Johannesburg - An increase in murder rates and other forms of violent crime in the past two years – after a sustained overall steady decline in crime rates – could be an indicator that an over-reliance on law enforcement has reached the limits of its usefulness.
A draft white paper on safety and security presented in Parliament this week advocates a different approach. It focuses on the factors that contribute to crime and violence, including poverty and inequality; access to health care and education; social norms; the prevalence of drugs and alcohol as well as service delivery.
It places communities – and local government – at the forefront of driving this integrated approach but calls for the establishment of a national crime and violence prevention centre – located in the Presidency – to monitor implementation, co-ordinate efforts and provide resources and research-based updates on the impact of interventions.
Much of what was proposed in the draft white paper was not new, said Bilkis Omar, deputy director-general for policy and research at the Civilian Secretariat for Police, and was already being implemented by government departments.
But the white paper sought to clear the pathways across departments and spheres of government so interventions would be aligned and budgets for safety and security outcomes ring-fenced – an area where previous initiatives, such as the 1996 National Crime Prevention Strategy, had fallen down, according to the white paper.
This would require a “sustainable, well-resourced implementation and oversight mechanism, which would co-ordinate, monitor, evaluate and report on implementation of crime-prevention priorities across all sectors”.
Omar said the secretariat had presented this idea to the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, which is located in the Presidency, as well as to the cabinet and had been given the go-ahead to proceed with the white paper consultation process.
However, there would be no new money and departments would have to reprioritise existing budgets to implement the plan.
This is likely to be a sticking point, as it is notoriously difficult to get government departments, let alone different spheres of government, to work together.
This was emphasised in a prior presentation on the police’s gang-fighting strategy, in which Western Cape crime intelligence head Major-General Peter Jacobs outlined how a lack of co-operation was hampering efforts to defeat gangs.
For example, while a plan had been adopted by the province for all departments, including the police, to report to one structure on implementation in their areas of responsibility, this structure had never been created.
When the police successfully closed down a gang in Atlantis, north of Cape Town, other departments that should have been ready to fill the vacuum with alternative structures, like sports activities, were missing in action. This left the field open for a new gang to establish its grip on the area, Jacobs said.
Omar told Parliament’s police oversight committee on Friday there was an emphasis on local government in the white paper, with community safety forums responsible for co-ordinating crime fighting and prevention efforts at local level.
The white paper sought to give effect to the National Development Plan’s vision of an “active citizenry” playing its part in creating safer communities. “Active citizenry should include community participation in safety audits, development strategies, implementation of plans and monitoring and evaluating impact,” it says.
Municipalities would be expected to include safety and security elements in their integrated development plans.
Political Bureau