Action for a Safe South Africa (AFSSA) is a civil society initiative that has been established to directly address the underlying causes of the violent crime experienced by all South Africans. It will exist alongside other initiatives currently underway, aiming to complement and enhance these rather than duplicate efforts that have already been made. While acknowledging the importance of the Criminal Justice System (CJS), AFSSA's focus is rather on the social development response to making South Africa safe, thereby decreasing the heavy demands placed on the CJS.

AFSSA is two things:
It is a social movement and lobbying body, shifting mindsets of South Africans to a realisation that creating a safe South Africa is possibly and
It is a project implementation body, focusing on initiatives that promote social development to address the underlying causes of violent crime.

An overriding objective is therefore to unite and inspire all South Africans in a spirit of National Identity, using a compelling vision of a safe South Africa no longer oppressed by crime and violence.

In order to achieve this, AFSSA has eight areas of focus, namely the eight working groups that address different phases in the Cycle of Crime and Violence:

• Healthy Families, Resilient Children;
• Peace in the Home;
• 7-24 Opportunity of Youth;
• Recovery and Resilience;
• Multiplying the Power of One;
• Sober South Africa;
• Unsafe in Anyone's Hands;
• Second Chance.

AFSSA consists of a collection of individuals and organisations aiming to mobilise South Africans into getting involved in making South Africa safe. It is a collective effort of amongst others IDASA, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Resources Applied to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect (RAPCAN), the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), the YJ Marketer at Large, Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), Da Vinci Institute for Technology Management, Soul City, Mr Roelf Meyer (the project leader), Fevertree Consulting, Inzalo Communications and various individual citizens, including representatives of the ANC.

AFSSA is an agile entity with a focus on action, implementation and delivery. It will work in conjunction with a number of organisations, particularly for the implementation of programmes as defined in the working groups. It will be governed by a Steering Committee and a small Management Committee. Funding received for AFSSA will be held by an AFSSA Foundation, whose sole purpose will be to fund AFSSA projects. Although a number of risks exist for the success of the AFSSA initiative, there are mitigating actions for each of these and thus, in the next 3-5 years, AFSSA will make a significant difference in creating a safe South Africa!

Download the Business Plan

Download the Implementation Plan