In recent months, there has been a fair amount of media attention about community groupings that have come together to make their neighbourhoods safer. Yet these groupings are not new and they always have been, and remain, vitally important to the life of local communities. They play an active role in creating community cohesion, pride in neighbourhoods and in improving security. While the broad objectives of these local community safety groupings are shared, they differ in their structures, their programmes of action and their relationship with other security players such as the police and private security companies.  

The Municipality's Safer Cities Unit will host a National Consultative Conference on community safety under the theme Fighting Crime Through Community Participation.  The Conference will be held on 28 October 2009 at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli ICC.  The conference follows a successful launch of the Ward Safety Committees in June.  All spheres of government will play a role in deliberating on the safety of communities at ward level.

Martin Xaba, Head of Safer Cities Unit said, Engaging communities through identifying crime in the area will ensure a safer and more conducive environment for the community to live in. Communities should also work closely with government institutions to ensure that the crime is being dealt with.  

Ward councillors, South African Police Service, Community Policing Forums and NGOs are urged to drive their ward community safety plans to ensure that they curb criminal activities in the area. Sharing information with other municipalities will also help them capacitate in combating crime.

The Safer Cities Unit of the Municipality launched Ward Safety Committees at City Hall on 3 June. This is an initiative aimed at training and developing people on safety, curbing crime in their communities, and initiating community safety projects.

The Unit has have already trained, orientated local citizens on crime prevention strategies, mandates and tools that could be utilised in developing safety plans for each ward in all 100 wards.

The functions of the Ward Safety Committees are to establish street safety committees and undertake a situational analysis in their wards. They will also develop safety initiatives and projects in line with the Safer Cities Strategy, as well as co-ordinate crime prevention initiatives through a multi-agency approach and broad based community safety at local level.

Dr Michael Sutcliffe, Municipal Manager said, "Volunteers will be the eyes and ears of the community to help identify roots of crime. It is important to talk about criminals and hopefully volunteers will help the City to be the safest in the world"

The National Crime Prevention Strategy clearly spells out the role of Local Government as taking a lead role in building safer communities, as it is a level closest to the people. The White Paper on Safety and Security also encourages local government to form partnerships with communities.  "In fulfilling these mandates, the Municipality is proud to launch the process of establishing Ward Safety Committees," said  the City Manager.

eThekwini Municipality's Safer Cities Unit has established Ward Safety Committees, an initiative aiming at training and developing people on safety and curbing crime in their communities. The aim of Ward Safety Committees is to initiate community safety projects.

The purpose of this training is to orientate local citizens on crime prevention strategies, mandates and tools that could be utilised in developing safety plans for each ward.

People participating in the programme were chosen through consultations with communities at all 100 wards.

The functions of Ward Safety Committees is to establish street safety committees and, undertake a situational analysis in their ward. They will also in order to develop safety initiatives and projects in line with the Safer Cities Strategy, and co-ordinate a crime prevention initiatives through a multi-agency approach and broad based community safety at local level.

The National Crime Prevention Strategy clearly spells out the role of Local Government as taking a lead role in building safer communities, as it is a level closest to the people. The White Paper on Safety and Security also encourages local government to form partnerships within communities.  In fulfilling these mandates, the Municipality is proud to launch the process of establishing its Ward Safety Committees.

The Head for Safer Cities, Martin Xaba, said, "This is an interactive way of promoting community safety at ward level. The safety structures will implement specific community safety projects to deal with social crime prevention, effective policing, community mobilisation and crime prevention through environmental design projects. This initiative will address issues raised by locals through area profiling exercise.