DESCRIPTION: |
The function of a Community Safety Forum (CSF) is to coordinate the crime prevention activities of all government and non-government organisations (NGOs) that are involved in crime prevention in an area, which may cover several police station areas. This is so that unnecessary duplication can be avoided, and so that all organisations involved can talk to each other and be informed about what each is doing. CSFs are meant to develop complete safety plans for their areas and to ensure that they are implemented. All the Community Police Forums (CPFs) within an area covered by a CSF will be members of a CSF, and so will the South African Police Service police stations in that area. Because CPFs are represented, the community also has a say in what a CSF does. Other members of a CSF include relevant local, provincial and national government departments, and NGOs operating in the field of crime prevention. There are eleven CSFs operating in the Western Cape at present. The Multi-Agency Delivery Action Mechanism (MADAM) of the provincial government Department of Community Safety is a partnership of the Education, Health and Social Development departments as well as departments involved in the criminal justice system, especially the Department of Community Safety. MADAM appointed the NGO known as UMAC (which started in the 1980s as the Unrest Monitoring Action Committee, now called U-Managing Conflict) as the agency for setting up CSFs, and UMAC is still involved as the secretariat of most existing CSFs. CSFs were piloted in the Western Cape and there are more CSFs in the Western Cape than any other province. CSFs are funded by the British Department for International Development (DFID), the Open Society Foundation (OSF) and the Department of Community Safety, although it is planned that local authorities will eventually have to pay for sustaining CSFs. |
INSTRUCTIONS: |
To see whether a CSF is in your area and to look up the contact details for your CSF, click here. Alternatively, you can contact the Directorate: Social Crime Prevention in the Department of Community Safety (the main agency involved in MADAM) or UMAC with any queries about CSFs. Deon Oosthuizen 88 Station Road, Observatory Tel: 021 442 3600 Fax: 021 448 5476 |
PROVIDED AT: |
These facility categories: |
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GOVERNMENT BODY:
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Department of Community Safety (Provincial Government of the Western Cape) |
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Cape Gateway is a government service aimed primarily at citizens of the Western Cape, providing information on local, provincial and national government |  |