This practice guide is intended for all stakeholders working for safer South African cities. It is for government officials, politicians and community members.

It deals with the questions: What are the effective ways of supporting the shared work of municipal safety functions, planning and implementation? How can systems across municipalities better respond to the safety crises in our cities? How can politicians and officials work together better for safer cities with a shared sense of purpose and common values? What skills do officials and politicians require in order to optimise their shared work of urban safety? And what institutional structures best facilitate urban safety interventions?

This practice guide draws on engagements with 3 of South Africa’s metros: the City of Tshwane, the City of Ekurhuleni and the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality. In-depth interviews and a series of workshops focused on how to optimise urban safety in municipalities through institutionalisation and building the relationships between the political and administrative arms of government. The best practice and lessons harvested in these interactions, as well as learnings from available material on urban safety processes in municipalities, are incorporated in this guide.

Local government is required to use its various systems and strategies to create safer, more inclusive, and sustainable communities. It is recognised that urban safety is complex and involves the achievement of conditions that meet social, economic, developmental and spatial needs. The servicing of these needs involves multiple sectors of a municipality. A shared approach recognises urban safety as the responsibility of the entire institution – both the executive and the administration – the politicians and officials – who must collaborate to realise safety.

It is precisely because urban safety is a cross-cutting issue that the strategies, plans and actions to intervene in the interest of safer cities are so dependent on good working relationships and effective coordination across municipalities. Within municipalities, effective working relationships for urban safety are required between politicians and officials as well as between departments. And because it is a concern that impacts the lives of all residents, effective intervention requires that there be effective relationships between the municipality and community stakeholders.

The interface between these actors who impact the sustainability of urban safety interventions is affected by changes in local government, poor role clarification, weak relationships, a lack of credible data, ineffective communication, and inadequate accountability.