MEC Fritz welcomes WC Safety Plan progress through joint efforts

The Minister of Community Safety, Albert Fritz, welcomes the progress made on the implementation of the Western Cape Safety Plan through its partnership with the Western Cape Economic Development Partnership (EDP).

The EDP are a key advisor and partner in the implementation of the Safety Plan. They were established in April 2012 by over 150 institutional stakeholders to improve the performance of Cape Town and Western Cape’s socio-economic development system.

In 2018/19, EDP collaborated with the Western Cape Government and City of Cape Town on the Whole of Society Approach (WoSA), a programme which built collaborative area-based teams and learning networks to improve service delivery, and successfully established learning platforms for each respective programme. WoSA programmes were established in Saldanha, Drakenstein, Manenberg and Khayelitsha.

Minister Fritz said, “The EDP are playing a pivotal role in acting as a bridge between the Western Cape and other relevant stakeholders such as SAPS, local government and academia, ensuring synergy and efficiency in the implementation of the Safety Plan. The EDP understands that the implementation of the plan cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach, but rather aims to ensure that our response is tailored to the needs of the community.”

EDP CEO Andrew Boraine said, “Designing collaboration within such a system requires a neutral intermediary role. The EDP has a long history of working as an intermediary organisation, with broad-based experience in developing relationships between role players who share a common goal, but who may not have a shared agenda or the experience of working together.”

As part of its mandate to support the implementation of the Western Cape Safety Plan, the EDP has employed former Western Cape Police Ombudsman, Johan Brand, to facilitate the formation of multi-stakeholder partnerships, improve system relationships, and to coordinate the formation of area-based safety teams as required. “Mr Brand has extensive experience based on his previous roles in SAPS, the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry, and as the Western Cape Police Ombudsman,” said Mr Boraine. 

Minister Fritz added, “I welcome the appointment of Mr Brand to this new role. He has ample experience within the safety sector and has amassed significant networks, which will assist him in serving as an interlocutor between the EDP and the Western Cape Government.”

Minister Fritz added further, “The Western Cape Government’s Covid-19 Recovery Plan has Safety as one of its key pillars, and considerable focus and resources are being allocated to this area.  The safety priority is to reduce inter-personal violence, which requires an evidence-informed, data-led, and area-based public health approach to law enforcement and violence prevention.”