Honourable Speaker, Mr Nono Maloyi
Honourable Premier, Mme Maureen Modiselle
Honourable Madame Deputy Speaker
My esteemed colleagues in the Executive Council
Honourable colleagues in the Provincial Legislature
Executive Mayors
MMCs for Public Safety
Batlotlegi, Dikgosi tsa rona le boemedi jwa ntlo ya Segosi mo Profenseng ya Bokone Bophirima
Heads of departments
South African Police Service senior management
Members of the public safety forum
Members of the provincial community policing board
Business leaders, religious and faith leadership here today
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Members of the media
Comrades and friends
Le Baagi botlhe ba Profense ya Bokone Bophirima le Afrika Borwa ka bophara
Honourable speaker, We are inspired by the excerpt drawn from the African poet, genius and booker prize winner Ben Okri’s poem Lines in potentis, which lays down the principal task which we have to undertake as follows:
“Tell everyone
That history, though unjust,
can yield wiser outcomes.
[Tell everyone] that the future
is yet unmade.
Many possibilities live in your cellars.
Tell everyone that the idea
Is to function together
As good musicians would
In undefined future orchestras.
Re-make the world
Under the guidance of inspiration
And wise laws.
I want you to tell everyone.”
The mandate that our people bestowed on the glorious movement of our people, the African National Congress (ANC) on the 22 April 2009 was for us to pursue their aspiration for peace, security and comfort as envisaged by our revolutionary compass, i.e. the Freedom Charter adopted at Kliptown on the 26 July 1955.
Our people have mandated us the ANC government not to spare any energy for the next five years but to work together with them to accelerate service delivery and to:
* Establish a new modernised, efficient and transformed criminal justice system to develop the capacity for fighting and reducing crime in real terms
* Review the functioning of the police, the judiciary and the correctional services to achieve integration and co-ordination
* Actively combat serious and violent crime by being tougher on criminals and organised syndicates. In this respect, we will increase the capacity of the SAPS through recruitment, rigorous training, better remuneration, equipping and increasing the capacity of especially the detective services, forensics, prosecution, judicial services and crime intelligence
* Establish and strengthen the new unit to fight organised crime
* Provide greater support for the South African Police Service, especially to combat the attacks on the members of the South African Police Service (SAPS), Including through introducing legislative measures to protect law-enforcement officials in the execution of their duties.
* Combat violence and crimes against women and children by increasing the capacity of the criminal justice system to deal with such violence.
* Mobilise communities to participate in combating crime through establishing street committees and community courts, amongst others.
The endorsement of our call, “working together we can do more” through the ballot by an overwhelming majority of our people supported the notion of an active citizenry and not a passive citizenry.
We therefore rise to tell everyone, including prophets of doom and our self appointed critics that the days for moaning, ivory tower and armchair criticism about high levels of crime instead of being actively involved in the fight against crime are over.
Ntwa kgatlhanong le bosinyi le botsukunape e bolotse.
Let us beat the drum and blow the horn to tell everyone one that the war to reclaim our streets, our schools, our neighbourhoods, our villages, our farms, our towns and our communities from the ruthless criminals who have been terrorising them is on.
Enough is enough, re utlwile, re lapile, ons is moeg, ga gona tselapedi, mmogo re tlile go fenya. There are no two ways; working together we can do more.
The resolve by the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) to mobilise youth to be actively involved in the war against crime through participation in street committees, Community Policing Forums (CPF) and as volunteers, gives us the confidence to unequivocally declare that we are going to win the war against crime and its causes.
There’ll be no hole big enough for criminals to hide. We are going to uproot rapists, murderers, robbers, drug dealers and car hijackers lock, stock and barrel from our communities.
We salute the patriotism and selfless dedication of over 5000 young people who are currently involved in our volunteer programme against crime as reservists. Their enthusiasm testifies that indeed, our communities are yearning for effective, accountable and democratic policing.
We call on other youth formations to take cue from the ANCYL and be part of our collaborative effort to uproot criminals from our schools, our streets and our communities in order to remake the world for peaceful and safer communities.
