Planning for crime prevention: The case of the city of Tshwane

Chapter 2

Setting the sceme forCity-based Crime Prevention

The key component setting the scene for the role players and initiatives within the current crime prevention arena in the City of Tshwane is the legal and policy framework, which influences the core functions and mandates of local government as well as its capacity to play its 'rightful' role in crime prevention in the city. Just as there are a number of opportunities for local government to get actively involved in crime prevention, there are also many frustrations and difficulties due to the continuous processes of restructuring at local government level.

The following section sets the scene by underscoring the developmental mandate of local government and its accompanying integrated development planning requirements, local government's new mandate for local crime prevention through the establishment of metropolitan police services, as well as the current organisational and institutional framework of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality for crime prevention.

An Integrated And Developmental Approach to Local governance

In understanding the foreseen role of local government in crime prevention, it is critical to locate it within the broader context of its constitutional mandate.¹ Municipalities are not only responsible for service delivery within their municipal areas, but also have to play an active role in the facilitation and initiation of development in their areas of jurisdiction.² The Municipal Systems Act, 2000, also explicitly states that the concept of 'governance' is much broader than that of 'the municipality' as perceived in the past, implying that communities and other role players in a municipality have to play a central role in the government of that municipality.

In order to assist local governments in South Africa to give effect to their developmental mandate and in line with international trends in planning and development thinking, a new approach to municipal planning has been developed, viz that of Integrated Development Planning. In terms of the Municipal Systems Act each municipality in the country is required to prepare a five year IDP for its area of jurisdiction (See Box 1 for an outline of the key components of such a plan). Not only does a municipality have to incorporate the opinions, needs and buy-in of all stakeholders through a process of structured public participation, it also has to ensure integration between different municipal sector departments and line functions within the planning process, and ensure that the plan is aligned with its budget, financial planning and other institutional arrangements and plans. The planning process also provides an opportunity for the alignment of municipal priorities, plans and budgets with those of provincial and national sector departments.

In the case of the City of Tshwane, an IDP was prepared and finalised in May 2002. Within the IDP-participation processes, local needs-assessments were conducted in each ward in the city. In these processes crime and safety were identified as key issues in almost every ward, and were ranked on a city-wide level as the third highest priority in the City of Tshwane (See Box 2).
Establishment Of A Local Mandate For Crime prevention

Local government's mandate for crime prevention is clearly set out in the White Paper on Safety and Security³, which specifically requires municipalities to ensure that crime prevention includes planning in all municipal departments and activities, develop and initiate targeted social crime prevention programs and co-ordinate crime prevention activities. In addition to this, the NCPS describes the role of local government as to refine the NCPS and implement local crime prevention programmes that are in line with local priorities and capacities. The South African Police Act, 1995, provides the mandates for the key role players such as the Tshwane Metropolitan Police, CPFs, as well as that of the SAPS.

CPFs⁴are provided for in Chapter 7 of the Act. They provide a platform for the community to liaise with the SAPS, to form partnerships, promote communication and co-operation with the SAPS, improve police services, improve transparency of the SAPS, and promote joint problem identification and solving.

Box 1: Key requirements and outcomes of an IDP⁵

"In terms of subsequent legislation, primarily the Municipal Systems Act, 2000, Regulations passed in terms of the Act and Guidelines, these plans are meant to be issue-based, multisectoral, holistic plans, focussed on addressing the needs of the poor and on transforming the South African Apartheid landscape, society and local government institutions. They are also intended to reflect, capture or contain any other sectoral municipal planning requirement or plan in terms of sectoral legislation.⁶ Furthermore they are seen as one of the means, together with Local Economic Development, by which local governments can be transformed into the developmental entities that the 1996 Constitution and subsequent legal and policy frameworks intend them to become.⁷ Along with the rise of 'good governance' and urban management in South Africa as elsewhere (see inter alia Healey, 1997; Southall and Wood, 1996; Asibuo, 1998; Mabin, 2000; Post, 1997 and SACP, 1998: 26), these strategic plans at municipal level are also seen as providing the frameworks, or rather the business plans, in accordance with which municipalities have to be managed. Provision is also made in the Municipal Systems Act, 2000, for the setting up of performance management systems to facilitate their implementation (see also Cassim and Kondlo, 1999: 17). The plans are furthermore supposed to be linked to municipal budgets and to find their way into the budgets of provincial and national line departments in order to ensure that the strategies, projects and programmes they contain are actually implemented (Jewell and Howard, 2000: 2)."

