​‘This Focus Table is not an advisory committee. All members take responsibility for various tasks, and interventions are supported by 15 fieldworkers,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security; and Social Services, Alderman JP Smith.

The fieldworkers are employed by the City’s Social Development and Early Childhood Development Department (SDECD) through the Expanded Public Works Programme.

‘The Focus Table forms part of various interventions by the City to address crime in vulnerable areas. They meet on a fortnightly basis and deal with individual cases of harm and anti-social behaviour. Taking into account the psycho-social and economic context of each case, they decide upon appropriate remedial intervention. Going the enforcement route is regarded as a last resort,’ explained Alderman Smith.

Dedicated and experienced professionals from social development and policing backgrounds form part of the Focus Table including Law Enforcement staff, school resource officers, neighbourhood safety officers, representatives from the City’s SDECD, representatives from the Western Cape Department of Social Development and Professor John Cartwright.

Some of the recommended interventions to date include:

• Strengthening Families Programme
• Young Learner’s programme
• Direct interventions with families and referrals
• Support for identity documents, passports and social grant applications
• Medication collection
• Pre-teens at risk intervention

At the official launch of the Focus Table earlier this week, departments, organisations and beneficiaries of programmes reflected on the positive impact that the NST and Focus Table have had on crime prevention and reduction, neighbourhood safety and dealing with social problems in Delft.

Stakeholders made recommendations, such as interventions for younger children and skills training for young people, and all these will be reviewed by the Focus Table. Professor Cartwright serves as the coordinator of the Focus Table and works closely with the NST in Delft.

‘The work of the NST is aimed at building an effective model of broad-based neighbourhood safety that can be rolled out to other areas of the City that are suffering from social disruption, violence and urban decay. The Focus Table is an excellent way of mobilising different kinds of knowledge in order to resolve serious issues in the daily lives of a community,’ said Professor Cartwright.

End