How does policy respond to violence and crime in South Africa?

Violence and crime prevention has been a priority topic for South Africa's government since 1994.

One of the present government’s stated delivery agreements is that “All people in South Africa are and feel safe”. This commitment is one of 12 strategic priorities that the government has agreed to address while it is in office, and a number of policies have been put in place in an effort to achieve this.

What is policy – and what is law?

Public policy represents a decision, made by a publicly elected or designated body, which is deemed to be in the public interest. Policy states the intentions of an institution, and is used to guide its decisions, outlining desired goals it seeks to achieve that are considered to be in the best interest of society. Policy lays out the methods and principles it will use to achieve these goals, and in this way provides guidance in addressing public concerns.

Policy provides a framework to guide government decisions such as legislation and budget; ensuring that the government is working toward a common goal. While a major aspect of public policy is law, they are separate concepts with distinct functions. Although policy is not a law, law must be guided by current government policy, and it will often identify laws needed to achieve its goals.

What is law?

Laws set out formal standards, procedures and principles that must be followed. Laws are established to implement justice and order, and to offer equity in society. Laws are enforced judicial system, and help regulate the actions of members of society. If a law is not followed, those responsible for breaking them can be prosecuted in court.

Therefore, while policy sets out the goals and planned activities of a department, it may be necessary to pass a law to enable government to put in place the necessary institutional and legal frameworks to achieve their aims.

The National Development Plan

“Safety and security are directly related to socioeconomic development and equality, affecting the development objectives of economic growth and transformation, employment creation, improved education and health outcomes, and strengthened social cohesion” (National Development Plan)

An advisory board - National Planning Commission - was appointed by the President in 2010 to draft a national development plan. In 2011 the commission released the Diagnostic Report, setting out South Africa’s achievements and shortcomings since 1994.

It stated that the main reasons for slow progress were the failure to implement policies and an absence of broad partnerships, leading to the development of the draft national plan later that year. Building on the diagnostic, the plan focused on four thematic areas: rural economy, social protection, regional and world affairs, and community safety.

The commission consulted widely on the draft plan, which was broadly supported by South Africans. This consultation and input - including suggestions for modifications and effective implementation - was taken into account, informing the final National Development Plan, which was adopted in 2012.

The Plan provides a long-term vision for the country, aiming to ensure that all South Africans attain a decent standard of living through the elimination of poverty and reduction of inequality by 2030.

Among the core elements of a decent standard of living identified in the Plan are safety and security. The NDP recognises that high levels of crime and violence as key impediments to the country growth and development. Therefore the plan attaches significant importance to the topic of safety, with a dedicated chapter entitled Building Safer Communities (Chapter 12).

The objective of Chapter 12

In 2030 people living in South Africa feel safe and have no fear of crime. They feel safe at home, at school and at work, and they enjoy an active community life free of fear. Women can walk freely in the street and the children can play safely outside. The police service is a well-resourced professional institution staffed by highly skilled officers who value their works, serve the community, safeguard lives and property without discrimination, protect the peaceful against violence, and respect the rights of all to equality and justice.

The proposed actions to achieve the vision of safer communities in South Africa include:

Strengthening the criminal justice system
Creating a professional police service
Demilitarising the police service
Use an integrated approach to safety
Build community participation in community safety

Additionally, a strong emphasis is placed on tackling the underlying root causes of South Africa’s violence problem. Factors that contribute to high levels of violence include poverty, unemployment, inequality, a lack of social cohesion, inadequate care of children, apartheid’s spatial legacy in cities and towns, alcohol and drug abuse, and the widespread availability of weapons.

Dealing with these dimensions requires a long-term, holistic approach to building community safety, in which both state and non-state capacities and resources are mobilised. Crucially, the active participation and co-responsibility of citizens is encouraged, and governmental departments are required to align all of their strategic plans, policies and budgets towards achieving the objectives of the Policy.

MTSF Outcome 3: All people in South Africa are and feel safe

In 2030, all people living in South Africa feel safe, have no fear of crime, are properly served by the police and courts, and know corruption no longer eats away at their livelihoods.

South Africa’s 2014-2019 Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF), is the first framework drawn up following the adoption of the National Development Plan. It sets out actions the government and its partners will take to implement the NDP over the first five years of the plan. The MTSF has identified 14 priorities of the NDP that need urgent attention, one of which (Outcome 3) is working towards ensuring that all people in South Africa are and feel safe.

