Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation

City Government's Contribution to Urban Safety
A baseline report on developments in major South African cities: June 2000

by Mzi Memeza & Janine Rauch

Report prepared as part of the City Safety Project (funded by the Open Society Foundation for South Africa).

Mzi Memeza is a former Researcher at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation.

Janine Rauch is an independent consultant.

Introduction

This is a descriptive study of the structure and functioning of metropolitan governments in South Africa's four largest cities in respect of their public safety functions. It is the first in a series of reports to be prepared by the CSVR's City Safety project; and later reports will be more detailed and analytical.

The purpose of this report is to describe and document the structures and systems for public safety provision by the four largest metropolitan governments in South Africa – Pretoria, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. It is intended to provide useful information to researchers, policymakers and crime reduction practitioners both in South Africa and elsewhere.

In the mid-1990's, the government introduced two important policy documents on Safety and Security, which began to suggest a role for local governments in the provision of security and the prevention of crime:

However, neither of these policy documents provided detailed guidelines to local authorities, nor did they differentiate significantly between local, rural and metropolitan areas. A major obstacle to the implementation of the new policy approach as been the lack of funding provided to local authorities to develop innovative approaches to safety provision and multi-agency crime reduction initiatives at the local level. This has led many local authorities to view the policy as an "unfunded mandate" and to take no action. In the four major cities under review, new initiatives have developed, or existing approaches refined, because these city governments view safety provision as essential to the overall development of the cities. However, the lack of new resources, and competing development priorities, have contributed to un-evenness and slowness in the public safety developments, even in these four cities.

Methodology

This report is a descriptive "fact-finding" research exercise, aimed at establishing the basic facts about the structure of city government, as regards safety and security provision, in four of South Africa's largest cities – Pretoria, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.

Researchers developed a questionnaire and an approach to information gathering which utilised a range of sources:

Information was less successfully obtained on Cape Town and Durban than on Johannesburg and Pretoria, where researchers were able to set up face-to-face interviews with respondents.

Metropolitan Structures

Metropolitan areas are large urban settlements with high population densities, complex and diversified economies, and a high degree of functional integration across a larger geographic area than the normal jurisdiction of a municipality. On the other hand, Metropolitan governments are governments whose areas of jurisdiction covers the whole metropolitan area.1

The Ministry for Provincial Affairs and of Constitutional Development, in its 1998 White Paper on Local government, cites three main motives2 for the establishment of metropolitan government in South Africa:

Metropolitan government, at this stage, consists of a Metro-level layer of structures (both elected political representatives and officials) known as Metropolitan Councils; as well as a layer at the local level, which are generally known as Metropolitan Local Councils or MLC's. Political representation at the central Metro council is made up of representatives from the MLC's as well as some dedicated Metro Councillors elected on the basis of proportional representation.

The allocation of functions between the central Metro and the Local Councils varies somewhat in each of the cities under discussion here. The specific arrangements for each city are approved by Provincial Governments according to the specific conditions in each metro area. However in many instances certain cities have applied their discretion based on unique demands and situations.

Pretoria

The Structure of the Greater Pretoria Metropolitan Government

The Greater Pretoria area is made up three Local Council jurisdictions:

GPMC: Metro level

Safety and Security functions at the Metro level (GPMC) are located at the Executive Director of Community Safety's office. The GPMC identifies safety and security as "all services related to community safety" and includes the following:

The Pretoria Metro Directorate for ommunity Safety has the following sub-components:

The City Council of Pretoria

Safety and security functions in the City Council of Pretoria are located in the office of the Director of Community Safety, which has five divisions:

The Northern Pretoria Metropolitan Sub-structure3

Safety and security functions in the NPMSS are located in the office of the Executive Director of Community Safety, with five "clusters":

Centurion

Safety and Security functions in the city council of Centurion are locate in the office of the Director of Community Safety which consists of four divisions, namely:

The Strategic Approach of Pretoria

The GPMC sees its mission "to enhance the quality of life of all its people through public participation in the provision of effective, democratic local government whose primary purpose is to build and sustain a divers urban community; one that is safe, socially, economically and environmentally healthy".4

The GPMC's grand strategy guides its approach to safety and security and crime prevention. Each Local Council is meant to contribute to solving problems in the community. The role of facilitating this synergy rests solely on the Metro Council. The Metro Council issues guidelines which promote a consolidated effort amongst the Local councils.5

In the provision of the above-mentioned safety and security services, the GPMC stresses equalization and co-ordination of services across the four Local Councils. Emphasis is also placed on the decentralization of Community Safety stations6 where there are no stations at present.7

As can be seen from the above description of the structures in Pretoria (4.1), the public safety functions are reproduced at Metro and Local levels; and the central metro council does not take overall functional/operational command.