None of us can fight crime in isolation from the other. The police on their own cannot fight crime successfully without the support of the business sector, traditional leaders and the community.
In announcing reconfiguration of departments during the State of the Province Address, the Honourable Premier, Mme Maureen Modiselle directed that public safety should be a standalone portfolio in order for the department to focus on fighting crime and its causes as one of the five key priorities of our fourth democratic government.
The priority to fight crime and its causes is in line with the manifesto that the overwhelming majority of our people mandated us to implement during this term of government in order to enhance service delivery.
I can proudly announce to this august house that work has begun in earnest to put together a formidable team that will ensure that we are fully functional for the execution of our mandate for accelerated service delivery.
We have made great strides thus far, and not lost our momentum in the implementation of our programmes and plans leading to and during the FIFA Confederation Cup. Our crime prevention and traffic law enforcement operations to reduce the level of crime in and around the host city of Rustenburg prior and during matches hosted at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium were a resounding success. Only a few isolated incidents but no major crime incidents were reported during the games.
In pursuit of our objective to host the dress rehearsal for the 2010 World Cup in a safe and secure environment, our police with the support of youth volunteers and Community Policing Forums( CPFs) in the Rustenburg Cluster Area arrested 216 people for various crimes and various suspected stolen properties, vehicles, illegal drugs, precious stones, firearms and ammunitions recovered. Traffic fines were also issued to 102 people for violation of Road Traffic Regulations and undocumented foreigners arrested.
Ntwa kgatlhanong le bosinyi le botsukunape e bolotse.
There’ll be no hole big enough for criminals to hide. We are going to uproot them from our communities lock, stock and barrel. Our communities deserve peaceful and safe neighbourhoods in order to enjoy the freedoms guaranteed by our constitution.
We intend sustaining the onslaught against violent crime such as house robberies, business robberies, and vehicle/truck hijacking throughout the province until and beyond 2010.
The importance of co-operation between the police and traffic law enforcement was highlighted during the planning phase of the FIFA Confederation Cup and other joint law enforcement operations. We will foster and strengthen this relationship in order to deepen the culture of service delivery to our communities.
Performance highlights
During the year under review, the following activities were carried out by the department in line with the annual performance plan:
Revenue and internal control
The department is responsible for enhance of revenue collection, which is approximately 40 percent of the provincial own revenue. For the 2007/08 financial year, the department exceeded its revenue budget by 4 percent or R7 million, this was as a direct result of implementation of stringent systems of internal controls and constant monitoring of all revenue collecting offices, including agencies. During the last financial year, we managed to increase our revenue collection by 10 percent and realised an over collection of R21 million.
The department is responsible for the revenue collection from all thirty five (35) motor vehicle registration and licensing authorities. Our major revenue is derived from motor vehicle licensing which makes up 80percent of the total revenue budget. Other sources of revenue, i.e. abnormal load permits, traffic fine collection, personalised registration number plates and debt recoveries make up 20 percent of the total revenue budget.
The performance of the external registering authorities has for the past financial years, shown growth in terms of revenue collection, following annual vehicle population and stringent monitoring control measures put in place by the department.
Challenges encountered in revenue collection
Despite the improvements in the systems of internal control put in place to ensure the monitoring and supervision of the external registering authorities, we encountered few challenges during the period under review in relation to:
* Late submission of supporting documentation to Revenue Reconciliation office
* Evidence with regard to the direct deposits not timeously submitted to the Revenue Reconciliation Office at head office
* Lack of monitoring of the licensing offices by the municipal finance departments
* Removal of staff trained on eNaTIS to other sections within the municipality.
We have however put in place measures that will enable us to maximise revenue and overcome the identified challenges. These include amongst others:
* Invoicing on a monthly basis of the motor vehicle registration and licensing authorities
* Provide training to municipal finance officials on the management and reconciliation of the motor vehicle license fees
* Regular audit inspection to ensure compliance with legislative prescripts;
* Drafting of the new Service Level Agreement in compliance with the new eNaTIS requirement and the Business Against Crime to signed with municipalities
* Digitising of motor vehicle files at the registering authorities in accordance with the national archive requirement
* Operating a call centre for the motor vehicle license debt management.
