The dissertation aims to explore the impact of rape on human security and hence to drawn conclusions about rape as a national security concern in South Africa. The dissertation puts forward six propositions to be explored and tested: · Forcible rape undermines human security. · The extent of rape in South Africa constitutes a widespread threat to the personal safety of especially women and children. · The constitutional commitment to gender equality, the empowerment of women, the rights of children and the right to security of the person are indicative of the severity with which South African society views rape. · These factors combine to render rape a national security concern in South Africa during the past decade, requiring direct measures to be undertaken. · This situation obliges a coordinated government strategic interpretation of the impact of rape on constitutional rights and stability, and evaluation of government policy in this regard. · An integrated government strategy that entails close cooperation with civil society is required to enable the countering and reduction of rape and the ultimate construction of a rape-safe culture in South Africa. The dissertation begins with a conceptual exploration of the concepts of rape, violence, gender violence, human and national security, and then provides an outline of how these concepts have been applied in the post-1994 South African context. Human security is identified as a core element of South African national security. Against the background of the conceptual definitions of terminology used in the dissertation, and the outline of the application of these concepts in South Africa, the extent and nature of rape is described and analysed. The dissertation avoids over-utilisation of statistics given that rape statistics are based to a large extent only on those cases that are reported to the police, and there is a range of factors that result in the under-reporting of rape. The dissertation then describes and comments on the government’s response to rape in the period 2000-2003, outlining the inter-departmental strategies that have been initiated by Cabinet. Through this analysis, the seriousness with which government and parliamentary representatives have viewed rape has been indicated, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the governmental response to rape. This has enabled an indication of certain key aspects of governmental response that must be addressed if the security risk of rape is to be contained. The dissertation concludes that the propositions are indeed supported by the both exploration of the South African policy on rape, human and national security, as well as the operational practice of the relevant government departments. The dissertation indicates a strong emphasis on the criminal justice prosecution of rape cases, and an imbalance in the social crime prevention dimension of government’s response to rape. It is argued that for a successful strategy to combat rape and to achieve a rape-safe culture in South Africa, an integrated governmental response, with a close social compact with civil society, balancing both improved efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal justice prosecution of rape cases, and social crime prevention that addresses the causes of rape, is required. / Dissertation (M (Security Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Political Sciences / unrestricted

The aim of this study is to assess the implementation of the Youth Crime Prevention Desk (YCPD) programme in the Ekurhuleni North Cluster in Gauteng. Since the Social Crime Prevention Strategy was introduced in the South African Police Service (SAPS), no study has been conducted in the organisation to assess whether this strategy has yielded the expected results in line with its objectives. Data was collected by means of in-depth interviews as well as focus group interviews with Community Policing Forum (CPF) members, YCPD programme community volunteers, SAPS social crime prevention coordinators, Department of Community Safety (DoCS) social crime prevention coordinators and a station commander in the Ekurhuleni North Cluster. These participants are closely involved with the YCPD programme and freely expressed their views, understanding, knowledge and beliefs in relation to the implementation and associated activities of the YCPD programme. In addition, the researcher conducted a comprehensive literature study of the national legislation, SAPS policies and directives that oversee and promote social crime prevention in South Africa, as well as library resources and international studies. Various objectives were fulfilled in the execution of this study:  It was determined that social crime prevention guidelines are not complied with regarding the implementation of the YCPD.  It was determined that the YCPD is not achieving its proposed aims and objectives. In addition, this study and its results provide a framework for mitigating the challenges encountered during the implementation of strategies for improving the establishment of the YCPD in the Ekurhuleni North Cluster. The findings of the research indicate that the YCPD programme has not been effectively implemented within the Ekurhuleni North Cluster, since it became evident that the YCPD role-players are confronted by various challenges, which impede the proper implementation of the programme. Based on the findings of this study, a Youth Crime Prevention Desk Implementation Framework was developed. This framework could serve as a guideline advising the South African Police Service, Department of Community Safety, Community Policing Forums and Youth Crime Prevention Desk programme’s community volunteers in the Ekurhuleni North Cluster how the implementation of the programme could be improved. This framework could also contribute towards further identifying best practices with a view to benchmarking such a framework in other areas in South Africa. This study makes a significant contribution to the improvement of the implementation of the Youth Crime Prevention Desk programme in the Ekurhuleni North Cluster and to youth social crime and violence in general. / Police Practice / D. Litt. et Phil. (Police Science)