The Budget for Public Safety in the GPMC

In the current financial year, the GPMC has a budget of R2, 478,427 dedicated to Community Safety, of which R861, 400 goes to the remuneration of staff.

City Government Crime Prevention Initiatives in Greater Pretoria:
Crime Prevention at the Metro Level in Pretoria

The GPMC convened a summit in 1996 on the theme of preventing crime in the Greater Pretoria. The Greater Pretoria Crime Prevention Forum was established out of this summit, managed by the Directorate of Community Safety with facilitators from IDASA.8 This forum spent millions of rands on prevention projects in Marabastad, the inner city, the Operation Christmas Project and various other crime prevention programmes.

In March 1998 the GPMC appointed IDASA to facilitate a process of developing a crime prevention strategy. Their research found that people in the Greater Pretoria Metropolitan Area believe that crime is escalating, and that the inner city and townships are particularly dangerous. Victims and non victims experience the same level of fear, which does not necessarily match the level of risk. Popular perception is that the South African Police Service (SAPS) is doing a poor job in controlling crime in their neighbourhoods.9 To this end the crime prevention strategy of the Greater Pretoria Prevention Forum, aims to 'align local resources and development objectives with crime prevention framework, and to encourage all sectors of local government to consider the crime prevention framework, and to encourage all sectors of local government to consider the crime prevention implications of their work. The necessity of a metro- wide perspective on crime prevention is realized'.10

The Council also realizes the need for strong partnerships in order to prevent crime effectively. To make these partnerships meaningful in Pretoria, the following requirements have been identified:

Six priority areas that need attention have been identified11 by the GPMC as:

On the 6th of January 1999 the GPMC registered the Greater Pretoria Safety and Security Association as a Section 21 and on the 28th of December it was formally launched. The Company plays an important role in co- ordinating actions of a large number of role players, as provided for in the National Crime Prevention Strategy. The Company was established as a co- ordinating body for the Greater Pretoria Crime Prevention Strategy. The Company is the central point of co-ordination and implementation of official crime prevention projects in the Greater Pretoria. The Company also establishes co- ordinating mechanisms suitable and adaptable to the implementation of the various projects.

The Section 21 Company reports to the Greater Pretoria Prevention Forum at least twice a year on the implementation of the strategy. Whatever the co-ordination strategy and mechanisms adopted, organizations that are part of the implementation strategy and those who have an interests in the prevention of crime in Pretoria, will comprise the forum. Over time the forum will help the section 21 Company to refine its strategy and build community support for it.

Crime Prevention at the Local Council Level in Pretoria
City of Pretoria

The Inner City Partnership is a forum where interested parties and individuals communicate their safety and security concerns. Operation KWANO was launched in 1997 to establish command and control structures for driving the Inner City Partnership safety and security projects as per a business plan approved by Council. The following projects have been undertaken so far:

Centurion

The Centurion City Council established a Section 21 Company in 1999 for the initiation of crime prevention projects. The council provides most of the funding for the Section 21 Company. The funds are mostly utilized to promote the service delivery of the SAPS. The Company has thus far undertaken the following initiatives:

Northern Pretoria

The Northern Pretoria City Council has limited resources and finances in large area of jurisdiction. The lack of resources impacts on capacity and prevents the council from participating in crime prevention initiatives.

City Law Enforcement in Pretoria

Law Enforcement at the Metro level in Pretoria

At the Metro level, the GPMC enforces standard financial by-laws and the Department responsible for enforcement is the Finance department. The responsibility for enforcement of most other by-laws remains at the Local Council level.

Law enforcement at the Local Council level in Pretoria
City Council of Pretoria

The City Council of Pretoria enforces a wide range of by-laws, with its Traffic department handling the bulk of by-law enforcement functions such as the following:

The City's department of culture and recreation enforces by-laws relating to public resorts, public places, recreation grounds, the keeping of bees, camping sites, and swimming pools. The department is also responsible for the enforcement of by-laws regarding cemeteries, crematoriums, the Rietvallei dam and has shared jurisdiction with the city librarian in enforcing library by-laws.

The City's department of urban planning and development is responsible for the enforcement of by-laws regarding streets and buildings, the control over outdoor advertising, the licensing of plumbers and sewage constructors, and the control and regulation or the prohibition of the use of non-approved structures for dwelling and business purposes.

The Department of Health is responsible for the enforcement of by-laws regarding:

The Fresh Produce Market Department is responsible for the enforcement of by-laws regarding the market.

The Department of Fire is responsible for enforcing fire services by-laws.

The Department of Water and Environment handles the enforcement of sewage and cleansing by-laws.

The City Treasurer is responsible for the enforcement of standard financial by-laws.

