A new initiative has been launched to actively address the causes behind high levels of crime in the country, with the aim of realising the vision of a safer South Africa.  

 Action for a Safe South Africa differs in its approach to tackling crime by focusing on reducing the demand on the country's criminal justice system, as opposed to focusing on improving the country's police force, prisons and courts.

"We can have the best criminal justice system in the world but if the demand on the system remains the same, we will never really deal with the problem," said Project Leader Roelf Meyer at the launch of the initiative held in Johannesburg on Thursday.

Meyer, who together with Cyril Ramaphosa led the negotiations in the early 90's that resulted in the country's first democratic elections, launched the initiative with Barbara Holtmann of the Council for Science and Industrial Research (CSIR).

The initiative has been developed as a collaborative effort between the CSIR, the Institute for Democracy in South Africa, the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, the Institute of Security Studies, the Gordon Institute of Business Science, the International Marketing Council (IMC) and other research institutions and knowledge centres.

Presenting the action initiative, Holtmann outlined societal elements that contribute to producing citizens vulnerable to committing crime. In the first half of the cycle of crime, negatively influencing factors include dysfunctional families, childhood neglect, truancy, homelessness and alcohol abuse.

If children are not looked after at these early stages of development, it becomes harder to prevent them from moving on to the second part of the cycle of crime, explained Holtmann. This second part includes petty crime, gang activity, risky criminal and sexual behaviour, substance abuse and ultimately a generation of young adults with no skills and no hope.

"A generation of young people without hope is arguably the most frightening thing a society can have," added Holtmann.

The Action for a Safe South Africa aims to intervene within the cycle of violence at key junctures through the collaborative efforts of eight working groups. These include A Million Mothers, Peace in the Home, Opportunity of Youth, Action for Victims of Crime, A Role for Every South African, A Sober South Africa, [Guns] Unsafe in Anyone's Hands, and Second Chance.

A key element in the success of the initiative is mass involvement from all South Africans. "If we can focus on the right things and get as many people involved as possible, we can begin to see a change in the next 3 -5 years," said Holtmann.

Initiative organisers will be hosting a convention in August where representatives of the eight working groups will meet with key resource people in specialist areas of crime and safety. The output of the convention will be a Manifesto for a Safe South Africa and a detailed programme of action.

For more information on the convention or to find out how you can get involved in the Action for a Safer South Africa, click here.