Community Safety
- What is his Department’s strategy to bring safety to the areas of Nyanga and Philippi where the number of cases of murder and attempted murder is getting out of hand;
- whether his Department is cooperating with other departments and nongovernmental organisations to fight crime in these areas; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
(1) My department developed its strategies aimed at increasing safety by giving effect to the Constitutional framework, and in particular, the Western Cape Community Safety Act (Act 3 of 2013). The approach of the department is guided by the whole-of-society concept. This is then also the strategy employed in Nyanga and Philippi to bring safety to those vulnerable communities. At some risk of oversimplification, the whole-of-society concept translates into “building safety not for the community, but rather with the community.” The focus is on ensuring that government departments are responsive to the safety needs of communities, that efficiency is enhanced through integration of security services, that viable partnerships are established to facilitate such an integrated response for safety, that communities are included in local partnership based structures created to enhance safety, and that the police conduct their work in a professional manner. In Nyanga and Philippi this strategy is then supported by numerous programmes and projects including the Religious and Youth Safety Programme, raising awareness about woman abuse, alcohol harms reduction initiatives, youth diversion projects, the PNP Project and the Walking Bus Programme to name but a few.
(2) Yes. The Community Safety Improvement Partnership (CSIP) was specifically designed to give effect to the above-mentioned national and provincial policy directives, in a manner compliant with the “whole of society” approach. By means of a formal process of joint planning the CSIP aims to initiate projects with the main role-players in the safety arena namely, the South African Police Service (SAPS), the Municipalities, the Community Police Forums (CPFs), Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) structures, the Department of Community Safety (DoCS) and other provincial government departments. The above-mentioned programmes and projects that run in Nyanga and Philippi are initiated in conjunction with these main role-players and NGOs like Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrade (VPUU). The Department also actively participate in the Mayoral Urban renewal program of the City of Cape Town with a number of partners.
