Is this the end for the ONW?

Has the Observatory Neighbourhood Watch (ONW) reached its sell-by date? After an hour of back-and-forth deliberation about who should take over as chair, a committee was formed at the recent ONW annual general meeting (AGM) to keep the dying organisation alive.
Nearly all of the sixteen people present were nominated, but none of the nominees wanted to stand as chair, or be part of the committee. This election continued for an hour until a decision was made. James Cowley, the outgoing ONW chair, had resigned from the position, and therefore was unable to take up the position for another term.
The newly formed committee consists of the chair, Trevor Hughes, local activist and restaurateur, deputy chair, Howard Richman from The Green Elephant Backpackers, secretary Debra West, and treasurer, Vivian Yang, who were all very reluctant to stand, but did so to keep the organisation going.
The ONW only has six active street patrollers, who are the regular anti-crime activists, but it seems that the younger generation are disinterested in the ONW and the call for new members went in vain, with the membership numbers dropping, said James.
The general feeling at the AGM was that the Observatory Improvement District's public safety patrollers had taken over the role of the ONW, and may be the leading cause of the ONW’s deterioration.
The ONW have had many successes over the last two years. Since last year, 194 patrols have been done in and around Observatory. Of the 194 patrols, 124 were performed this year, said James.
But negative forces working against the ONW were stronger. Membership as well as the number of active patrollers dropped. Residents have become complacent, because of the public safety patrollers and don’t find it necessary to participate.
To add to the ONW’s problems, it emerged that the registration of the ONW had been misplaced, which means that the organisation needs to reregister in order to form part of the community police forum.
Businesses and residents helped donate the two-way radios to the ONW, including a R100 000 antenna, which will no longer serve much purpose. The patrol radios provided by the ONW to the police have been inactive since April.
In another blow, the ONW is also losing its direct communication with the Obsid’s safety patrollers, who have switched to digital radios. The ONW will still have contact with the control room to call for back-up. Brian Amery, former Obsid COO, said that this may not be a bad thing because the control room has a direct line to the police, and this may be even faster.
The ONW was started by Brian Gray and David Raphael five years ago to combat the high volumes of crime in Observatory. David Raphael was chair of the ONW for a while before James Cowley took the position.