Civilian oversight of the police
The department conducted assessments on the SAPS with regard to escapes in custody at prioritised police stations and loss of firearms by police. The general findings of the assessments revealed that though other losses of firearms were due to robberies and housebreaking, negligence and non compliance to prescripts contributed to a large extend to unacceptable escape from custody and loss of firearms that continue to undermine the public confidence, efficiency and integrity of our police.
Every member of the police service will need to realise that the reduction of illegal firearms in circulation in our communities remains one of our highest priorities in order to reduce murders, rapes, robberies and other violent crimes, therefore loss of firearms by police due to negligence is unacceptable and unforgivable.
Working together with our street committees and CPFs as the eyes and ears of our communities, we can do more to hold the police accountable for suspects, resources and crime fighting equipment including vehicles entrusted in their care. One escape from police custody as a result of negligence in handling of detainees such as failure to handcuff them during prisons cells visits, infrastructure inadequacy, wrong release of suspects, leaving detainees unguarded in exercise areas is one too many.
We also cannot afford to lose firearms to criminals if we are to win the war against crime .Our principal task as Ben Okri asserts, is to:
“Tell everyone that the idea
Is to function together
As good musicians would
In undefined future orchestras.”
The department will intensify oversight and monitoring of compliance of the police with relevant prescripts without compromise in order to reduce escapes from custody and loss of firearms by police.
During the year under review, the department also monitored infrastructure development projects at four police stations. I am proud to announce that all four projects were completed. Khuma and Mooifontein police stations were officially opened in the last financial year while Amalia and Klipgat police station will be opened during this financial year.
Unannounced visits
My predecessor conducted unannounced visits to sixty seven police stations in order to evaluate Batho Pele service delivery standards particularly at night. Although some police stations came through as models for excellence in service delivery even during the late night and or early hours of the morning, with members on patrols wide awake when called on the two way radios to respond to scenes of crime, we are concerned that some members:
* Reported for duty without necessary equipment like bullet-proof vests and firearms thus endangering their lives and that of clients they are expected to serve
* Disappeared from Community Service Centres without attending to complainants
* Slept while on duty
* Came to work under the influence of alcohol or drug substances or took the same at work.
We call on members of the public to blow whistles when they observe such deviant behaviour on the part of police for us to take drastic action. We cannot allow a few rotten potatoes to spoil the image and integrity of the police service, the majority of whose members, I should emphasise, are loyal, hardworking and dedicated men and women who risk their lives on a daily basis in the course of duty to protect and serve our communities. Our Community Policing Forums as the eyes and ears of our communities should also be concerned about this state of affairs at some of our police stations.
Other challenges that were observed include:
* Lack of accountability by some senior police officials at the community service centres
* Police not visiting the cells on hourly basis thereby creating an environment for escapes
* Poor lighting at police stations especially in cells
* Detention of juveniles with the adult detainees.
We’ll embark on follow-up announced and unannounced visits soon to amongst others tackle these service delivery issues because we are committed to establish a culture of excellence in service delivery in order to win the war against crime at all costs. We’ll beat the drum and blow the horn to tell everyone one in the police service that there is no place for those who hunt with the hounds and run with the hares.
Co-ordination of Crime Prevention
Marketing the crime prevention through environmental design strategy
Although seven municipalities were targeted for participation in our crime prevention through environmental design strategy pilot project that was launched in partnership with our Community Policing Forums in the past financial year, only Rustenburg and Matlosana Local Municipalities resolved to implement the strategy. This initiative was part of Letsema Campaign for the February safety month to eliminate crime hotspots by cutting overgrown vegetation along footpaths, demolishing disused houses used as hideouts to conduct criminal activities and installing of high mast lights.
