AfriForum and SAPS sign cooperative agreement to combat crime

AfriForum and the South African Police Service (SAPS) today signed an historic cooperative agreement to establish an integrated approach to building safety and strengthening community participation in the fight against crime.

This agreement is the culmination of engagements between the two organisations with a view to enhancing communication and liaison between them and promoting joint problem identification and problem solving in relation to crime.

In this cooperation agreement the parties undertake to:

• Be of assistance to one another as needed and where appropriate;
• Engage with one another in order to establish how AfriForum can align its activities with the strategic objectives of the SAPS; and
• Ensure that information which will be of assistance to the SAPS in the prevention, combatting and investigation of crime, obtained from established AfriForum community safety structures, will be shared between the two entities.

Ian Cameron, Head of Community Safety at AfriForum, says that this agreement creates room for better communication between AfriForum and the SAPS, as well as an opportunity for these institutions to share more information with each other in the effort to fight crime in the country.

“The SAPS today officially acknowledged AfriForum’s security structure as a partner in the fight against crime. Through this kind of cooperation we can make South Africa a safer place.”

The Acting National Commissioner of the SAPS, Lt Gen. Khomotso Phahlane, says that the SAPS is committed to preventing and combating crime across all communities.

“We have engaged with AfriForum over the past year and recognise that this structure has an important role to play in the sharing of information, in anti-crime initiatives and in assisting the SAPS to engage identified communities in crime-curbing activities,” says Lt Gen. Phahlane.

“The SAPS, in implementing its Back To Basics approach, has repeatedly stated that forming partnerships across all spheres of the community is an integral part of ensuring that all in South Africa are and feel safe.

“The cooperative agreement between the SAPS and AfriForum is one of the tangible outcomes of this approach, which seeks to reach out to all communities in our multi-cultural environment,” Lt Gen. Phahlane concludes.

AfriForum and the SAPS look forward to a lengthy and productive relationship which will be beneficial to the communities that they jointly serve.