AfriForum, cops partner in crime

The South African Police Service (Saps) and AfriForum yesterday morning signed a historic cooperative agreement, which has established an integrated approach to building safety and strengthening community participation in the fight against crime.

National police spokesperson Brigadier Sally de Beer said this agreement is the culmination of engagements to enhance communication and liaison and promote joint problem solving in relation to crime.

AfriForum’s head of community safety, Ian Cameron, said: “The police now 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 police are committed to preventing and combating crime across all communities, the acting national commissioner of the Saps, Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane, said.

“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.

“In implementing its back-to-basics approach, the police have repeatedly stated that forming partnerships is an integral part of ensuring that all in SA feels 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,” Phahlane said. The parties undertake:

To be of assistance to one another as needed and where appropriate;

To engage with one another to establish how AfriForum can align its activities with the strategic objectives of the Saps; and

To ensure that information which will be of assistance to the police in the prevention, combatting and investigation of crime, obtained from established AfriForum community safety structures, will be shared between the two entities.

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.

Lt-Gen Khomotso Phahlane Acting national commissioner of the Saps