The 2016 White Paper on Safety and Security

The 2016 White Paper on Safety and Security emanates from a review of the 1998 White Paper on Safety & Security. It is a policy on safety, crime and violence prevention that promotes an integrated and holistic approach to safety and security.

The vision of the White Paper is aligned to the National Development Plan (NDP) and rights and values enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996).

The Vision

This policy on safety, crime and violence prevention aims at promoting an integrated and holistic approach to safety and security, providing substance and direction to achieving the NDP’s objectives of ‘Building Safer Communities’. The focus here is on the prevention of crime and violence as a necessary precondition for increasing people's feelings of safety and building safer communities as envisioned by the NDP.

The White Paper recognises that building safer communities is a collective responsibility of both the state and its citizens, and is located within the broader developmental agenda of government, affirming the need for an active citizenry, civil society, and private sector to contribute to the on-going efforts of government in safety, crime and violence prevention.

2016 White Paper on Policing

Developing a quality police service

“Developing an accountable, professional, competent and highly skilled police service as defined in the National Development Plan, forms the key thrust of the White Paper on Policing. South Africa is entitled to a police service that delivers high quality services while maintaining high standards of professional conduct and discipline, and that exhibits exemplary leadership and management.”

The NDP reaffirmed the need for a police service that forms part of an integrated criminal justice system and that is demilitarised, professional and community-centric.

These new developments necessitated that the 1998 White Paper on Safety and Security be reviewed and that a policy that specifically speaks to the policing environment within a democratic dispensation, be developed. The 2016 White Paper on Policing stems from this review of the 1998 White Paper on Safety and Security.

The White Paper on Policing has two fundamental shifts from its predecessor, the 1998 White Paper on Safety and Security. The first is to separate the police focussed policy from that of the broader policy on safety and security which will be contained in the amended White Paper on Safety and Security. The second is to provide an enabling legislative framework for civilian oversight and align the police service to the rest of the public service.

The focus of the White Paper on Policing is on the core areas of policing and law enforcement aimed at reducing crime and building safer communities as called for by the National Development Plan.

The White Paper on Policing supports the NDP’s vision of a modernised, transformed and efficient criminal justice system, and a professional and highly skilled police service, providing a policy framework for achieving the National Development Plan’s policing vision.

It builds on the understanding that dealing with crime is a shared responsibility and that achieving long-term, sustainable safety in our communities hinges on the deliberate integration of both short and long term interventions. It supports a developmental approach to safety and security, and strengthening of sustainable community safety efforts through collaborative partnerships with role players across government, business, civil society and academia in the context of an integrated justice system.

Integrated Social Crime Prevention Strategy

In 2011, the Department of Social Development (DSD) launched its Integrated Social Crime Prevention Strategy (ISCPS), which aims to create a framework for facilitating a targeted and coordinated response by government to crime and violence.

The Vision & Mission

The vision is: A safe South Africa, safe communities, safe families and responsible individuals.

The mission is: To apply a safety lens to all mandates of the Government Departments; to lead where appropriate and collaborate with other sectors to fulfil the objectives of the strategy.

The ISCPS was developed to take crime and violence prevention beyond the purview of policing, and involve organs of state at the national, provincial and local level, enabling government departments to respond to crime-related issues in a coordinated and focused manner.

The strategy promotes joint efforts for creating a common understanding and vision on how to combat crime, bringing together concerted interventions within government departments as crucial initiatives for social crime prevention. In this regard, the ISCPS encourages joint collaborations amongst government departments to respond to the complex, multidimensional and cyclical nature of crime and violence through interventions at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

Further, the ISCPS aims to mobilise community members and civil society organisations, with the assistance and support of relevant government departments, to increase crime prevention capacity and strengthen the resilience of communities.

The Strategy’s objectives look to curb the effects of the underlying causes of crime, reduce the risk of becoming a victim, raise the safety of the community as a whole, and thus improve quality of life and human rights. An integrated framework is also provided in this document to enable departments to fulfil their role and mandate of prioritising social crime prevention at all levels of intervention, as outlined in the Integrated Service Delivery Model (2005).

Community Safety Forums Policy

The Community Safety Forum Policy provides a framework for integrated, localised safety planning and co-ordination that is aligned to national and provincial priorities. Community Safety Forums emanated from the requirements outlined in the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) of 1996, and the 1998 White Paper on Safety and Security.