Centurion

Centurion has its own traffic court that is operational 2 days per week. A large percentage of traffic violations are prosecuted. The Centurion Council supplies all the resources to the traffic court, except the magistrates and the public prosecutor who are provided by the Department of Justice.

The Centurion Town Council enforces a range of by-laws with the Department of Building Division responsible for the enforcement of by-laws regarding buildings, the protection of people against accidents on private properties; and antenna systems, sound, television and radio.

The Centurion Department of Electricity is responsible for the enforcement of by-laws regarding electricity, electricity tariffs, electro-technical wiring and contractors.

The Centurion Department of Health is responsible for the enforcement of by-laws regarding health, noise control, smoke control, the keeping of animas, birds and poultry, cleansing and solid waste by-laws, and standard food handling by-laws. The Department of Health has shared jurisdiction with regard to the Department of City Planning in relation to health by-laws regarding pre-school institutions.

The Centurion Department of Traffic enforces by-laws regarding traffic, impounding of vehicles, street vendors, street and diverse, the issuing of certificates and supply of information, and parking site by-laws.

The Centurion Department of Recreation enforces by-laws regarding the safety of swimming pools.

The Centurion Department of Parks is responsible for the Zwartkop Dam by-laws.

The Centurion City Engineer's Department enforces water and sewage by-laws.

The Centurion Department of Libraries enforces library by-laws.

The Centurion Treasury enforces standard financial by-laws.

The SPCA enforces by-laws regarding dogs.

The limited statistics available on by-law enforcement show that only a few by-laws were enforced in Centurion in the period 1999 and 2000.

Northern Pretoria

The Department of Civil services enforces by-laws regarding the provision of water, sewage by-laws, and by-laws combating noise.

The Department of Electricity Services enforces by-laws and regulations for the control of the provision and usage of electricity, and by-laws regarding bees.

The Department of Economic Development enforces library by-laws.

The Department of Urban Planning enforces Town Planning Scheme, Community Halls, Caravan Parks, and the control over outdoor advertising and pre-school institutions by-laws.

The Department of Emergency Services enforces fire and ambulance by-laws.

The Town Secretary enforces by-laws regarding buses.

The Health Services Department enforces Standard Food Handling and solid waste and sanitation by-laws.

The Traffic Chief enforces by-laws regarding dogs.

The NPMSS Department of Financing Services enforces standard financial by-laws.

Towards Metro Policing in Pretoria

The GPMC established a technical committee to assess the feasibility of a Municipal Police Service for the Greater Pretoria. The technical committee comprises mainly of senior traffic and security personnel and a group of consultants, Booz Allen and Hamilton which mainly conduct a feasibility study on the introduction of Metro policing. The Technical Committee has so far come up with a framework for the establishment of a Municipal Police Service which still has to approved. The Framework notes that several of the Municipal Policing functions are inherently complementary to such an extent, that it is integrated with the functions of other organisations. Some of these organisations are the following:

The framework also notes that, no municipal police function can replace the South African Police Service and that the establishment of a Municipal Police Service in Pretoria should not weaken the present level of traffic management and regulation. The establishment of a Municipal Police Service in Pretoria and elsewhere will be for the account of the local authority. Should it be resolved that a Municipal Police Service must be rendered equal to accepted international standards, alternative funding will have to be found, or expenditure will have to be curbed or both. The Framework acknowledges that the Municipal Police Service, for its proper functioning will require more than just a knowledge of law enforcement and must also rely on a multi- disciplinary approach of a structured and co- operative system.

The Technical Committee views its framework as one which has to be developed over a period of time, but at an accelerated pace. No particular time frame has been identified for the establishment of the Municipal Police Service pending the completion of a feasibility study by Booz Allen and Hamilton.

The Unicity Process in Pretoria

The GPMC established a body, named KORO,12 responsible for decision making regarding transformation issues. KORO consisted of representatives from the all the MLC's in Pretoria. The Municipal Facilitation Committee has now replaced KORO, and thereby broadening the scope of KORO by preparing Pretoria for the integration process after the 1st of November local government elections.

Johannesburg

The Structure of Metropolitan Government in Johannesburg

The GJMC is the co-ordinating body of four Local Councils (the Western, Southern, Eastern and Northern Local councils) in Johannesburg.

