Crime and violence
Tackling crime and insecurity is a key priority. South Africans deserve to be safe and to feel safe, to walk freely and without fear in their neighbourhoods and public spaces.
During this administration, government focused on equipping law-enforcement agencies, which had been systematically weakened, to do their work effectively.
Government has strengthened the ranks of the police through the recruitment of 20 000 police officers over the last two years and another 10 000 in the year to come. An extra 5 000 police officers have been deployed to Public Order Policing.
Operation Shanela
The South African Police Service has launched Operation Shanela as a new approach to target crime hotspots, which resulted in over 285 000 arrests since May last year.
The Economic Infrastructure Task Teams that are operational in all provinces have had important successes in combating cable theft, damage to critical infrastructure and illegal mining.
Through close collaboration with the private sector, there has seen a reduction in security incidents on the rail network.
Border control
Government launched the new Border Management Authority last year to improve the security of the borders and it has already stopped over 100 000 people who tried to enter the country illegally.
Fight against GBVF
Together with civil society, government has developed the National Strategic Plan on GBVF, together with civil society, as a society wide response to this pandemic.
Around R21 billion was dedicated over the medium term to the implementation of the six pillars of the plan, including the economic empowerment of women.
New laws were introduced to strengthen the response of the criminal justice system to GBV and provide better support to survivors of such violence.
Government’s ultimate goal is to end GBV altogether by mobilising all of society. As part of this, government supports the call for a pledge that men in South Africa are invited to take to demonstrate their personal commitment to ending this scourge. Women are also in the process of developing their own pledge.
“We still have a long way to go to build safer communities, prevent violent crime and protect our infrastructure.