Our intention is to expand the programme to all our municipalities because though municipalities do not regard crime prevention as their core business, they are critical partners that need to come on board because the success of crime prevention and combat programmes depend on the contribution of all role players.
Integrated strategy to prevent and combat sexual offences.
As per commitment made in the 2008/09 departmental policy statement and budget speech, an integrated strategy to prevent and combat sexual offences has been developed by the cluster marketing. Although an implementation plan is in place for this financial year, the support of all stakeholders during the implementation phase is crucial.
Co-ordination of 16 Days of Activism for no violence against women and children campaign
As the lead department for the Provincial Launch of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children Campaign, the department co-ordinated the event together with the closing ceremony that coincided with International Human Rights Day and the National Farm Workers Awareness programme. The campaigns were successful due to intergovernmental collaboration and support that we received from host municipalities.
Working together we can do more to intensify awareness and advocacy campaigns on the plight of women and children as part of our contribution to building cohesive, caring and sustainable communities.
Community policing programme
The importance that the ANC government places on CPFs as important links and vehicles towards crime prevention is informed by an appreciation of the principle that no police force or service can deal effectively with crime if it does not enjoy the support of the masses in the communities they police. In the end, it is not only the size of the police service that will guarantee success in the war against crime but the ability of the police to forge a viable relationship with the people to prevent and combat crime.
The partnership we have created between the police and CPFs will be nurtured on a continous basis for the realisation of an effective, accountable and democratic policing. We will host our first ever CPF consultative workshop in September to enhance the relationship between the police and the CPFs, create a better platform for collaboration and seek solutions to challenges that are experienced by this important structures in the war against crime.
While we acknowledge that the R700 000 that CPFs share is not enough to support them in their work, we have at the same time observed that there are CPFs which do not even bother to request their share of the allocated funding. We trust that the consultative workshop will provide insight as to whether this is due to lack of capacity or lack of support from the SAPS or the department.
As part of building capacity on all priority areas, we’ll explore the current funding of CPFs for them to be in position to undertake projects in their respective areas. These structure need to be vibrant as part of our offensive against crime.
We have prioritised the relaunch of dysfunctional CPFs because they are our weakest link in the chain of the war against crime. In our haste to revitalise them however, we should make certain that criminals are not imbedded in these structures. There should be there is no place in these structures for those who hunt with the hounds and run with the hares.
Those who harbour criminals in their homes, are friends with criminals and purchase stolen goods from criminals should know that we are at war and do not desire their presence in these structures because they will compromise all of us.
The battle lines are drawn, a friend to a criminal cannot be a friend to a law abiding citizen. The war against crime starts with defining relationships with those around us. A policeman who associates with criminals compromises our national effort to win the war against crime. Lets us beat the drum and blow the horn to tell everyone that there is no place in the police service for those who hunt with the hounds and run with the hares.
Road safety promotion
Honourable speaker, as per the undertaking made by the former Premier Mme Edna Molewa in her 2008 State of the Province Address, the department hosted a Road Safety Lekgotla on the 26 to 27 June 2008. The objective of the Lekgotla was to deal with challenges of road safety in the province in order to develop a provincial road safety strategy. The final draft of the strategy is in the process of being refined. We would of course appreciate an opportunity to brief the portfolio committee on the final draft prior submission to the Executive Council targeted for September this year.
We continue to intensify our road safety campaigns and find new and innovative ways of reaching all sectors of the communities. To this end, we have successfully held road safety promotion in schools and early learning centres targeting both young and adult pedestrians.
A decline from 52 to 46 of pedestrian fatalities was recorded during the festive season as compared to the same period during 2008/07.Our priority for 2009/10 financial year will therefore be implementation of the pedestrian management plan which forms part of our road safety strategy. We will also focus on awareness campaigns targeting speeding, drunken driving and vehicle fitness especially for public transport.
In an effort to reduce road accidents involving busses, taxis and other commercial vehicles, the driver skills enhancement programme was also launched in the previous financial year.