At the GJMC Metro level, one of the six current divisions is the Public Safety division headed by the a Strategic Executive officer. The Strategic Executive officer for public safety co-ordinates the activities of the following clusters:

At the local council level, most councils have an Executive Officer for Security Services. The local council's security services have a limited definition of tasks and concerns, such as:

However the officials13 in the local councils' security services argue that in reality they in fact exceed these mandates and perform a wider range of security services, frequently 'encroaching' on the jurisdictional functions of the SAPS.14 In many instances the fact that local council security services overstep their strict mandate is due to the absence of effective SAPS services and because the Local Councils are committed to building partnerships and supporting community policing. They argue that Local Council security activities therefore, in effect entail:

The Strategic Approach of Johannesburg

In the first two months of 1999, an intensive strategy process led by the Transformation Lekgotla (a grouping of senior councillors from the Metro level and the four Local Councils), the city Manager and the Transformation Manager resulted in the development and approval of the iGoli 2002 plan.

iGoli 2002 is Johannesburg's three year plan,15 developed to address the challenges of financial, institutional arrangements and service delivery. The plan was motivated by two key problems facing Greater Johannesburg, namely financial crisis and poor institutional design. It was agreed that that a unified, metropolitan- wide initiative was necessary to strategically focus on the critical problems facing the city. According to official sources, the experience of concentrating on a set of key issues on a metro-wide basis has proven to be essential to the process of restoring the institutional and financial health of the city.

In late 1999, the GJMC consultants16 to produce a business plan for the development of "and integrated and comprehensive urban safety strategy" for the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan area. This suggests that a grand safety and security strategy is envisaged as part of the overall iGoli process. The business plan was presented to council and approved by the transformation Kekgotla. It emphasised four aspects:

The implementation of the Business Plan has not yet commenced, apparently because of problems in obtaining necessary financial support17 from national and provincial government.

Metro/Local Allocation of public safety roles in Johannesburg

Safety and Security functions are split between the GJMC and MLC level, with the metropolitan council focusing on the provision of safety and security and crime prevention programmes while MLC's amplify and complement some of the metro functions such as Fire and Ambulance services which are legislative functions of the central metro. The central Metro level is responsible for most enforcement activity, and officials from the Local Councils are co-ordinated into Metro-wide programmes. Public Safety and security functions at the central metro were inherited from the past Local government system. After the democratic elections of 1994 a negotiation forum was set up to investigate the feasibility of maintaining the system and it was decided that it should be maintained. The present structure lends itself largely to these developments.

The delivery of safety and security services and crime prevention programmes is currently managed through a complex arrangement that results in considerable inefficiency. The Security section of the Metro co-ordinates the activities of the four Public Safety Executive Officers in the MLC's - this creates complex lines of accountability and impacts negatively on operational efficiency. According to one Executive Officer of Public Safety in one of the MLC's , the need to manage this complexity on a daily basis results in an inward-looking bureaucracy, which is unable to maintain a focus on its core business of delivering a service to the community.

Budget for Public Safety in Johannesburg

The operating budget for public safety and security is R585 227 million for the year(s) 1999/2000

City Government Crime Prevention Initiatives in Johannesburg
The Johannesburg Safer Cities Project

The Safer Cities Project was started in 1997 as a collaborative effort between the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime (ICPC), the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS/Habitat), and UNICITY in Africa. It also includes interested local, provincial and national role players on interdepartmental and inter-agency approaches. The project aims to reduce crime as well as lessen the fear of crime, creating a safer urban environment where economic enterprises and community life can flourish. The project coordinates crime prevention initiatives at Metropolitan level, within the framework of the National Crime Prevention Strategy and also seeks to capacitate local government in dealing with crime and its effects. The Council largely plays an administrative and co-ordination role in the Safer Cities projects.

The Central Johannesburg Partnership

The Central Johannesburg Partnership (CJP) was formed in 1992 with the main purpose of revitalizing the inner city. The CJP has since become the main initiator of City Improvement Districts (CID's) based on the North American Business Improvement Districts. These are now provided for in Gauteng legislation.18 It does most of its work in partnerships with Council, the public and business.

City Law Enforcement in Johannesburg

At present, there are approximately 16 law enforcement agencies/units operating in the Metro and Local Councils in Greater Johannesburg, and the lack of co-ordination between them is a major problem.

The GJMC and the four MLC's each have their own by-laws which are enforced to a greater or lesser extent by their own law enforcement agencies/ personnel vi: electricity, building, inspectors, fire health, housing, inner city, licensing, parks, planning, roads and storm water, security, street trading, traffic, transport, treasury, water and waste.

Personnel and resources are under the control of the respective cluster/sub cluster head. Enforcement actions are seldom co- ordinated between the clusters/ sub clusters and notices served are processed independently. The majority of these agencies are understaffed and largely ineffective.

Towards Metro Policing in Johannesburg

IGoli 2002 proposes the establishment of the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD), and this has already been accepted, implementation is under way. The MPD is amongst the units19 which will report directly to Johannesburg's Chief Executive officer in the new Unicity model.

