SA Crime Quarterly

This report evaluates the first five years of South Africa's metropolitan police departments (MPDs), noting their heavy focus on traffic enforcement over crime prevention due to resource constraints and a lack of investigative powers. It also details the transformation of public order policing into Area Crime Combating Units (ACCUs) and assesses the impact of 'zero tolerance' community courts in the Western Cape, finding that while they improve access to justice, some (like the Cape Town court) may disproportionately target homeless populations.

• Metropolitan Police Departments (MPDs) were established in five South African cities between 2000 and 2002: Durban (July 2000), Johannesburg (April 2001), Cape Town (December 2001), and Tshwane and Ekurhuleni (February 2002). Unlike the national South African Police Service (SAPS), MPDs only have jurisdiction within their specific local government authority boundaries.
• MPDs face significant resource constraints, with a much lower officer-to-civilian ratio than the SAPS. For example, the SAPS 2004/05 Annual Report cited a national ratio of 1:511, whereas MPD ratios are significantly higher, such as 1:5,252 in Ekurhuleni and 1:3,072 in Tshwane.
• Traffic law enforcement dominates MPD activities because it is a traditional local government function and generates revenue. In the last quarter of 2003, 80.5% of calls logged by the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department were traffic-related, while only 9% related to crime.
• Inter-agency collaboration between MPDs and SAPS has been hindered by professional rivalry, with SAPS reportedly viewing MPDs as a "junior partner." However, relationships have improved through joint operations and the formation of the National Forum for Municipal Police Services (NFMPS) in 2001.
• Public order policing in South Africa transitioned from the repressive Internal Stability Division (ISD) of the apartheid era to a service-oriented approach after 1994. In 2001, SAPS began transforming public order units into Area Crime Combating Units (ACCUs), shifting their primary focus from crowd management to intelligence-driven crime combating, such as tackling bank robberies and vehicle hijackings.
• Community courts in the Western Cape (Mitchells Plain, Fezeka, and Cape Town) were established to implement a "zero tolerance" approach to petty crimes and alleviate magistrates' court caseloads. While generally functioning satisfactorily, they deviate from the "Hatfield model" based on local needs.
• The Cape Town community court differs significantly from the Hatfield model by primarily targeting "lifestyle crimes" committed by homeless adults, such as drinking and urinating in public. This has led to concerns that the court targets the poor rather than addressing general crime levels.
• Evaluation of the Fezeka community court revealed that 63% of deferred fines from November 2005 remained unpaid, and warrants for arrest had not been issued in those cases, highlighting issues with the effectiveness of sentencing in low socio-economic areas.

APA

Institute for Security Studies (2006). SA Crime Quarterly. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/CQ15FULL.PDF

Chicago

Institute for Security Studies. SA Crime Quarterly. 2006. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/CQ15FULL.PDF.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Security Studies |title=SA Crime Quarterly |date=March 2006 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/CQ15FULL.PDF |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforsecuritystudies2006crime, author = {{Institute for Security Studies}}, title = {{SA Crime Quarterly}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2006}, month = mar, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/CQ15FULL.PDF}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }