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This case study by GreenCape examines first-response partnerships in Cape Town during the early stages of the Covid-19 lockdown, focusing on how collaborations between civil society and the private sector built local economic resilience and secured food security for vulnerable communities.

This case study by GreenCape examines the implementation of an alternative service delivery model in the Witsand informal settlement in Cape Town, South Africa. Through a partnership between GreenCape, ThinkWifi, and community leaders, the project utilized an Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approach to co-design and deploy wifi-enabled solar street lights to address critical needs for connectivity and safety.

This policy brief examines the role of inter-sectoral collaboration and coordination in preventing violence in South Africa, using the Western Cape's After School Game Changer (ASGC) as a primary case study. It argues that violence prevention requires a holistic approach involving government, NGOs, and academic institutions to provide safe environments and life skills for youth, particularly in impoverished areas.

The June 2016 edition of the South African Crime Quarterly (No. 56), co-published by the Institute for Security Studies and the University of Cape Town, examines critical intersections of crime, justice, and social norms. The issue features research on the social barriers to policing domestic violence in Khayelitsha, the poor conditions within South African women's prisons, a methodology for measuring socioeconomic risk factors in high-murder areas, and the legal landscape of private prosecutions in Zimbabwe.

This research paper examines "criminal governance" in Cape Town, where organised crime networks operate as parallel authorities in areas of weak state capacity. It argues that these networks are not merely parasitic but are embedded in a dysfunctional society shaped by apartheid-era spatial planning, high unemployment, and state inefficiency. The paper highlights the diversification of crime into property and cyber fraud and criticizes state responses for over-relying on repression rather than addressing the socioeconomic root causes.

This research paper by GreenCape examines the use of Performance-Based Contracts (PBCs) to reduce Non-Revenue Water (NRW), drawing on international experiences from countries such as Brazil, Malaysia, Thailand, and Ireland. It outlines the technical, financial, and managerial challenges of NRW reduction and provides guidance on scoping, risk-reward balancing, and ensuring the sustainability of water savings for public utilities, with a particular focus on the South African context.

The December 2009 edition of SA Crime Quarterly examines the state of crime and justice in South Africa, highlighting a reversal in the downward trend of overall crime rates and the rise of 'trio crimes'. The report analyzes the effectiveness of social crime prevention versus law enforcement, the implementation of right-to-information laws, and the systemic challenges within the correctional and policing systems.

This research paper critiques the Red Door initiative in South Africa's Western Cape province, arguing that political pressure to claim success has led to the funding of a superficial training programme that prioritizes quantity of participants over actual job creation and business viability.

This report from the Institute for Security Studies provides a comprehensive analysis of South African crime statistics for the 2003/04 financial year, alongside thematic studies on the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act, the 2005 firearms amnesty, and the nature of gang rape in inner-city Johannesburg.

The Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) submitted this supporting affidavit to the High Court of South Africa to be admitted as an amicus curiae in a case involving a water use licence for a proposed coal mine. The EELC argues that the second respondent's attempt to seek punitive costs against public interest lawyers creates a "chilling effect" that discourages the representation of marginalised actors and threatens access to justice.

This briefing by the Institute for Security Studies examines the rise of lawlessness in South Africa, arguing that it is driven by government failure in service delivery and endemic corruption. The author warns that increasing violence in protests, the rise of vigilantism, and the perceived exemption of certain sectors from the law could lead to a full-scale revolt unless citizens hold the government accountable.

This policy brief examines the relationship between urban design and organised crime in Cape Town, arguing that apartheid-era spatial planning created dysfunctional environments that facilitate criminal networks. It discusses how inadequate housing, poor infrastructure, and economic marginalisation allow gangs to act as parallel authorities, and recommends integrating crime prevention strategies into urban planning to reduce the influence of organised crime.

This report evaluates the Community Safety Forum (CSF) project in the Western Cape, South Africa, which was launched in October 1998 to facilitate multi-agency crime prevention initiatives. While the project succeeded in establishing networks for information sharing and improving interaction between government departments and civil society, it struggled to translate these forums into concrete crime reduction activities due to a lack of decision-making authority and overly ambitious, non-actionable safety plans.

This report by the Institute for Security Studies examines how to map murder and violence in South Africa when official police data is unavailable or outdated. Using the Western Cape as a case study, it argues that because violence is clustered in specific areas, data-driven mapping is essential for effective prevention. The author proposes several alternative data sources, including health facility trauma records, community police forums, smartphone applications, and municipal emergency systems, to identify violence hotspots and guide interventions.

This report, produced by a partnership between the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), and the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI), proposes a framework for an 'integrated land administration' system in South Africa. It argues that current land governance is fragmented, dualistic, and hindered by a legacy of racial segregation, which undermines land reform and social cohesion. The document defines land administration as the operational component of land governance and outlines the Integrated Land Administration Project (ILAP) to address these systemic failures through stakeholder engagement and institutional reform.