Blog – Urban safety

South African cities need to invest in public spaces that are truly co-created through social engineering processes. These need to be grounded in quality community participation processes which begin at the conception of the project, carries on when the project is handed over, and continues in different ways to ensure ownership and positive social activation of these spaces.

State capture at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) has led to the dysfunction of the commuter rail system. PRASA employs approximately 434 security personnel in the Western Cape. However, there are huge problems with these security contractors.The terrible legacy of those that engaged in State Capture will take years to undo. Commuters need to see improvements. A lot needs to be done regarding safety and security in trains.

Fieldwork is not an easy practice but conducting it in high crime communities is a daunting task. This piece discusses the challenges faced during a longitudinal survey attempt that took place in Gugulethu; and how researchers attempted to handle these challenges.

How can a participatory approach enable a better understanding of the ways in which identity and intersecting inequalities block accountability processes? This is the question that the Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation has been exploring in their most recent action research process with the Delft Safety Group. And this was the question that catalysed the development of a novel participatory visual research method - hand mapping. Read more in this blog by Gill Black, co-director and leader of health participation at the Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation.

The creation of a safe, non-commercial and welcoming public space in Cape Town is necessary to challenge the barriers cemented in the past which taint our experience of the present and keep us apart.

The aggregate manner in which the crime data and statistics are presented masks the disproportionate nature of violent crime in South Africa, which for decades has been concentrated in about 20 per cent of police precincts. Most of these high crime precincts are densely populated, infrastructurally marginalised and characterised by elevated levels of poverty. Therefore, in seeking to gauge a more informed analysis of crime a focus on high crime precincts provides a more enlightening touchstone for the state of violent crime in South Africa.

Julie Berg, Director of the Institute for Safety Governance and Criminology (UCT SafGo), discusses how we should consider innovative possibilities in aligning private security to the public interest in ways that promote safety.

With the support of UMHLALI, an early crime prevention project implemented by the CJCP and Masifunde Learner Development; as well as the GIZ’s Violence and Crime Prevention Project (VCP); the ULUTSHA street festival took place on Youth Day (June 16, 2017) under the slogan “Report cases of violence against women and children!”.

The complexity of challenges facing various communities, especially in urban centres today, requires all concerned community members and stakeholders to seek solutions through constructive engagement. Research and dialogue with active community stakeholders has identified the need to build social cohesion with the aim of achieving shared community goals. The Peacebuilding Team in Khayelitsha Site C aims to mitigate violence and resolve conflict. On 27 July 2017, the Peace Building Team facilitated a dialogue which enabled community members to identify and discuss the challenges they face and help communities work out solutions for themselves.

This article highlight lack of safety experienced by Social Justice Coalition (SJC) and other residents of informal settlements when making use of either shared communal flush toilets, “temporary” chemical toilets (outside of the home) or clearings to relieve themselves. As a result the SJC has consistently campaigned for a greater budget share to ensure that access to safe and dignified sanitation is progressively realized.