Makuya SAPS and the youth have finally joined hands in the war against crime. Through the project called Tamba Muswa (play youth), the Makuya SAPS and the local youth organization came together to find possible solutions on how to make their community a crime-free zone.

Makuya SAPS serves 26 remote rural villages in the Far Northern part of the Limpopo. The youths and the police were engaged in a week-long door-to-door crime awareness campaign conducted at Sanari, Domboni, Tshitavha and Tswera villages. The week-long project ended with a road show at the Makuya public road on Friday, where the youths and the police distributed messages against crime to the motorists. The youths also received lessons on communication, project management, conflict management and creative thinking. To recognize their hard work, the youth were honored at a function held at the Makuya SAPS, near Exxaro Tshikondeni Mine, on Friday.

Tamba Muswa was launched in 2000 with the aim of curbing crime committed by the youths in the Makuya area. Insp Mashudu Madida of the Makuya SAPS Communication Services said there has been quite a decrease in criminal youth activities in the Makuya area since the launch of the Youth Aginst Crime Movement, as part of the Tamba Muswa Project. Madida said the youths are engaged in several activities that are meant to keep them off the streets. "With the cooperation from the Makuya Youth Organization and other community stakeholders, we engage the youths in different crime-prevention activities, including sports tournaments which include soccer, netball and athletics. We cannot just allow our country to be taken over by criminals and we thought that the best thing was to teach the youths how to defend our habitat. We also realized that we could only beat crime through team work and dedication because the police alone cannot win the war against the criminals."

When handing over appreciation certificates to the 30 youths during the function, Madid asaid: "We are presenting you with these certificates for your contributions in fighting crime. These certificates are valuable because they prove that you have the love of your community at heart. We encourage you to go out there and spread the anticrime messages to our communities."

One of the youths, who were part of the crime awareness campaign, Livhuwani Makhado (17) calls other youths from other areas to follow suite in the war against crime. "Life has improved in our area since we started working with the SAPS. I encourage others to do the same because we have solid testimony that it works. However, I enjoyed the week-long project and we have already seen the positive results it brought to our community."