It is hoped the establishment of the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department will introduce clear lines of accountability, improve operational efficiency and enable focused delivery of safety and security services. The structure of the MPD will consist of four clusters:

The Safer Cities Project currently located at the GJMC will be incorporated into the JMPD, in line with the MPD's statutory responsibility for crime prevention.

The GJMC has committed itself to the development of an "integrated urban safety strategy" for the metro area. This process has stalled at the stage of business planning, and the next step is for the strategy development process to commence. Part of the business plan refers to the establishment of the MPD and the need to develop an integrated and coherent enforcement strategy for the city.

The Unicity process in Johannesburg

At present, the Transformation Lekgotla (TL) is mandated - in terms of an agreement between the five councils - to perform certain key functions on behalf of each of the four metropolitan local councils. To this extent, Johannesburg already functions in some respects as a unified city, with a high degree of centralisation at Metro level.

Johannesburg is planning to implement its unicity model in 2001 after the coming local government elections. The scrapping of the five local council administrations and concentrating them in one centrally located body, will assist in avoiding duplication and lack of co-ordination.

The current Public Safety component will, in the future unicity, be replaced by, and fall under the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Durban

The Structure of Metropolitan Government in Durban

The Durban's local government structure comprises the Metro council and six local councils. Together these structures provide a comprehensive range of regional services. The Durban Metropolitan Council is the controlling administrative body of six departments:

Safety and security functions of the Metro are located at the Emergency/Community Services department which co-ordinates six clusters:

Local Council Structures for Public Safety
Inner West Council

In the Inner West Council, the department of Public Safety is responsible for public safety functions. The department is responsible for three functions; namely

Municipal Security - the guarding of facilities - has been outsourced by the Inner West Council to private contractors, which are responsible to each line department. Disaster Management is a centralized function that is managed by the Corporate Services Directorate, which reports directly to the Town Clerk.

The departments of traffic, crime prevention and by-law enforcement each report to their respective Directorates, which report to the Town Clerk.

All the registered traffic officers in the Inner West jurisdiction are appointed as Peace officers in terms of Section 334 of the Criminal Procedure Act, as are a number of traffics wardens.20

The Inner West 's annual budget allocation for the department of public safety stands at R26 million operating budget and R0.98M capital budget.

The Outer West Council

Safety and security functions formed part of the Outer West's Protection Services, which fell under the Director of community Services until 30 April 2000. These functions now fall under the Metro Police - Outer West Unit.

The Outer West's current budget allocation - operational and capital estimates - for safety and crime prevention is R1,5 million.

The South Local Council

In the Southern MLC, safety and security functions are located under the office of the Chief of Protection Services. The South Local Council has a very small department with the Chief of Protection Services handling and co-ordinating the activities of the Traffic/Police section. The roles and functions of the Traffic/Police section are:

The South's Traffic/Police section also links with the SAPS. The section also runs six dog units which have SAPS crew members.

The South MLC Traffic Police section receives an annual budget of about R10 Million.

The North Local Council

Safety and security functions in the North are located at the Community Services Unit. The unit has an Assistant Director who co-ordinates the activities of the Departments of Traffic Policing, Crime Prevention and Support Services.

The budget dedicated to the Community Service Unit in the North Local council totals R20,4 million, of which R7,8 Million is dedicated to Traffic Policing, R4,8 Million to the Crime Prevention Department and R1,6 Million to the Security Department.

The Budget for Public Safety in Durban

The budget for Emergency Services stands at R360 million for 1999/2000, of which R178 million goes to the Metro Police.

City Government Crime Prevention Initiatives in Durban
Crime Prevention at the Durban Metro level

The Durban Metropolitan Council is involved in various crime prevention initiatives. The Safer Cities Project is a crime prevention project started in 1997 following a collaborative agreement between the United Nations Centre for Human Settlement (Habitat UNCHS), and the Durban Metropolitan Council. The project co-ordinates crime prevention initiatives at city level within the framework of the National Crime Prevention Strategy(NCPS). The project aligns all interested local, provincial and national role players on inter- departmental and inter- agency levels. The project aims to reduce crime as well as lessen the fear of crime in Durban, creating a safer environment where economic enterprise and community life can flourish.

The Safer Cities steering committee consists of members from Business Against Crime (BAC), the Provincial Secretariat of Safety and Security, and the United Nations Habitat. The Safet Cities Office is located within the Emergency Services Division, and co-ordinates the activities of all the departments involved in its projects. Local non-governmental organisations and victim empowerment groups have formed an advisory group for the Safer Cities Project. The advisory group provides a forum for interaction between stakeholders and interest groups in the area of crime prevention. Proposals and suggestions which emerge out of this forum feed into the Safer Cities Project.

