Premier
With regard to the responsibilities assigned to various members of his Cabinet as part of the Safety Plan:
(a) What is the purpose of these responsibilities and (b) how are they set to improve safety in the province;
- whether there are any monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to monitor the implementation and to evaluate the impact; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
- whether there are set targets associated with each responsibility; if so, how is implementation enforced;
- whether there are any members of his Cabinet who have not implemented their responsibilities; if so, (a) what are the relevant details and (b) what remedial action has been taken;
- whether these responsibilities are not intended as specific targets; if so, what are the relevant details?
The Departments of Community Safety which oversees the implementation of the Western Cape Safety Plan informed me as follows:
(1) (a) and (b) The Western Cape Safety Plan was always intended to be an iterative and working document to respond to challenges faced by communities. In responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Western Cape Government reassessed its priorities and developed the Western Cape Recovery Plan which is inclusive of the Western Cape Safety Plan. The responsibilities assigned to various members of Cabinet as part of the Safety Plan have been incorporated in the Western Cape Recovery Plan, under the Safety Priority.
The purpose of the different responsibilities is to collectively respond to the complex challenge of safety in the Province. The Western Cape Government understands that strengthening safety requires a Whole of Society Approach encompassing strengthening law enforcement, reducing violence in homes and communities, and increasing safety in public places. In addition, the Safety Priority understands the importance of how the priority is implemented and has identified three enablers which it considers central for strengthening its use of data, evidence, and an area-based model for implementation. The focus is on areas recording the highest levels of violence, with 11 areas in the Cape Metro and five areas in the rest of the Province.
Each Department is responsible for delivering one or several components of the three pillars of the Safety Priority and/or its enablers. Furthermore, the Western Cape Government partners with local government, key national government departments (specifically in the criminal justice cluster) and communities in implementing the Safety Priority.
(2) In order to monitor the implementation of the Western Cape Recovery Plan and evaluate its impact, each Recovery Plan priority has identified a set of relevant output and outcome indicators. The indicators for the Safety Priority are aligned to its Theory of Change, which was developed based on international evidence of what works in reducing violence.
Each Department reports back on its output indicators on a quarterly basis. This includes the identification of challenges and risks in delivery. In addition, the data for outcome indicators is collected and analysed to identify trends in the anticipated change. It is also anticipated that rapid evaluations of those interventions considered as key levers of the Safety Priority will be conducted in future.
(3) The implementation of each department’s responsibility to the Safety Priority is enforced through the Annual Performance Plans and Western Cape Recovery Plan.
(4) All members of Cabinet have so far implemented their responsibilities.
(5) Some responsibilities are aimed at enabling the Safety Priority (in particular strengthening the data and evidence-base) and therefore have no associated targets.
