Everyone has heard the saying about dropping a pebble in a pond and watching the ripples it makes spread outward in all directions and how life can be similar. Barbara Holtmann, Crime Prevention Research Leader at the CSIR (Council for Science and Industrial Research) has Africanised this saying: “How does one eat an elephant, not one bite at a time but with many hungry people.”

"Action for a Safe South Africa gives all of us the hope that violent crime can be eradicated and that men, women and children can live in peace - understanding that deep change comes not only from governments or the criminal justice system, but from the actions of men and women of integrity and courage."

At the recent Action for a Safe SA Convention, Yvette Geyer spoke to some of the participants and asked them what the Convention meant to them, and what they were planning to do to make South Africa a safe place to live in. See the interviews here.

At the end of August, Action for a Safe South Africa (AFSSA) held a four day convention where the movement began to grow from being a collaborative effort of a small group of organisations to being an explosive, organic and dynamic coalition of individual and collective activists who share a vision of a safe South Africa.

At the end of the convention, the participants developed a charter for a safe South Africa.

Many South Africans are fearful. To make matters worse, they do not feel in control of the circumstances which lead to their fear, so there is little respite. They are constantly looking over their shoulders or welling n the awful horror and shameful relief of the misfortune of others.