Pretoria - The South African Police Service (SAPS) and AfriForum have signed a cooperative agreement which will see them working together to promote safety and strengthen community participation in the fight against crime.
The agreement, which was signed on Monday by Acting National Commissioner Lieutenant General Khomotso Phahlane and AfriForum’s head of community safety Ian Camero, is the culmination of engagements between the two organisations.
In the agreement, the parties undertake to be of assistance to one another as needed and where appropriate and to engage with one another in order to establish how AfriForum can align its activities with the strategic objectives of the SAPS.
They will also ensure that information which will be of assistance to the SAPS in the prevention, combatting and investigation of crime, obtained from established AfriForum community safety structures, will be shared between the two entities.
The SAPS and AfriForum said they look forward to a lengthy and productive relationship which will be beneficial to the communities.
Camero said the agreement creates room for better communication between AfriForum and the SAPS and that it creates an opportunity for these institutions to share more information with each other in the effort to fight crime in the country.
“The police today officially acknowledged AfriForum’s security structure as a partner in the fight against crime. Through this kind of cooperation we can make South Africa a safer place,” Cameron said.
General Phahlane said the agreement is part of SAPS’s commitment to preventing and combating crime across all communities.
“We have engaged with AfriForum over the past year and recognise that this structure has an important role to play in the sharing of information, in anti-crime initiatives and in assisting the SAPS to engage identified communities in crime-curbing activities,” said General Phahlane.
“The South African Police Services, in implementing its Back to Basics approach, has repeatedly stated that forming partnerships across all spheres of the community is an integral part of ensuring that all in South Africa are and feel safe.
“The cooperative agreement between the SAPS and AfriForum is one of the tangible outcomes of this approach which seeks to reach out to all communities in our multi-cultural environment,” General Phahlane added. - SAnews.gov.za