The establishment of CSFs is intended:

“To promote the development of a community where citizens live in a safe environment and have access to high quality services at local level, through integrated and coordinated multi-agency collaboration among organs of state and various communities."

Community Safety Forums (CSFs) are based on the premise that increased cooperation and interaction will improve the functioning of the Community Justice System (CJS) at local level. CSFs are designed to serve as a platform for integration, monitoring and evaluating the implementation of multi-sectoral crime prevention and community safety initiatives aligned to national and provincial priorities.

Community Safety Forums (CSFs) are meant to facilitate the delivery of a multi-sectoral governmental approach on safety in the community, and the concept is closely related to Community Policing. Its approach, however, is broader than that of the Community Police Forum (CPF) in that it includes the responses from all the departments in the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) cluster.

The CSF is distinguished from the CPF through its tasks. The CPF, according to the South African Police Service (SAPS) Act, is meant to provide a partnership to SAPS in liaising with the community in fighting crime. While the CPF is confined to a police station precinct and focuses very narrowly on policing and associated matters, a CSF will have a more inclusive jurisdiction area as it is intended to fulfil a very different and broader role.

A CSF is meant to bridge safety issues affecting a particular community and harnesses the energies of most, if not all the department in the JCPS cluster. It includes any safety matters within a community that makes people unsafe in their streets, homes and places of work.

Departments involved in the JCPS cluster are integrally involved in providing safety and security through a range of services to the community. The departments of Police, Justice and Constitutional Development, Correctional Services, Defense, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Home Affairs, Social Development, as well as other relevant Social Cluster Departments, have a role to play within the CSF.

Integrated Urban Development Framework (2016)

In 2009, the number of people living in urban areas surpassed the number living in rural areas, announcing the 21st century as the urban century. The world’s attention is on the pivotal role of cities and identifying alternative pathways for urban development that address poverty reduction and sustainable development. South Africa is firmly situated in this debate: by 2030, almost three-quarters (71.3%) of the country’s population will be living in urban areas.

In the economic history of humanity, urbanisation has always been an accelerator of growth and development, bringing about enormous changes in the spatial distribution of people and resources, and in the use and consumption of land. Supporting policies and frameworks are therefore needed that can leverage the urbanisation process for increased development gains and sustainability.

Therefore, in 2016, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) launched the Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF) – the government’s policy position to guide the future growth and management of urban areas in South Africa.

The Vision

Liveable, safe, resource-efficient cities and towns that are socially integrated, economically inclusive and globally competitive, where residents actively participate in urban life.

The IUDF responds to the Sustainable Development Goals 2015-2030 (SDGs), specifically Goal 11: ‘Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’. Further, the IUDF also builds on pillars of the NDP, specifically the pillar provided for in Chapter 8, which calls for ‘Transforming human settlements and the national space economy’.

The IUDF aims to guide the development of inclusive, resilient and liveable urban settlements, while directly addressing the unique conditions and challenges facing South Africa’s cities and towns. The accompanying Implementation Plan gives strategic direction (what needs to be done, when and by whom) in order to achieve the goals of the IUDF. It includes programmes and projects to be undertaken in the short-to-medium term.

It’s about sound implementation

The policy environment is not a static one - it is one which is constantly changing and evolving in order to stay relevant and speak to the ever-changing context which it seeks to guide. While there are a number of policies - many of which presented here - which aim to work toward a safe and secure South Africa, these are by no means final and absolute.

Additionally, although there is clearly a comprehensive framework consisting of well thought out policy, the outcome is ultimately determined by how well these are implemented. No matter how good the policy document is in theory, without sound implementation putting it into practice the intended outcome cannot be achieved.

Work cited

Education & Training Unit (ETU) for Democracy & Development (2017, 23 March). The Policy and law making process tool.

The National Development Plan: Vision for 2030. National Planning Commission, 11 November 2011. The Presidency: Republic of South Africa.

Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) 2014-2019. Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation: Republic of South Africa.

White Paper on Safety and Security (2016). Civilian Secretariat for Police. Republic of South Africa.

White Paper on Policing (2016). Civilian Secretariat for Police. Republic of South Africa.

Integrated Social Crime Prevention Strategy (2011). Department of Social Development. Republic of South Africa.

Community Safety Forums Policy. Civilian Secretariat for Police. Republic of South Africa.

Integrated Urban Development Framework (2016). Department of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs: Republic of South Africa.