The City Police, as a service unit of the Durban Metropolitan Council participates in the following crime prevention initiatives:

Crime Prevention at the Local Council level in Durban
Inner West Local Council

The Inner West Council's Department of Public Safety has entered into the following partnerships:

Outer West Local Council

The Council works in partnership with Safer Cities through operationalizing and implementation strategy. The Outer West Metro Police Unit also works in conjunction with local SAPS stations at certain times, assisting with roadblocks, raids on dagga plantations also visible policing on foot.

South Local Council

The following partnerships have been entered into by the South Local Council in pursuance of crime prevention:

The North Local Council

The North Council has entered into partnership agreements with a private company called TELUMED Pty (Ltd). The company works with council in ensuring observance to traffic rules. Violation cameras and parking meters have been installed in the Verulam and Umhlanga area. The parking meters are installed and serviced by the company which in turn takes the money from the meters. The Council has also recently entered into agreements with the Southern Sun Hotel which has donated six motorbikes to the council and gives R3000 00 every month to assist the council towards the payment of overtime staff particularly the beach patrol officers. Council has entered into an agreement with the property wing of the Tongaat Hullets Group to assist in the building of police stations in northern Durban.

City Law Enforcement in Durban
Metro level Law Enforcement in Durban

The Durban City Police was established in 1854. It had three legislative functions:

The Metropolitan Police will retain these functions even after the introduction of one Metropolitan council and police service for the whole of Durban. Other duties of the City Police are to protect council staff and property. The City Police also does investigations into the internal affairs of the Durban Metro Council, however, in the case of a criminal offences, the SAPS will investigate. Other safety and security functions are undertaken by the Department of Disaster Management, Fire and Emergency. They are generally responsible for flooding, fire outbreaks and natural disasters.

The Durban City Police enforces the following by-laws:

Other units dealing with by-law enforcement are the Fire department, Building Inspectors, Beach Inspectors etc. Whilst there exists enforcement agencies in the various departments, the Durban City Police is empowered to enforce these by-law as well and sometimes does by-law enforcement on behalf of the Fire or beach Inspectors.

Law enforcement at Local Council level in Durban

Enforcement of Building and Heath by-laws is undertaken at local council level.

Outer West Council

Metro Police Outer West has a staff of 16 personnel who perform their functions in the Outer West area of Greater Durban. The Outer West Council enforces a range of by-laws through the following personnel - Protection Officers, Building Inspectors and Health Inspectors. These personnel enforce building by-laws, animal by-laws, nuisance by-laws, informal trading by-laws, and by-laws governing informal settlements.

The North Local Council

The North Local Council has by-law enforcement powers in the areas of health, beaches and swimming pools, buildings and traffic. By-law enforcement officials are located in the offices of the respective department.(For example, by-laws relating to health are enforced by Health Inspectors). However there are Peace Officers who are empowered to enforce by-laws relating to any field and complement the by-law enforcement agents of the various departments.

Towards Metro Policing in Durban

On the 12th of January 2000, the Provincial cabinet and the MEC for safety and security approved the Durban Metro council's application for the establishment of a metro police service. On the 15th of July the MPS was established in terms of the South African Police Amendment Act 83 1998. The MPS will start operating on the 5th of July 2000.

The Unicity Process in Durban

In 1999, a Unicity committee was formed comprising representatives for all the MLC's and the Durban metro. Foundation for the establishment of a Unicity has already been laid in the past few months. From the 1st of May 1999 the resources21 of the six councils were transferred into the Metropolitan council, for example, the transfer of the traffic departments of all the six local councils into the metropolitan traffic component by resolution on the 1st of May 1999. These moves were not only precipitated by the Unicity developments, but, nationally, policy proposals for the establishment of Metropolitan Police Services were on the table, which added impetus to unification processes in the public safety area.

Cape Town

The Structure of Metropolitan Government in Cape Town

The Cape Town Metro is made up of six MLC's:

One significant difference between Cape Town and the other cities is that the MLC's do not regard the Cape Metro Council (CMC) as an over-arching or superior body; it is often seen simply as a seventh MLC-equivalent. The political arrangements in Cape Town are quite different to the other cities, and CMC is extremely small, relative to the metro-level structures in other cities.

Each Local Council has a Protection Services Directorate, into which the Public Safety functions fall. Each MLC has its own legal framework, and there is little coherence to the metro-wide by-law system, because of this. Co-ordination between the various MLC's on matters of public safety has been poor, although there are now attempts to remedy this through the establishment of a "Protection Services Advisory Committee" at Metro level.

Each Local Council has a committee made up of elected councillors which oversees Public Safety issues in the local jurisdiction.

