PRETORIA, GAUTENG — South African municipalities have been given a strict 60-day deadline to conduct comprehensive women’s safety audits to identify and mitigate high-risk areas. The directive, issued by President Cyril Ramaphosa, requires local councils to work alongside provincial governments and the police to address infrastructure and environmental factors that threaten the safety of women and girls.
Nozibele Makanda, speaking on behalf of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), confirmed that the association welcomes the President’s urgent measures to confront gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF). According to the directive, municipal councils must identify specific hazards within the 60-day window, including broken streetlights, overgrown public spaces, abandoned buildings, unsafe transport routes, and poorly secured parks.
Immediate Action and Resource Allocation
Makanda described the President’s instructions as “marching orders,” emphasizing that municipalities must act quickly to make communities safer as part of their constitutional responsibility.
“Municipalities must work with what they have now in terms of resources to quickly audit those hotspot areas,” Makanda explained. She noted that councils should immediately use available resources to clear overgrown vegetation, fix streetlights, and monitor areas that make women feel unsafe. While acknowledging that resources remain scarce, she stated that municipalities will package their needs for further work, but immediate tasks must be addressed with current capabilities.
While the safety audits focus heavily on public spaces, Makanda highlighted a critical underlying reality: the home remains the primary danger zone for women and children, as they are frequently harmed by people they know. However, she stressed that public safety spaces must still be secured through early prevention, starting safety audits at the village and street level to identify and rectify immediate risks. She called for firm accountability, backed by funding, technical support, and clear cooperation between municipalities, provinces, the police, and communities.
Tackling Alcohol Bylaws and Enforcement Gaps
Addressing another measure announced by the President—an enforcement package to reduce alcohol-related violence to be developed by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition—Makanda pointed out that municipalities already possess the necessary bylaws. The challenge, she noted, lies in enforcement capacity.
While municipalities can promulgate bylaws regulating liquor trading hours and work with liquor boards to cancel non-compliant licenses, they lack the capacity to enforce them independently. Makanda clarified that it is the duty of the South African Police Service (SAPS) to enforce these bylaws and make arrests. She emphasized that law enforcement agencies can only support municipalities effectively when the bylaws are clear and strictly adhered to.
Combating Substance Abuse at the Local Level
Substance and drug abuse were also identified as major contributing factors to GBVF. Makanda described alcohol availability, particularly to underage youth, as a pandemic requiring a “whole of society” approach to address root causes.
To combat this, municipalities are working with the Central Drug Authority to establish Local Drug Action Committees. Headed by municipal mayors, these committees coordinate community-level responses, identify the sources of drugs, and target known drug peddlers. Makanda urged communities to stand up against substance abuse and work through these local committees to bring solutions to their neighborhoods.
Driving Local Dialogues and Youth Inclusion
When asked if municipalities should wait for the national government’s national dialogue to address GBVF, Makanda insisted that these conversations are too urgent to delay. She noted that municipalities already have public participation offices, led by Speakers and Mayors, which collaborate with stakeholders like the Moral Regeneration Movement, churches, and traditional authorities.
Furthermore, Makanda highlighted the role of the SALGA Youth Commission in supporting national youth dialogues. She emphasized the principle of “nothing for them without them,” ensuring that young people—who are often the most exposed to substances and violence—have their own platform to drive localized dialogues directly within their communities.
Strengthening Metro and Rural Law Enforcement
The interview also highlighted the disparities in law enforcement capacity between metropolitan and rural areas. While metro municipalities have municipal police functions, smaller and rural councils rely on peace officers.
Makanda praised multi-disciplinary teams combining municipal police and SAPS, citing a successful model in KwaZulu-Natal where the Premier signed an agreement with mayors to utilize all available enforcement capacity. For municipalities without metro police, peace officers are deployed to enforce bylaws using available legislation.
To bridge the capacity gap, SALGA has developed an institutional model for bylaw enforcement, providing guidelines for the minimum requirements municipalities need to build their capacity. Makanda called on provincial governments to provide training and resources, such as vehicles and firearms, for peace officers.
Finally, Makanda proposed a structural shift, suggesting that the Minister of Police consider assigning specific investigative capacity to municipal police regarding bylaw contraventions. This would allow municipal officers to handle investigations independently rather than constantly handing them over to SAPS, streamlining the enforcement process and improving local safety outcomes.