WHY WAIT?

The author argues that crime prevention in South Africa is often stalled by a dichotomy between long-term social regeneration and short-term law enforcement. The paper proposes a third way: using municipal by-laws to target 'those with something to lose'—such as property owners and business licensees—to disrupt the unregulated environments that enable urban crime, rather than relying solely on the police to address deep-seated social inequalities.

• Crime prevention in South Africa is split between 'social crime prevention', viewed as a long-term process to address social and economic inequalities, and 'crime prevention through effective criminal justice', which is seen as a short-term law enforcement option.
• The National Crime Combating Strategy (NCCS) implemented a two-phase approach: Phase one (2000-2003), known as "Operation Crackdown", used 'zero tolerance' and joint police-military operations in 145 station areas to stabilise crime. Phase two (2004-2009) aims to 'normalise' crime levels through sector policing and addressing the causes of crime.
• The author suggests that municipal by-laws can be used to change social conditions in the short term by targeting individuals who have assets to lose, such as building owners in inner cities. By regulating these environments—for example, requiring owners to keep identity documents of residents—the state can disrupt the 'cosy' cocoons that protect criminal enterprises.
• The paper proposes using zoning and municipal taxes to regulate the proliferation of firearms and alcohol. This includes suggesting that municipalities could offer tax rebates for buildings that are 'firearm free zones' or use zoning to relegate undesirable liquor-related activities to specific areas.
• In the Hillbrow area, high robbery rates are linked to foreign nationals who carry cash because they lack the identification needed to open bank accounts. The author suggests providing secure rental strongboxes with no identification required as a way to protect their savings and track foreign commercial activity.
• The author distinguishes this approach from 'zero tolerance' policing. While zero tolerance focuses on moral regeneration and enforcing social norms (like public drunkenness), the proposed by-law strategy focuses on 'market disruption' and disabling the infrastructure that urban criminals rely on.
• The primary responsibility for enforcing these local by-laws lies with the municipal police, rather than the South African Police Service (SAPS), who are often overwhelmed by serious crimes like murder and rape.

APA

Institute for Security Studies (2004). WHY WAIT? https://issafrica.org/01-jun-2004-sacq-no-8/why-wait

Chicago

Institute for Security Studies. WHY WAIT? 2004. https://issafrica.org/01-jun-2004-sacq-no-8/why-wait.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Security Studies |title=WHY WAIT? |date=1 June 2004 |url=https://issafrica.org/01-jun-2004-sacq-no-8/why-wait |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforsecuritystudies2004why, author = {{Institute for Security Studies}}, title = {{WHY WAIT?}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2004}, month = jun, url = {https://issafrica.org/01-jun-2004-sacq-no-8/why-wait}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }