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The civil rights organisation AfriForum in conjunction with the South African Institute for Race Relations (SAIRR) released a report today, titled Winning the war on crime in South Africa: A new approach to community policing.

This report provides answers to the questions that originated from the release of last week’s shocking crime statistics.

According to Ian Cameron, AfriForum’s Head of Community Safety, three forms of self-protection in communities, which falls within the framework of the Constitution, is investigated in this report.

Cameron adds that the importance of partnerships between the local South African Police Service (SAPS), communities and private security companies will have to be emphasised in future. “The Back To Basics strategy of Lt. Genl. Khomotso Phahlane, acting National Police Commissioner, can only be successful when it is carried out in conjunction with communities. In this way an active attempt to rebuild community structures can thus lead to a drastic decline in crime.”

“AfriForum’s Eliot model can serve as an example of such a cooperation agreement that originated from the community. Coalitions was formed between the residents of the townships and the farmers of the Eliot region and together these two parties established an extremely successful neighbourhood watch. This coalition can perhaps be perceived as naïve by some, but surveys show that South Africans of all races are united in their rage over poor policing. This creates interesting prospects for coalitions, especially in small towns and working class environments where people of all races already have very close ties,” Cameron concludes.

See report attached.

Issued by Afriforum