GOVERNMENT SAFETY STRATEGIES

Effective law enforcement and criminal justice options are believed to be the solutions in making Cape Town safer. In an open-ended response, respondents were asked to suggest what they thought the government should do to make Cape Town a safer place.

Figure 33: What the government should do to make Cape Town a safer place



The most popular response (28,2 per cent, which included more visible policing, personnel and resources) was that more resources should be made available to the police, as an action that the government should be taking to make Cape Town safer. This was followed by harsher penalties (24,3 per cent), infrastructure and socio-economic development (21,8 per cent), better law enforcement (15,7 per cent) and 'other' (10,1 per cent). The 'other' category included issues such as getting rid of gangsters or drug merchants (54 per cent), and the stepping down and replacement of the government (20 per cent).

Figure 34: What the government should do to make Cape Town a safer place by race



Policing, as in Johannesburg and Durban, is clearly the favoured solution for people living in Cape Town to improve safety, although support for socio-economic improvements, such as development, job creation and education, as additional solutions to crime, is also high. While all communities favour policing as an option, calls for socio-economic development and harsher penalties are being made from very diverse groups, if the steps that the government should take to make Cape Town safer are considered by race.

Calls for infrastructural and socio-economic development are predominantly made by Africans (39,1 per cent) and those living in the former African townships and informal settlements. The most vociferous calls for harsher penalties and the death penalty are made by whites (31 per cent), in keeping with the trend in other urban centres in South Africa, followed by coloured people (25,7 per cent). Coloured people are the most in favour of better law enforcement (20,5 per cent). The provision of more resources to the police by the government is recognised by all groups as a key intervention that can make Cape Town a safer place.

Levels of education, as well as geographic areas in which people live in Cape Town, are also significant determinants of opinions on what the government can do to make Cape Town safer.

Infrastructural development is regarded as by far the most important intervention which the government can make across education levels, with those with no schooling calling for it particularly vigorously (49,1 per cent). Apart from this, what citizens on the other educational levels think the government can do to make Cape Town safer, follows a similar trend, with policing and law enforcement options featuring once again.

The geographic area in which respondents live was considered in terms of whether it affects the type of interventions they think the government should make. Those living in the former coloured suburbs in the south of Cape Town regard better policing and law enforcement as a priority (25,6 per cent). More resources to the police is regarded as the most important by those living on the Cape Flats (34 per cent), and in the former white areas in the south (33,1 per cent). Infrastructural development is cited as the most important government intervention by those living in the former African areas (39,1 per cent), as well as those in the former white southern suburbs (23,4 per cent). Harsher penalties as a government solution to crime were mainly expressed by residents of the former white (44,3 per cent) and coloured northern suburbs (31,1 per cent), with those living in the former African areas the least likely to support such measures (12 per cent).

Figure 35: What the government should do to make Cape Town a safer place by education



Further cross tabulations by gender found that male and female responses were almost similar. The youngest and oldest age groups of people surveyed in Cape Town were the most likely to support harsher penalties. Victims and non-victims had similar responses, although victims were slightly more likely to support better policing and more resources to the police, probably because they had come into direct contact with the police and identified with the shortages.

SAFETY STRATEGIES OTHER THAN POLICING

Respondents were asked to identify one of five options, other than policing, that the government could employ to make Cape Town safer.

Figure 36: Government strategies besides policing to make Cape Town a safer place



When asked which government measures other than policing could best deliver safety, the majority of respondents selected more jobs for the unemployed from a range of five prompted options. The introduction of harsher penalties was the second choice (22,4 per cent).

There is a stark differentiation when these options are considered by race. While creating more jobs for the unemployed remains the most important government intervention across the board, significant variations occur with harsher penalties. Whites (33,4 per cent) and coloured people (22,1 per cent) consider this as crucial, compared to only 8,5 per cent of Africans who see the improvement of the local infrastructure as an equally significant action by the government (8,2 per cent).

The analysis of the survey results also included a consideration of education as a possible factor which influences people's opinions of the strategies, other than policing, that the government should employ to make Cape Town a safer place.

Figure 37: Government strategies besides policing to make Cape Town safer by education



Besides the more educated favouring harsher penalties (28,1 per cent), there is a similar trend in the type of interventions which people in Cape Town believe the government can employ to make the city a safer place. Once again, a cross-tabulation by age confirms that those older than 60 years (36,5 per cent) and those between 16 and 20 years (22,9 per cent) are the most in favour of harsher penalties. Residents of African areas are the most likely to call for more jobs for the unemployed (72,6 per cent) and are far less likely to call for harsher penalties (8,5 per cent). Interestingly enough, victims are less likely (20,4 per cent) to call for harsher penalties than non-victims (24,3 per cent), rather choosing more resources to the police (28,5 per cent) as the most favoured option.

