ArticlesClimate Change, Inequalities, Urban SafetyLoad Shedding is a Human Rights ViolationAs we wrap up Human Rights Month and its activities promoting respect for fundamental human rights and restoring human dignity in line with the Bill of Rights, the sad reality is that our government is violating those very same rights every time there is load shedding. Human Rights Day urges South African citizens to remember the struggles and sacrifices made… Read More Gugu NonjingeMarch 31, 2023
Our News and EventsGender-based Violence, Inequalities, Migrants and Xenophobia, Policing, Social Cohesion, Urban SafetyCovid-19: The Intimacies of PandemicsThis workshop is structured around two recent projects: COVID-19: The Intimacies of Pandemics, is a special issue co-edited by Danai S Mupotsa and Moshibudi Motimele. In the midst of narratives that attempt to present the spread and effects of COVID-19 as the ‘great equaliser’ that infects indiscriminately, the effects have in fact been disproportionately shaped by gendered power relations. COVID-19… Read More CSVRJune 20, 2022
ArticlesMediaChildren and Youth, Urban Safety, Violence PreventionEarly Childhood Development Policies Can Strike at the Heart of Our Culture of ViolenceThe biggest issue to confront in dealing with violent crime is not organised groups of criminals or insurgents, but a normalisation of violence that infects interpersonal relationships in South Africa. Increasing police resources or deploying the military does not resolve this issue. We need policy measures that address this distortion of our culture, and early childhood development is key to… Read More Jesse CopelynSeptember 17, 2021
ArticlesMediaTrauma and Transition, Urban Safety, VigilantismMob Justice Is a Language in South AfricaFor residents of Plot 52 in the Zandspruit informal settlement and South Africa at large, the morning of May 19 2021 will not be soon forgotten. Right in front of children and community members, old and young, community members decided to take the law into their own hands, triggering a series of events and actions that cannot be reversed. Law-abiding… Read More Annah Moyo-KupetaMay 30, 2021
PublicationsResearchUrban Safety, Violence PreventionPerpetrators and Protectors: Centering Family Relations in Addressing Violence in Poor NeighbourhoodsThis report asks, ‘How and to what extent do families and kinship relations protect against, perpetrate and/or suffer from violence?’ The concern with understanding how families cope with violence in respectively protective and perpetrative ways emerges out of a partnership between the Liberian Association of Psychosocial Services (LAPS), the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in South Africa… Read More Global Alliance on Urban ViolenceMay 6, 2021
PublicationsResearchChildren and Youth, Gender-based Violence, Inequalities, Social Cohesion, Urban Safety, Violence PreventionResearch Brief: What Drives Violence in South AfricaThis research brief outlines the literature on drivers of violence in South Africa and then puts it in context by summarising views on violence among community members who work with CSVR in four local communities. The brief shows that violence prevention initiatives need to move beyond a cause-and-effect approach that focuses on episodes and types of violence. We should see… Read More Jasmina BrankovicApril 6, 2019
