Pos<\/span>t that the award was completely unexpected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt the beginning of the year we received an award for the neighbourhood watch itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut the individual award was unexpected for me being only one year in the neighbourhood watch, it is a real achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grass further added that police have been doing their best to help the community, but at times it was simply not enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey (police) are under-resourced but with the neighbourhood watch the crime rate has settled down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is because when we work together we have the numbers and work together well to do the best we can to help our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n New Horizon Neighbourhood Watch from Pelican Park walked away with two awards: the Situational Crime Prevention Award as well as the Social Responsibility Award \u201cin recognition of exceptional efforts towards a clean, healthy and safe environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saadiqah Ganief, treasurer at New Horizon Neighbourhood Watch, says it is pure passion to do volunteer work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe, as the neighbourhood watch, feel honoured and humble at the same time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is hard work, selfless hours and a pure passion to be consistent in volunteer work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe firstly thank the almighty for this achievement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo be recognised after facing numerous challenges \u2013 for instance at times in public places neighbourhood watches are ridiculed, which isn\u2019t fair, but we push through because irrespective of the negative there is always the positive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith thanked every patroller who gave up their spare time to make communities a safer place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNeighbourhood watch patrollers are also ambassadors and fulfil an important interface role between communities and the City of Cape Town. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe would like to say thank you to each and every patroller who gave up their spare time to make communities a safer place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI hope these awards will be a motivation to other communities to also establish their own watch groups so that we can all do more to serve and to protect our residents.\u201d <\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Neighbourhood watches were honoured for their courage and crime prevention efforts at the City\u2019s annual Neighbourhood Watch Awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":51495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":"","_yoast_wpseo_content_score":"","_yoast_wpseo_inclusive_language_score":"","_yoast_wpseo_is_cornerstone":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image-id":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image-id":"","newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_crsspst_to_novanewscoza":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozabloemnewsexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozacityvision":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozadistrictmailhelderberg":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaeikestadnuus":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozahermanustimes":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozakomani-karoo":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozakougaexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozamthathaexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozanoordkaapbulletin":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapaarlpost":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapeexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaswartlandgazette":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozatygerburger":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaudexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozavistanews":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozavrystaatkroon":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaweskusnuus":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaweslander":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaworcesterstandard":false,"_EventAllDay":"","_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":"","_EventShowMapLink":"","_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":"","_EventVenueID":"","_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":"","_VenueShowMapLink":"","_application":"","_batch_id":"","_company_name":"","_company_tagline":"","_company_twitter":"","_company_video":"","_company_website":"","_custom_id":"117d33f4-11d0-4759-bdfc-c0b8da7d117b","_EventDuration":"","_EventOrigin":"","_EventTimezoneAbbr":"","_featured":"","_filled":"","_job_expires":"","_job_location":"","_media_credit":"","_media_credit_url":"","_menu_item_menu_item_parent":"","_menu_item_object":"","_menu_item_object_id":"","_menu_item_target":"","_menu_item_type":"","_menu_item_url":"","_menu_item_xfn":"","_navis_media_can_distribute":"","_navis_media_credit_org":"","_OrganizerOrigin":"","_provider":"","_pum_built_in":"","_pum_default_theme":"","_pum_form_conversion_count":"","_remote_id":"","_remote_name":"","_remote_position":"","_report_frequency":"","_report_reference_dates":"","_send_attempts":"","_site_id":"","_sitemap_exclude":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_sitemap_priority":"","_source_url":"","_subscription_period":"","_subscription_period_interval":"","_subscription_price":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":"","_template_type":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_tribe_aggregator_allow_multiple_organizers":"","_tribe_aggregator_content_type":"","_tribe_aggregator_file":"","_tribe_aggregator_finalized":"","_tribe_aggregator_hash":"","_tribe_aggregator_import_id":"","_tribe_aggregator_import_name":"","_tribe_aggregator_interactive":"","_tribe_aggregator_origin":"","_tribe_aggregator_post_status":"","_tribe_aggregator_preview":"","_tribe_aggregator_source_name":"","_tribe_aggregator_type":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_hide_attendees_list":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":"","_tribe_ticket_version":"","_type":"","_VenueOrigin":"","_wp_attachment_context":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","_wp_font_face_file":"","_wp_old_date":"","_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":"","_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":"","_yoast_wpseo_focuskw_text_input":"","_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_block-catalog":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_job_listing_type":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_nova_retailer":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_publication":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_tribe_events_cat":"","_yoast_wpseo_videositemap-duration":"","_yoast_wpseo_videositemap-rating":"","_menu_item_classes":[],"_tribe_modified_fields":[],"_wp_attachment_backup_sizes":[],"_wp_suggested_privacy_policy_content":[],"_yoast_post_redirect_info":[],"_yoast_wpseo_video_meta":[],"activation_date":"","archive_insertion_is_repeating":"","archive_insertion_posts_count":"","article_feature_media":"","article_feature_type":"","article_main_image_caption":"","article_media_icon":"","article_template":"","author_byline":"Natasha Bezuidenhout (@NatashaLeeBezu1)","background_color":"","block_editor":"","byline":"","cmplz_hide_cookiebanner":"","competition_end_date":"","contact_advertise_email":"","contact_advertise_phone":"","contact_editorial_email":"","contact_general_email":"","contact_general_phone":"","contact_office_hours":"","contact_physical_address":"","enabled":"","featured_image_custom_caption":"","featured_video_url":"","fields":"","font_body":"","font_header":"","frequency":"","headline":"","hide_border":"","icon":"","is_wp_suggestion":"","issuu_download_url":"","issuu_embed_url":"","language_version_url":"","large_border":"","name":"","nm_contact_name":"","nm_contact_number":"","nm_date_lost":"","no_overlay_background":"","node-url":"","obituary_born_date":"","obituary_died_date":"","obituary_memoriam_text":"","origin":"","overlay_color":"","overlay_opacity":"","overlay_size":"","placement":"","plural_label":"","post_author":"","post_id":"","post_language":"en","secret-key":"","sponsored_utm_campaign":"","sponsored_utm_content":"","sponsored_utm_medium":"","sponsored_utm_source":"","sponsored_utm_term":"","start_date":"","utm_suppression":"","video_embed_url":"","wp_pattern_sync_status":"","data_version":[],"enclosure":[],"pongrass_image":[],"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"publication":[],"class_list":["post-51493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n