parts of the country during piloting phase. The task team objective was to ensure that Sexual Offences Courts are accessible to the broader South African public in both rural and urban areas. The introduction of the Thuthuzela Care Centres (TCCs) as one-stop facilities has strengthened South Africa’s anti-rape strategy. The aim is to reduce secondary trauma for the victims, improve conviction rates, and reduce the time it takes to finalise cases. To date, the implementation of the model has improved the process of reporting and prosecution of rape cases and other sexual offences. This is helping reduce secondary trauma to survivors as the entire process takes place in a dignified and friendly environment. The re-introduction of family violence, child protection and sexual offences units in the police, as well as the establishment of the inter-sectoral task team to look into the viability of prioritizing such cases through specialized sexual offences courts should strengthen efforts to combat crime. The approval of the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Bill 7 of 2010 by the National Assembly has strengthened the fight against human trafficking and assists in protecting vulnerable groups especially women and children. Other initiatives in this regard include the establishment of Provincial Task Teams on Human Trafficking. Part of their role is to research the trends, develop prevention strategies and support the prosecution of human trafficking cases. Systems have been put in place to tighten the monitoring of incidents of human trafficking. For example efforts to improve the efficiency of the criminal justice system received a major boost through the adoption of various lower court intersectoral case flow management practices and guidelines. There are numerous initiatives in the various provinces, intended to reduce crime. In the Western Cape, for instance, the expanded Partnership Programme with Community Police Forums aimed at strengthening civilian oversight roles is growing. Rural women in KZN, through a provincial flagship program called Sukuma Sakhe (meaning ‘stand up – let’s build’) took the responsibility of conscientising their 'girl children' about the challenges of HIV/AIDS, human trafficking, gender inequality as well as conscientising them about their rights and economic empowerment through IDPs at municipal government level. Sukuma Sakhe is a province-wide initiative aimed at ensuring equitable service delivery. The programme operates at ward level and involves councilors and brings together traditional leaders church leaders and other community leaders in Victim-Offender Dialogues (VOD). Government anti-crime partnerships and strategies currently being implemented are significantly contributing towards the reduction of crime levels across the country. The levels of crime continue to drop and, according to independent studies, more people are beginning to feel safe. There is an increase of 8% in the public appreciation of how government is performing in reducing crime levels when compared to five years ago (32% in November 2007 to 40% in November 2012)17. These findings are in line with the 2011/12 (SAPS) National Crime Statistics Report of government. Recent statistics shows that 38% believed that the level of violent crime has decreased in their area of residence compared to 33% who said that crime had increased but there is also a 29 percentage group which believed that crime has stayed the same during the period 2009 -201118. 17 18 2012/13 National Crime Statistics Report A Victims of Crime Survey 2012 39