About 83 rapes and 19 murders occurred on the campuses of educational establishments, including primary, secondary, and high schools, daycare centres, special schools, and tertiary institutions, according to crime data for the second quarter of 2022–2023.
The annual 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children Campaign saw 67 rapes in schools, six at daycare centres, five at special needs schools, and five at university institutions.
Children in South Africa continue to lack access to safe settings. Kidnappings have now been added to the mix by the criminals, and South Africa is now being compared to nations like Colombia.
Based on the CAHOOTS programme, which has been saving 14% of the police budget in Eugene, Oregon, for more than 30 years. In order to manage crime, Cofesa has called for the deployment of 300 000 community workers at police stations, schools, and community centres.
These workers will work at the local level alongside social services, criminologists, psychologists, teachers, church officials, officials of the correctional services, NGO volunteers, and police.
They resolve domestic disputes, abstain from violence, and deter crime. According to Mr TJ van der Merwe of Cofesa, they detect delinquency early to intervene with proactive treatment and rehabilitation and prevent engaging the police, prosecutors, and correctional services. This decreases the jail population (where criminality can spawn criminals).
About 20% of 911 calls are handled by the Cahoots team, which also manages to cut 16% of the police budget.
They react in various ways. A trained medic and crisis worker responds in place of a generic response or one size fits all approach to assess the situation, deal pro-actively with drug abuse, mental illness, and addiction, assist those in need, and, where necessary, refer individuals to a higher level of care for treatment and rehabilitation.
This frees up police resources for actual criminal behaviour as well as expensive department of justice correctional services resources.
High crime rates in schools necessitate the establishment of "Community law centres" in police stations and in the classrooms, where surrogate parents can act in place of orphans and single parents, substituting as "Dad," "Mom," "Grandma," or "Grandpa."
'Grey power' and other volunteers can do community service from among the ranks of more than a million jobless graduates and students pursuing practical training to become qualified for vocations like those in penal services.
Retired educators, public servants, and members of the community may offer leadership development programmes and expose students to pastimes like gardening, sports, music, art, athletics, gymnastics, cycling, and other activities that are essential for developing their identities and personalities.
According to research, taking care of animals lowers stress levels, has a relaxing and pleasant rehabilitative effect on prisoners, and helps prevent bullying and violence in schools.
To foster a feeling of community and accountability, schools and the criminal justice system should adopt and collaborate with animal rescue and rehabilitation facilities, nurseries, parks, and environmental initiatives, hospitals and nursing homes included.
The centres introduce students to real-world community involvement and teach them how to mentor peers.
This approachable side of law enforcement, real-world policing, and maintaining law and order will raise awareness and inspire students to pursue professions in law enforcement.
The centres will serve as safe havens for the early discovery of child abuse, violence against women, and violence against children.
It will make it possible for trained community workers to act quickly to stop violence against women and children, terminate conflict, arrange for rehabilitation, provide social services, and deal with mental illness, health problems, neglect, starvation, and disease.