A former Kensington resident and now businessman is on a mission to plough back into his childhood community by helping to fight crime.
Peter Harley, owner of Cape Town Record Label (CTRL), an event entertainment company, recently organised a music concert at the Kensington Civic Centre to aid local neighbourhood watches.
“I was born in Kensington, and I have seen how it has changed over the 30 years. My heart is close to the community, and I thought the best way to help the community was through the neighbourhood watch.”
The event was held on Saturday 11 June where artists like Gary Scott, Dean Sterling and Anray van Nelson entertained the crowd.
“At CTRL I have artists and I thought the best thing to do is to give the people an opportunity to enjoy the arts and culture and at the same time their donations help the neighbourhood watch.”
On Tuesday 21 June, the proceeds were handed over to two neighbourhood watches namely the Kensington Community Block Watch (KCBW) and the Sunderland Neighbourhood Watch Patrols.
Each watch received R4 000.
Harley calls on residents to support community-based organisations. “I would like the residents to support the organisations within the community. We as residents can’t wait on the City or on government. We have organisations operating in our area and we must support them.”
Jamiel Alexander, chair of the KCBW, says they are grateful for the donation.
“We are all volunteers; we supply our own petrol. We see to our own equipment, so funds are always needed. This donation will definitely help us a lot.”
Alexander says the KCBW stretches from Acre Road to 8th Street.
Alexander says they need more people to get involved with the block watch.
“In our block we have erected about 16 CCTV cameras. On each corner we have cameras strategically placed and this helps us a lot, because we can watch the cameras and watch our area.
Glynn Wareley, chair of the Sunderland Watch, says the much-needed funds will help them to buy equipment for members.
“We need tools to do what we do, torches, tasers, reflector bibs and a lot of other things. This donation will help us purchase more items for new members joining the team.”
He says as residents they are calling for more support from the local police.
“The community calls for more assistance from the police. When we are out, we would like the police to patrol with us for safety purposes.”
Wareley encourages other residents to play their part and help fight crime in the area.
“We are calling on more residents to assist us. If there is anyone that wants to join us they must make contact with us or they can start their own block watch. They can reach out to the Community policing forum to discuss the way forward.”
Cheslyn Steenberg, chair of the Kensington Community Policing Forum, says: “We want to thank Peter Harley and his company for choosing our community to plough back into. And we call upon other people who have influence to do the same.”
