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CHAPTER 3

BACKGROUND TO THE NMMM PROJECT

Published in Monograph No 103, November 2004

City Safety
Nelson Mandela Metro Municipality's Crime Reduction Strategy

Sibusiso Masuku and Traggy Maepa

 

Introduction to the Nelson Mandela Metro Municipality

 

The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality (NMMM) in the Eastern Cape province is made up of the three former municipalities of Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage and Dispatch. The NMMM is approximately 200,000ha in size, with boundaries stretching to Coega in the north and Rocklands in the west. It is the fifth largest metro in the country and the biggest municipality in the Eastern Cape in terms of geographical area. The municipalities that formed the NMMM have traditionally been under-resourced, with the bulk of resources being concentrated in the Port Elizabeth area.14
 
The population of the NMMM (also referred to below as ‘the metro’ or ‘the municipality’) is estimated at approximately one million. Just over half the metro’s population is black (54%), with a further 23% being coloured, 17% white, 1% Indian and 5% “other”.15 This population is characterised by marked differences in terms of poverty levels, education and access to government and private sector services. A majority of the black and coloured population resides in low-cost or informal settlements, situated mostly in the townships. The number of people living below the Minimum Living Level has increased from 31% of the population to 38% over the last five years.16 The population in the area is relatively youthful and under-educated. About 38% is under the age of 20 years.17 Only 29% of those older than 15 have matric or a higher qualification, and about 4% of adults have a tertiary degree. About 8.5% of the people over 15 years are functionally illiterate.
 
The metro is the largest contributor to the Eastern Cape economy, with its Gross Geographic Product making up 41% of the Eastern Cape ’s GGP.18 Major economic activities within the metro are supported by the motor vehicle and motor vehicle supplement industries that should be boosted by the Coega Industrial Development Zone. The NMMM also benefits from a growing tourist industry. The concentration of industries and the potential for industrial growth in the metro attracts many job seekers from neighbouring municipalities. As a result, the area experiences high rates of urbanisation and unemployment. The unemployment rate is estimated at 42% and is rising.19
 
Poverty, overcrowding, unemployment, racial inequalities, poor infrastructure and the lack of access to services are the major challenges facing the NMMM. According to the White Paper on Local Government, “municipalities are well placed to analyse and understand power dynamics within a community, and to ensure that those who tend to be excluded and marginalised from social and economic activities can become active and equal participants in community processes and in the transformation of settlements where they live”.20
 
Many of the challenges facing the NMMM are associated with criminality. It is therefore appropriate for the municipality to incorporate crime reduction within its broader plans to promote development. As such, the integrated development plans of the municipality should ensure affordable mobility between work, home, and recreation centres, combat crime, pollution and congestion, and structure the built environment to facilitate the participation of all its residents in the socio-economic activities of the area.21
 
Since most aspects of municipal service delivery impact directly or indirectly on crime prevention,22 municipalities have a mandate to develop policies that tackle crime problems within their boundaries. In doing so, municipalities are tasked with forming partnerships with other stakeholders such as national and provincial government and local non-governmental organisations and community-based organisations. According to the National Crime Prevention Strategy, municipalities are required to co-ordinate crime reduction programmes and activities of all the partners and ensure project monitoring and implementation.
 
This mandate has been recognised by the metro. The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality ’s Vision 2020 highlights the council’s role and position in reducing crime. Vision 2020 states that the “Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality practices social justice in a culture of public participation through an efficient, accountable, non-racial, non-sexist municipality that focuses on sustainable social and economic development, improving the quality of life of its communities in a safe and secure tourist friendly environment”.23
 
In responding to this mandate, the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality ’s Safety and Security Business Unit contracted the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) to provide technical assistance for the development of an integrated crime reduction strategy.

Origins of the project

 

The project to help develop a crime reduction strategy was first initiated in the then Uitenhage Transitional Local Council in March 2000 by the town clerk and the ISS. However, the local government election and the subsequent restructuring process that led to the establishment of the NMMM limited progress on the Uitenhage project. When Uitenhage was amalgamated with the Port Elizabeth and Dispatch Transitional Local Councils to form the NMMM, the Uitenhage town clerk, who was the key driver of the crime prevention project, assumed new responsibilities and had to withdraw from the project. This meant that considerable time and effort had to be invested in briefing new stakeholders in the metro administration on the aims, values and impact of the project.
 
In the course of these briefings, it became clear that a project focussing only on the Uitenhage area was unlikely to secure the political and administrative support required from the metro. However, there was much support for extending the crime prevention work done in Uitenhage to the whole NMMM area.
 
The initial support for a metro-wide crime reduction strategy culminated in a presentation by the ISS to the NMMM’s safety and security portfolio committee. The process for developing a crime reduction strategy was outlined along with the financial and administrative commitments required from the council. The committee unanimously endorsed the process proposed by ISS, as did the executive committee on 15 March 2002. Following the council’s formal endorsement, the ISS raised funding from the Open Society Foundation to cover some of the costs associated with the project. The funding was granted in July 2002 and implementation of the project started in September 2002.

Purpose of the project

 

Crime prevention is one of the NMMM’s key priorities. Making this a reality requires the metro to develop an integrated crime reduction strategy. Crime prevention is a crosscutting issue that affects various units within the municipality and other stakeholders such as provincial and national government, the private sector, as well as non-governmental and community based organisations. The role of the municipality is to design and oversee the implementation of a crime reduction strategy that employs an inclusive, multi-agency approach and addresses some of the inequalities that contribute to high crime rates.24
 
The aim of the project was to develop a strategy that provides short and long term plans aimed at addressing criminality and the causes of crime in the NMMM. The strategy draws on existing services provided by government and non-governmental service providers. Rather than replacing existing interventions, it seeks to guide and expand on these services and where possible, inspire development of new projects for effective crime prevention.

Project design

 

The NMMM crime reduction strategy was developed on the basis of research and consultations conducted by the Institute for Security Studies. These included conducting a safety audit, and reviewing existing local crime reduction mechanisms and resources in the metro using community and stakeholder surveys as well as available secondary documentation.
 
This methodology is based on the model outlined in Making South Africa Safe: A Manual for Community Based Crime Prevention, published by the South African Police Service in 2000. The model incorporates four steps:
  1. A crime audit to provide a profile of crime in the area and the capacity available to deal with it.
  2. The development of a range of interventions, outlined in a strategy document, to address the priority crimes identified through the audit.
  3. Implementation of the approved interventions (which would be the responsibility of the Council and other partners).
  4. Monitoring and evaluation by the Council.
As a research organisation, the ISS could assist the NMMM with the first two steps only. In terms of the first step, the following activities were conducted in the area:
The information gathered from the crime audit was used to prioritise the main crime problems in the metro, identify the most affected areas, and determine possible interventions based on existing capacity.