INDIVIDUAL'S ROLES IN MAKING CAPE TOWN A SAFER PLACE

Given the high levels of crime and the limited resources, the government cannot be expected to carry full responsibility for safety. Citizens themselves - as is increasingly the trend elsewhere in the world and in South Africa - need to take active precautions to prevent crime. Thus, respondents were asked what they felt they could do to make Cape Town safer.

An open-ended question, asked individuals what they thought they could do to make Cape Town a safer place. This question forced the respondents to consider their contributions, if any, towards making Cape Town safer and, by implication, to consider crime prevention as not exclusively the responsibility of the government.

A significant percentage of respondents felt there was nothing (18 per cent) they could do as individuals to make Cape Town a safer place. Importantly, victims are less likely to feel there is nothing they can do to improve the safety in Cape Town. Of these, 15,2 per cent compared to 20,7 per cent of non-victims feel there is nothing they can do. Those who are the most likely to think there is nothing they can do individually, live in the former coloured areas in the south (28,9 per cent). Women are far more likely to believe there is nothing they can do to make Cape Town a safer place (23 per cent), compared to men (13,9 per cent).

Participation in community activities (49,2 per cent) was seen as the most important action to be taken by individuals, followed by co-operation with the SAPS. That citizens of Cape Town are willing to participate in community activities (far more so than residents of other urban centres), is positive. Those who had been victimised by crime saw community participation as something they could do to make Cape Town a safer place (51,1 per cent) and were more likely than non-victims to want to participate (47,5 per cent). Those who are the most likely to participate in community activity live in the formerly coloured Cape Flats area (60,7 per cent). Respondents between 21 and 35 years of age (53,5 per cent) are also more prepared to join community initiatives, while those who are the least likely to participate in community activities and believe they can do nothing personally to make Cape Town a safer place are older than 60 years (40,9 per cent). Women are slightly more likely than men to participate in community activities (52,1 per cent), but less likely to co-operate with the SAPS (11,7 per cent). Those with no schooling are the least likely to participate in community activities (36,4 per cent) and more likely to believe that there is nothing they can do to make Cape Town a safer place (33,3 per cent).

Co-operating with the SAPS is seen as the next most important individual action by people living in Cape Town. Importantly, despite a long history of antagonism with certain communities, the police are still seen as a key agency with which individuals can co-operate to prevent crime. Those living in the Cape Flats are the least likely to co-operate with the police (8,5 per cent), yet the most likely to participate in community activities (60,7 per cent). This raises a number of questions about the nature of community participation and whether these are vigilante activities, rather than co-operation with official structures. It is disconcerting that victims, who are likely to have come into contact with the police, are marginally less likely than non-victims to see co-operation with the SAPS as important. This may possibly be influenced by their negative perceptions of the way in which the police handled their reporting of a crime. Those who are better educated, are more likely to co-operate with the SAPS (20,4 per cent). Not surprisingly, victims are more likely to avoid crime and violence and use self-protection measures than non-victims.

Figure 38: What individuals can do to make Cape Town a safer place by race



Coloured people (53 per cent), followed by Africans (50,2 per cent) and whites (41,3), see community initiatives as important contributions to safety. In terms of co-operating with the police to ensure a safer environment, whites and Africans show a similar trend (21 per cent), while coloured people are less likely to see co-operation with the police as important (11,6 per cent). This may confirm the legacy of the police co-operating with gangs in the former coloured areas, thus alienating law-abiding citizens. Avoiding crime and violence by changing one's behaviour or location is highlighted by Africans (7,8 per cent) as an important action which they can undertake as individuals to make Cape Town a safer place. Often, it is the poorest group who see moving as an option to enhance safety, even though this may not be financially feasible.

More and better policing options are seen by people living in Cape Town as the way in which the government can make the city safer, and co-operating with the police is seen as a key role which individuals can play in assisting crime prevention initiatives. While citizens are still looking to the police to intervene in Cape Town's crime problem - which is positive in itself - the question needs to be raised how effective the police service in Cape Town really is, or is at least perceived to be, in controlling crime. According to the survey, it appears that the ability of the police to control and prevent crime in Cape Town is limited, which raises important challenges.