The Strategic Approach of Cape Town

According to Council, whilst the primary responsibility of crime prevention rests with the South African Police Services, local government has an important role to play in planning crime prevention initiatives and coordinating a range of local agents in ensuring implementation. For this reason, the Metro established a Safer Cities programme in 1998. As far as crime prevention is concerned, one of the key objectives is to achieve a meaningful synergy of all existing crime prevention strategies by collapsing them into a coherent and integrated corporate approach to community safety.

As far as enforcement is concerned, the strategic approach appears to be to leave those functions at MLC level and encourage co-ordination, integration and standardisation, and not to move forward on establishing a Metro Police Service at this stage.

Metro/Local Allocation of Public Safety Roles in Cape Town

Each MLC has some sort of Public Safety "plan", but there are few activities other than regular enforcement, because of a lack of available funds.

The crime prevention structures of the Cape Town Metro are closely integrated into the provincial structures for safety and security in the Western Cape. The Metro's Safer Cities programme liaises with other agencies via the following structures established by, or related to, the Provincial government and the SAPS:

There are also attempts to link the new "Community Safety Forums" with the local and metro council structures.22

The Budget for Public Safety in Cape Town

The CMC's budget for public safety23 is approximately 7 Million this year. R1 million is dedicated to crime prevention projects whilst the remaining R6 million to the community patrol scheme and other safety and security functions.

City Government Crime Prevention Initiatives in Cape Town

A considerable amount of effort has already been spent on developing and furthering numerous crime prevention initiatives in support of the objectives of the Strategic Priority for Community Safety. This has however not been fully integrated into a comprehensive strategy for community safety.

The existing projects and programmes are grouped as follows:

There is a strong view that the Cape Town Safer Cities Programme needs to be fundamentally reviewed, especially in view of the fact that the promised United Nations funding to support the programme has not materialized to date.

City Law Enforcement in Cape Town

Overall in the Metro area, there are approximately 3 000 law enforcement personnel, including traffic officers. Through the new co-ordination structures, there is a process of integration, standardisation and training which should result in uniform conditions and quality of service.

In central Cape Town, there are several types of law enforcement operations:

We have not been able to ascertain the activities of the enforcement personnel in the other MLC's.

Towards Metro Policing in Cape Town

There has been some discussion of Metro Policing in Cape Town, but, as yet, there are no indications of a firm commitment to proceed with establishment.

The Unicity Process in Cape Town

The Unicity process in the Cape Town Metro is being managed by the Unicity Committee, which is made up largely of politicians from the local councils. The Unicity Committee has recently received a proposal from consultants addressing some of the issues of unification/integration insofar as they affect the law enforcement and crime prevention components of the six MLC's.

Conclusions

This report has attempted to provide a description of the structure and functioning of metropolitan governments in South Africa's four largest cities in respect of their public safety functions. The following can be identified as key challenges facing city government authorities:

Diverse Approaches

While all four metro's under scrutiny have adopted some sort of policy or approach to crime reduction, there is significant variation between them. This is particularly evident in approaches to metro policing, and we will be monitoring these developments closely. At a metro level, crime prevention initiatives are more systematic and focused,25 whilst at the local (MLC) level there is a lack of uniformity and a high degree of uncertainty about the role of the MLC's in crime prevention. The NCPS and the White Paper on Safety and Security's lack of clarity on local government's role in crime prevention has often been cited as one of the major reasons for this confusion. A corollary to this is the inconsistent interpretations of crime prevention which have been adopted by the local authorities, again in the absence of clear national guidelines.

Political Arrangements and the Metro/Local Relationship

The allocation of public safety resources at the central metro level or at the local MLC level appears to be an extremely political matter, and, hence, varies according to the political dynamics in each city. For instance, in Johannesburg, much of the enforcement capacity is located at the central metro level, while in Cape Town, there is very little enforcement at the central metro, with most of the enforcement carried out by MLC structures. There will be interesting developments in respect of the location of public safety functions as the Unicity processes move ahead.

Capacity and Resources

It is obvious, in all four cities, that there is a severe lack of internal capacity to take up the challenge of crime reduction. This relates to the general inexperience of social crime prevention among local government personnel in South Africa; and to the lack of anti-crime enforcement in cities other than Durban. The city councils all have some experience of traffic enforcement, but this will not necessarily translate into the capacity required to develop efficient Metro Police Services. This lack of capacity has been supplemented in all four cities by the fairly extensive use of consultants.

Local government's capacity to implement crime reduction initiatives depends largely on budget allocations, which determine the size and impact of such initiatives. The reality is that insufficient funds (due to the "unfunded mandate" or the fact that council funds are allocated to other priorities) have limited the capacity of the cities to develop effective crime reduction strategies. Some of the cities have sought international funds in order to remedy this situation.

