Looking at safety in Friendly City

THE Mandela Bay Development Agency's (MBDA) newest approach to making Nelson Mandela Bay a tourist gold mine is to ensure the Friendly City is a safe one. This is according to the MBDA's planning and development manager, Eldred Uithaler. The MBDA, with German cooperation from Deustche Gesellschaft fur Internationale (GIZ), invited NGOs and corporate-funded foundations across the Bay to brainstorm ideas on curbing social violence and crime in the city yesterday. This followed an imbizo earlier this year in which stakeholders felt practical steps and feasible programmes needed to be put in place to contribute to civic safety. Uithaler, speaking at the brainstorming session, said: "The idea is to create a good environmental space to make the city a safe one." For GIZ's René Uren the path to their ultimate goal to curb social violence and crime is to cultivate a culture of primary prevention. "Let's do something on the ground to prevent young kids from becoming gangsters," she said. - Alvené du Plessis