Box 2: Ward Committee priorities related to crime and safety⁸

The priority problems and needs identified by ward committees related to crime, safety and the metropolitan police department's activities, include the following:
- increase in crime
- problems associated with general safety
- lack of crime prevention measures
- long reaction time
- unsafe service points
- safety at schools
- illegal land use
- crime due to squatters
- crime due to drug abuse and prostitution
- unregulated informal trade
- unkept open spaces
- lack of community involvement.
In a definite move towards establishing a local mandate for crime prevention, Chapter 12 of the Act makes provision for the establishment of Metropolitan Police Services, and mandates its members to act as police officers in the performance of the following functions:
- "traffic policing, subject to any legislation relating to road traffic;
- the policing of municipal by-laws and regulations which are the responsibility of the municipality in question; and
- the prevention of crime."⁹ The crime prevention mandate for the SAPS as specified by its Crime Prevention Division¹⁰ is:
  - social crime prevention
  - police emergency services
  - visible policing.
While both the SAPS and the Metropolitan Police have the mandate to prevent any situation that may threaten the safety or security of the local community and to address the root causes of crime, the mandate to investigate crimes and to ensure that criminals are brought to book, is that of the SAPS.¹¹

The process to get the Metropolitan Police established in the City of Tshwane began in January 2001, and resulted in the establishment of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Police on 23 February 2002 (amalgamating the former Traffic Police and Security Units of the Municipality). The short life span of the Metropolitan Police has meant that much of its efforts over the last year have gone into the establishment of the respective units, retraining and capacity-building of staff for the new function, and carving out its role in the Tshwane Crime Prevention arena. Included in this role are tasks such as strategy formulation and implementation, and negotiating roles and responsibilities.
Restructuring of The Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality

Since the first democratic local government elections in December 1995, municipal government in the Pretoria area has been in a state of restructuring and transformation. This process saw the creation of three substructures and one metropolitan council at the beginning of the process, followed by the amalgamation of all these structures to form one new mega-city at the end of 2000, viz the City of Tshwane. For the two and a half years after this event the newly created municipality has been witness to new structures, new faces in senior management, and uncertainty among employees as to their future in the council. It would, however, seem that this phase is now in its final stages and that it should be completed before the end of 2003.

Foot Notes

To provide services; to promote social and economic development; and a safe and healthy environment, in a democratic and accountable way, encouraging the involvement of the public (Republic of South Africa, 1996).
Ministry for Provincial Affairs and Constitutional Development. The White Paper on Local Government. March 1998.
Department of Safety and Security. 1998. White Paper on Safety and Security.
South African Police Service Act, Act 68 of 1995: Chapter 7.
Oranje M, Van Huyssteen E. 'Exploring the inroads of 'sustainability' in municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs)'. Chapter to be published. Undated.
In terms of the Water Services Act, 1997, local authorities are required to produce Water Services Development Plans, Integrated Transport Plans are required in terms of the National Land Transport Act, 2000 and certain requirements regarding plans for housing provision are required in terms of the Housing Act, 1997.
See Republic of South Africa (1996b). The Acts and policies that are referred to include the White Paper on Local Government, 1998, the Municipal Systems Act, 2000 and a Policy Paper on Integrated Development Planning (Oranje et al, 2000).
City of Tshwane. City of Tshwane Safety and Security Press Conference. 4 December 2001. http://www.tshwane.gov.za/safety/pressconf.htm. City of Tshwane. Integrated Development Plan for the City of Tshwane. 2002b.
Chapter 7, SAPS Act, Act 68 of 1995, Section 64E.
South African Police Service. Profile: SAPS Crime Prevention.2002. http://www.saps.org.za/profile/comp.htm.
SAPS Act, Act 68 of 1995, and South African Police Service. 2002(a). Strategic Plan 2002-2005.

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