The Gauteng SAPS brought smiles to the faces of learners at the Dominican School for the Deaf in Hammanskraal when they made a donation of sports equipment as part of a campaign to keep children away from criminal activities.
The Gauteng police commissioner, Lieutenant General Elias Mawela, led his team and other stakeholders to donate sports equipment, which included balls for netball and soccer, table tennis, floor chess, chess pieces and a chess board.
School principal Mirriam Moyaha expressed gratitude to the men and women in blue for making a difference in the learners’ lives.
She said at a handover ceremony at the school on Friday that the donation revived hope that the Dominican community was loved and not forgotten by society.
“We have always been feeling that we are forgotten and we are the last people to be remembered. We are so humbled. I don’t have enough words to express that. We thank you very much and all your SAPS members who pulled this off to be such a beautiful day,” she said.
Moyaha said the generous donation would go a long way towards changing the perception that the police were only interested in arresting people.
“Today we know that it is different and that they are people who love. They are people who protect us. People who teach us and make us better people in the community,” she said.
Mawela said the Dominican School for the Deaf was the 11th school to benefit from the SAPS’s mission to plough back into communities to help ensure children were kept out of the reach of criminals.
“Law enforcement agencies are in most instances perceived as hard core and without empathy, but today we came here to show that we care. Our objective is one, and that is to create a long-lasting safe and secure environment conducive for teaching and learning,” he said.
The school is one of the few in the province catering for learners with special needs.
Mawela said: “I want you to know that you are not forgotten. We are here to offer you what we have been donating to other schools because we know that no matter what your circumstances, sport is not restrictive.”
The school already has extramural activities that include netball, soccer, table tennis and chess.
In addition to the SAPS Gauteng’s schools safety programme and Adopt-a-Cop campaign, Mawela said, police had decided to do more for communities by making a special donation.
“We have seen how youngsters are targeted by criminals and we do not want you to fall into the trap of criminal activities either as victims or as perpetrators. We have to strive to keep you occupied with learning and sports,” he said.
Pretoria News