Numerous anti-crime strategies have failed in the Western Cape, but for the first time there is hope that one will work, Marianne Merten reports
The foundations for the first public park are being laid in gang-ridden Manenberg township on the Cape Flats.
Although the green spot is in the middle of the Clever Kids gang’s turf, the contractors have not been harassed or obstructed. The local community policing and peace forums are ensuring the work goes smoothly.
If the Western Cape’s planned three-pronged anti-crime strategy based on urban renewal, law enforcement and social upliftment is successful, other initiatives could happen.
Manenberg and Elsies River have been identified by the provincial government as areas in need of urgent attention. The strategy also includes Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha identified by President Thabo Mbeki as two of the national improvement areas where government departments will concentrate resources.
Criminologists estimate that up to 60% of serious violent crime on the peninsula is directly related to gang activities. There are an estimated 100 000 gang members in 137 gangs.
Western Cape MEC for Community Safety Hennie Bester has staked much of his political credibility on a successful anti-crime strategy against the background of almost daily reports of gang shootings and killings.
In his budget speech in February, he broadly outlined the three-pronged strategy revolving around a governing board to be established through legislation, a “CEO” and four area offices to oversee the implementation of key projects for which budgets are now finalised: neighbourhood watch training (R1,4-million), a truancy reduction programme (R1,485-million), a sports initiative (R1,485-million) and a youth-against-crime leadership project (R460 000).
Although the provincial law is nowhere near completion, it is understood that the provincial community safety department has whittled down the choice of CEO. An announcement is expected soon.
But strong reservations remain that the envisaged governing board could translate into a privatisation of services and a lack of clarity over what, if any, role NGOs would play.
In Manenberg most people have adopted a wait-and-see attitude. Over the years many politicians have toured the derelict, graffiti-splashed tenements of two-bedroom flats with many promises. Last week Minister of Safety and Security Steve Tshwete and Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota met residents.
“The people of this place are affected by a lot of problems. They are socially, psychologically and physically affected,” said former Jester and 26s prison gang member Adiel van der Heever, who has been trying to broker ceasefires between the members of Manenberg’s six gangs battling for turf within 2km2.
“Sending in more police is not the issue. We must have job creation. We must have the necessary people to heal minds.”
It is not the first time an anti-crime, social upliftment approach has been tried. In 1997 the provincial government initiated a multi-agency delivery action mechanism (or Madam).
The structure representing police, provincial departments, local councils and the South African National Defence Force under provincial director general Niel Barnard is still in place.
A gang commission that brought together civil society and organised labour disbanded in protest within a year over the lack of provincial and local government cooperation.
Head of the Department of Community Safety, Melvyn Joshua, agrees that the principle behind this latest strategy is the same as that of Madam.
The first inconsistencies of the strategy have already emerged. The truancy reduction programme will be implemented only at four schools in each area on July 1. This means less than a third of the 14 primary and high schools in Manenberg will participate.
Also, there is unhappiness about the level of training in the department’s neighbourhood watch scheme, set up in competition with another university-accredited training programme, run by the Western Cape Anti-Crime Forum since 1998.
And although provincial police have also identified Hanover Park and Bishop Lavis as hotspots, they have been left out of the strategy.
There seems to be confusion over the most appropriate interaction between the department and police. While the provincial police crime prevention manager has attended strategy meetings, the officer in charge of special operations against gang bosses has yet to be invited.
The police’s multimillion-rand search-and-seizure and patrol campaigns in force since 1997 have stopped. There are now tailor-made operations aimed at identifying and arresting gang kingpins.
Western Cape police Commissioner Lennit Max last Friday again named gangsterism, which he described as “a very problematic type of criminality”, as a priority in accordance with national orders.
But senior provincial police mana-gers list armed robberies as the number one crime threat, while stating: “It will be futile to explain the extent of gang crimes statistically.” Yet 14 of the 26 identified organised crime threats are linked to the drug trade, a traditional domain of the gangs.
For the first time in several years the provincial police MEC is talking to civil society organisations and to Tshwete, who could soon declare Manenberg a gun-free zone.
The turn-around has led to meetings with the Joint Forum on Policing (JFP) which represents 15 anti-crime NGOs.
At a workshop last Thursday the forum criticised the fire-fighting approach of the past. But each organisation produced business plans offering projects ranging from trauma rooms, to conflict resolution skills and court briefings.
“The JFP commits itself to work in partnership with the Department of Community Safety … It also believes in a brighter future if the strategy is undertaken jointly by all role players,” said forum chairperson Ntutu Mtwana.
Whether the bureaucrats are prepared to work with communities and NGOs remains to be seen. But this willingness will be crucial if this latest strategy is to succeed where others failed.