Freedom Day tourney to unite police and community

Police union, POPCRU in the Setsoto Local Municipality, in association with the Dihlabeng Sports Council, the community police forum and the South African Police Service will host a sports tournament in Rosendal tomorrow.

The Sports Against Crime project will serve as an attempt by the union and the stakeholders to mend the deteriorating relationship between the police and the community, in relation the prevalence of crime in the country, as well the increasing number of police brutality cases that have been widely reported in the media.

The initiative is therefore a way of the police extending their hand to the community to ultimately smoke the peace pipe together through sport. According to the provincial secretary of POPCRU, Melisa Riet, the purpose of the event is to restore the confidence the community used to have in the police and their crime prevention duties.

“We want to address the problem of widespread media coverage that seeks to portray the police as being brutal, which have ultimately led the community to lose their confidence in the police.

“In addition to reviving the viable relationship between the police and the people, we also want to condemn the killing of police officers while on duty and we encourage them to not get themselves involved in crimes such as buying stolen goods from criminals. We also encourage them to report the criminals to help curb the prevalence of crime,” added Riet.

The games will kick off with football and netball, where sports teams from around the Setsoto and Dihlabeng Local Municipalities will take part. More activities are expected to come out of this long term project as the year progresses.

The teams that will take part in the event are: The Senekal; the Mshengu football and netball teams; the SAPS Maseru port of entry; Setsoto POPCRU FC, as well as Academy FC and Manchester FC, whom both hail from the host town.