This provincial initiative, sponsored by Man Truck and Bus and Atamelang Bus Transport, is a partnership of the department together with risk administrative consultants driving solutions. The programme brought together all other small driver competitions that we had in the past, that is the taxi driver of the year, heavy motor driver of the year and best lady drivers, with the objective of building capacity, enhancing and sharpening the driving skills of professional drivers in order to improve their driving behaviour.
We are targeting 80 women drivers and 100 commercial vehicle drivers for participation in the programme which will culminate in a provincial competition to be held from 13 to 15 August 2009 in Mafikeng. The winners at this level will proceed to represent the province at the national driver of the year competition to be held from 23 to 26 October 2009 in Limpopo and possibly at the international driver of the year competition.
We appreciate the continued support and participation of business sector in the programme. Working together we can do more to reduce road accidents and prevent loss of lives on our roads.
Traffic management
Jaws of Life operations and Mampuru Special Taxi Task Team
Honourable speaker, I am aware that the operation jaws of life launched by my predecessor two years and the Special Taxi Task Team best known as Mampuru Task team comprising of both the police and traffic were received with mixed feelings by the public and honourable members of this august house.
While we note the challenges that were raised, our plan is to utilise the constructive criticisms received and improve on our operations. The Jaws of Life operation will be extended to the most problematic areas that contribute towards high accidents and fatalities. We will also extend the life span of the Mampuru Task team operations dealing with illegal taxi operators to other areas which continue to give us problems and possible taxi violence.
Since the launch of the two operations, the following successes were recorded:
Operation Jaws of Life executed 11 569 warrants and an amount of R4 million was collected in the precious financial year. A total number of 1 679 summons were issued for offences ranging from registration and licensing, illegal taxi permits, passenger overload, etc.
The Mampuru special task team discontinued 112 illegal taxis, impounded 600 taxis that were operating illegally for which R888 900 (eight hundred and eighty eight and nine hundred rands) was paid in fines was paid. The team issued 1 300 summonses and also 76 arrests executed for intimidation, grievous bodily harm, pointing with firearm assault and possession of stolen goods.
The special task team has for two consecutive year’s uncovered corruption related to issuing of fraudulent licenses. In 2007, the task team led to the arrest of government officials of the Department of Transport in Gauteng for issuing Fraudulent Operating licenses and passenger liability certificates and the arrest of one advocate for bribery.
During the year under review, the operations cracked a syndicate responsible for manufacturing of illegal driver’ licenses, marriage certificates, birth certificates, car registration certificates and any other official document which required payment after arresting 12 suspects for possession of manufacturing machines . The syndicate that included government officials was also found to be in possession of official stamps of all government departments.
Honourable speaker, the battle lines are drawn, a public servant who associates with corruption compromises our national effort to win the war against corruption and crime in general.
There’ll be no hole big enough for corrupt public servants to hide. We are going to uproot them from all of our institutions lock, stock and barrel.
General traffic management and policing in the province
During the past financial year, our province recorded 569 crashes that contributed to loss of lives of 735 road users, i.e. 229 drivers, 295 passengers and 211 pedestrians. Although a 33 percent decrease in the number of road users killed on our roads was recorded as compared to the 1 018 road users killed during the 2007/08 financial year, one death as a result of accidents on our road is a death too many.
For Arrive Alive operations, there was a decrease of 12.87 percent in the number of road users killed during the 2008/09 festive season compared to the 2007/08 festive season. One hundred and thrity-two (132) road users were killed during the 2008/09 festive season, compared to 149 for the previous festive season.
There was however, an increase in the number of fatalities during Easter 2009. The number of road users killed in fatal accidents increased with four fatal cases, from 19 in 2008 to 23 for the 2009 Easter weekend and this is an increase of 17.39 percent.
Various factors were found to have attributed towards these accidents ranging from speeding, reckless and negligent driving, drunken driving and poor visibility and fatigue. We’ll put in place higher level of law enforcement and road safety activities for the 2010 Easter period to realise a decrease in the number of fatal crashes occurring on our public roads by 5 percent.
