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Person using a cellphone
A 29-year-old woman who developed an emergency and crime-fighting App is hopeful that the App will improve safety for communities.
Mapula Mailula from Kopermyn village in Ga-Maja outside Polokwane in Limpopo designed the groundbreaking App in 2022.
The App is also being used by emergency medical services to streamline rapid emergency response.
It is now available for download on the Google Play Store, and it also uses a USSD code for those without smartphones to help users report crimes and request medical assistance with ease.
Mailula hopes the App will play a role in reducing GBV incidents and keeping communities safer.
“In case of emergency, such as GBV, if your neighbour is being abused, you can just tap on whistleblower. The whistleblower option is the first thing you get when you download the application without registering or logging in. So you can just tap the whistleblower option and enter the details. That is the feature that we have entered, and also the newsfeed feature, whereby if you go to the other location that you are not familiar with, it will send you updates of the crimes or anything happening in that area to keep you alert and safe.”
Meanwhile, a private Emergency Medical Service assistant, Gerhard Jacobs, says the application is providing 24-hour support daily.
“The notification will go through to our control room, where they will send us the location and what the problem is. We will immediately respond to the call and treat people according to what is going on with them. It is there to help the community, and we will help the community in all the positions they are in. If it is an accident or someone who is sick, we are there to help them.”
