Eight cities attended the Cape Town event, while 26 cities from 10 countries joined the Johannesburg gathering.

‘It is encouraging to see so many cities in South Africa, and the continent, show concern at the increase of violent extremism, hate, polarisation, and extremism. More than that, they are willing and ready to counter and tackle these incidents by joining forces with countries already part of the network.

‘The timing is appropriate, too given the global commemoration today, 18 June, of International Day for Countering Hate Speech. It is incumbent upon us all to speak up against, and call out hate speech, refute misinformation with facts, and halt the violence and intolerance that hate speech incites,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith. 

The South African events follow one in February where 35 African countries met in Ethiopia for discussions around an integrated response to countering violent extremism (CVE).

‘There the  aim was to exchange ideas, experiences, and challenges in developing and operationalising policies and programmes that enhance trust, cohesion and coordination among the relevant stakeholders, and to help establish realistic frameworks and early warning systems.  

‘This has spurred the City’s Safety and Security Directorate on to finalise our own draft framework on countering and preventing violent extremism,’ said the directorate’s portfolio chairperson, Councillor Mzwakhe Nqavashe. 

Some of the main points of the City’s framework are:

‘Based on needs identified during our workshop in Cape Town, Strong Cities will continue to support city-city learning on the prevention of hate and extremism with a focus on practice exchange and enhancing collaboration to address issues of crime/threat displacement and shared threats across municipalities. 

‘We will also facilitate dialogues between cities and the national government, with a view to improve cooperation on prevention. Strong Cities will help equip our cities with global perspectives, practices and insights, and will ensure the perspectives of mayors and local governments in South Africa are shared globally, including at our upcoming Global Summit in New York City in September 2023,’ added Councillor Nqavashe.