The MPS and the Emphasis on Law Enforcement

Although all four cities have some sort of prevention programme, there is already a clear emphasis on enforcement as the preferred role of city governments. This is understandable, in the context of:

In Durban and Johannesburg, significant progress has been made in establishing the Metro Police Services, while there is little or no progress in Pretoria and Cape Town. These variations can be explained with reference to historical and political factors. It will be important to assess whether the speed of metro policing developments impacts on the prospects for implementation of social crime prevention programmes in each of the cities.

By-laws: Fragmentation and Harmonisation

In all four cities, there appear to be serious problems with the constitutionality and the 'harmonisation' (or standardisation) of by-laws. The seriousness of this problem appears to be under-estimated at present, but will become more apparent as the Unicities are established.

This problem is related to, and compounded by, the fragmentation of enforcement agencies in each of the cities, with various different council departments responsible for enforcement of different by-laws. One dimension of this problem is that the various enforcement agencies, even within one Metro or MLC, often do not work together, thus dissipating the impact of their efforts. This problem is particularly well illustrated in Johannesburg, where there are currently 16 different enforcement agencies in local government; and, even when the planned Metro Police Department is established, not all of these agencies will be integrated into it.

There is much talk of 'broken windows'-type approaches to by-law enforcement in the cities, but it is our view that this approach is not well understood, and probably not financially viable in the current context.

The Unicity Processes

The imminent establishment of the Unicities in the cities under scrutiny offers important opportunities for integration and strengthening of city governments' approaches to crime reduction. Resources within each city could be consolidated, and experiences shared. However, the regular effects of organisational change (insecurity and resistance among officials, organisational inertia, internal focus, confusion about priorities etc) can be expected to interfere with maximisation of those opportunities.

Civil Society Partnerships

The extent to which the four cities are working in partnership with civil society groups also varies significantly. This appears not to be directly related to whether or not a city is choosing to emphasise enforcement over prevention, as some of the enforcement agencies (such as the Durban City/Metro Police) are engaged in useful partnerships with community groups. Instead, it seems to be related to local political dynamics as well as the strength and experience of the local civil society groups in dealing with crime reduction.

Overall, there seems to be a lack of meaningful engagement by city governments in practical, project-based partnerships with civil society groups. This may be a result of the metro areas being too large for small community organisations and NGO's to engage with at a metro-wide level. More meaningful partnerships may be possible at a more local level, possibly even at the level of suburbs or neighborhoods.

These trends will be monitored by the City Safety Project over coming months, and further reports will be published.

References:

White Paper on Local Government (1998)

White Paper on Safety and Security (1999)

Greater Pretoria Metropolitan Council Annual Report 1998/9

Louw A (1998) Crime in Pretoria: The Results of City Victim Survey, Institute for Security Studies, Midrand

Gauteng Provincial Government City Improvement District Act No 12 (1997)

Notes:

1 White Paper on Local Government, 1998, p58

2 White Paper on Local Government, 1998, p59-60

3 The NPMSS retained its interim as a "metropolitan sub-structure" pending the finalization of moves towards the Mega City

4 GPMC Pretoria Metro Annual Report 1998/99

5 Report back on the crime prevention strategy for the Greater Metropolitan region, from the standing committee of Community Services – 12 August 1998

6 These refer to mobile stations and contact points.

7 Info taken from feasibility study report on the establishment of the MPS and Mega city by Booz Allen and Hamilton SA Ltd

8 The Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) – an independent NGO

9 The Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Crime in Pretoria: Results of a Victim Survey 1998

10 Booz Allen and Hamilton (SA) Ltd

11 Progress Report on a Municipal Police Service for the GPMA – Booz Allen and Hamilton Ltd

12 KORO is a Venda word which means gathering, session, committee or body

13 interview SD

14 Like the monitoring of public gatherings and marches etc.

15 GJMC is also in the process of developing its longer-term strategy – iGoli 2020

16 Business Plan produced by Resolve Ltd for GJMC

17 The cost of implementing the plan (ie the process of strategy development) was estimated at R8 Million.

18 The Gauteng Provincial Government City Improvement District Act no. 12 of 1997

19 The Heritage Services, Emergency Services, and Planning

20 The difference between a Traffic officer's Peace officer and the Traffic Warden Peace officer is that the former's powers are limited to by-law enforcement and the latter's powers cover all offences.

21 Infrastructure, capacity etc.

22 For more details about Community Safety Forums, contact UMAC, a Cape Town-based NGO.

23 This does not include the amounts budgetted by each of the MLC's in Cape Town.

24 Resolve Crime and Security Solutions

25 Safer Cities Project in Durban and Johannesburg; The GPSSA as Section 21 Company in Pretoria and 'a strategy for an integrated corporate approach to community safety' in Cape Town.

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