We are also convinced honourable speaker that as a department, we cannot on our own achieve the objective to reduce road accidents and carnage on our road. We need to intensify our road safety awareness campaigns and work closer with municipalities, the business sector, youth organizations, faith based organizations, churches, non-governmental organisations within our communities to assist us reduce road carnages and safe lives on our roads.
Working together we can do more to turn the tide of the carnage on our roads in order to reduce fatalities and injuries that are mostly brought about by non-compliance with rules of the road.
Though we have improved on visibility of traffic officers, our challenge is the appointment of additional traffic officers to maximise our efforts and to operate 24 hours in certain towns where the traffic volumes so requires.
Our traffic business plan will ensure that we sustain continuous reduction of most offences which contribute towards high fatal and serious accidents. We have decided that every accident counts whether minor or major and will continuously develop approaches to counter react on them.
On the other hand the policing strategies in place will ensure that we reduce contact crime and all other crimes that are problematic to our society. Key for us will be mobilisation.
Overloading control
The new Bapong Traffic Control Centre on the N4 has been completed as a result of the partnership of Bakwena Platinum, South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) and Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) and will become operational during this financial year. The centre will control overload on the N4 between Rustenburg and Brits as well as the Old Rustenburg-Pretoria road, the R103. A total of 72 traffic appointments have been made to ensure that the centre renders an effective service on a 24 hours basis.
The Ventersdorp and Wolmaransstad weighbridge upgrading projects which started in 2007 have been completed. We have started the recruitment process for additional traffic officers for them to be fully operational during this financial year.
We are still grappling with challenges experienced at the Potchefstroom weighbridge for the centre to operate on a 24 hours basis and will update the portfolio committee on progress in this regard in due course.
Crime situation in the province
Honourable members, crime undermines our efforts aimed at defeating poverty even as poverty contributes in various ways in creating conditions that breed crime.
Speaking on the occasion of the State of the Nation Address, President Jacob Zuma said, “Together we must do more to fight crime. Our aim is to establish a transformed, integrated, properly resourced and well-managed criminal justice system. It is also critically important to improve the efficiency of the courts and the performance of prosecutors, and to enhance detectives, forensic and intelligence services. This work has started in earnest, and it will be undertaken with new energy and vigour.”
The crime statistics show that for the past 15 years the province has been doing very well in reduction of certain categories of crime. Our challenge now is what we regard as the trio crimes, i.e. house and business robberies and car hijackings. Our plan for this year will therefore focus on these crimes especially the Rustenburg cluster area.
We will also give special focus to the stock theft in the rural areas as the economy of these communities is continuous diminishing as a result of this crime. We will activate the provincial anti stock theft forum in order to implement some of the key recommendations made in the stock theft business plan. I must hasten to say that during the previous year we have recorded number of successes in nine major cases of stock theft cases and many other related cases with successful prosecution and convictions.
While we succeed with these arrests, we are still faced with the backlogs in courts thereby causing frustrations to the victims of crime. As from July, The Director of Public Prosecutions will launch project backlog as part of the Cluster plan with the aim of fast tracking all the old and long outstanding cases that have been in the court rolls for a considerable amount of time.
We cannot allow victims to be further humiliated by seeing their culprits every time they go to court and cases postponed time and again. While this project will start in the Molopo Regional Court, it will thereafter be rolled out to Taung and other courts. We must stress that compared to the other provinces we still remain top of the list in terms on speedy finalisation of cases despite the backlog.
The regional court protocol will be enhanced in order to drastically reduce the life cycle of cases and postponements of cases .The powers given to regional courts to impose sentence of serious and violent crimes which in the past they could only prosecute and refer the case to the high court for sentencing will also assist to fast track and finalise cases speedily.
Let me thank the Directors of Public Prosecution in the province for the team work and leadership they have shown to the police, the police themselves for their commitment, the Honourable Judge President Mogoeng Mogoeng, other members of the judiciary for the sterling work they do and continuous commitment in dealing with criminals. Through your hard work and commitment, North West high court remains top on the list in the country in terms speedy finalisation of cases and successful prosecutions.
The district courts also achieved highest conviction rate of 80 percent on cases of theft, housebreaking and assault, while regional courts also achieved 85percent conviction rate mainly in cases of rape, resulting in many life sentences including six for accused for crimes against women and children, two accused received 25 years jail sentences, while three received sentences of 20 years each, six were sentenced to 15 years and 12 for five to 10 years respectively.
Fighting crime and fighting the causes of crime will remain priority of this government especially serious and violent crime and crimes against women and children. We can only achieve this through the integrated approach demonstrated by the criminal justice and mobilising communities to participate in the fight against crime.
We’ll be launching street and village committees as a matter of urgency for criminals to feel the heat of operation wanya tsotsi as soon as it is launched later in the year as announced by Deputy Minister of Police, Fikile Mbalula. Our people have lived in fear for far too long. As we take the war against crime to a new level, criminals are the ones who should be on their back foot; it’s now the criminals’ turn to be isolated, to be ostracised.
Partnerships against crime
In recognising that effective contemporary crime prevention relies heavily on partnerships and multi agency approaches, we established a partnership with the Provincial Chapter of Business Against Crime (BAC) to buttress our effort to curb crime.
The partnership with BAC has assisted us to access the automatic number plate recognition vehicle technology that contributed to our resounding success during the FIFA Confederation Cup in support of our crime prevention and traffic law enforcement operations. The technology has among others assisted the police to track a vehicle used in an armed robbery, recover stolen vehicles and identify vehicles with outstanding traffic fines.
The organisation representing the business sector in our province has indeed embraced President Zuma’s clarion call to work together with government and our communities to advance the war against the scourge of crime and its causes. BAC has as part of its corporate social responsibility as a partner against crime offered leadership development programme to 96 senior police officers stationed at 32 police stations across the province. The partnership has assisted us to maximize our strength while at the same time minimising our weaknesses.
We value the partnership of the business sector and its realisation that working together to achieve the happiness that comes with freedom applies equally to the challenges of dealing with crime.
BAC undoubtedly appreciates that fighting crime is not just the responsibility of the police but the responsibility of all citizens, our youth, our churches, faith based organisations, our traditional leaders, farmers, community based organisations, the non-governmental sector, stakeholders and all sections of our communities.
As part of deepening the partnership with communities, we’ll step up implementation of our safety school programme as part of our collaborative efforts with the Department of Education and our respective school governing bodies for implementation of adopt a cop, little commissioner, operation naughty boy strategies. The strategies are aimed at reclaiming our schools from drug dealers that seek to destroy our valued future leaders, i.e. our children and our youth.
We are also going to strengthen our partnership with traditional leaders, farmers unions and communities to ensure that there is no hole big enough for stock theft syndicates to hide as we intensify our collaborative efforts to uproot them from our farms, villages, mountains ,valleys and our communities.
As alluded by the Premier in the State of the Province Address, the department will work more closely with farmers unions, farmers and farm workers with a view to prevent farm killings that are negatively impacting on important sectors of our economy, i.e. agriculture.
We wish to remind all role players in the sector of the wisdom of Seneca, the Roman philosopher that, “He who does not prevent a crime when he can encourage it.”
Outlook for the next financial year 2009/10
The department will focus on the following short, medium and long term projects:
Revenue enhancement plan
The department aims to increase revenue collection by identifying more sources of revenue and to improve on the current services rendered at all our licensing offices.
We are planning to establish a new motor vehicle registration and licensing authority at Hartebeespoort Dam to serve as a satellite office of the Brits Registering Authority to make up for the R15 million loss of motor vehicle license revenue due to the reincorporation of Merafong Local Municipality to Gauteng Province.
The better part of the Hartebeespoort Dam population are employed in and around Pretoria, which also see them registering and licensing their motor vehicles at Gauteng for their convenience, as there is currently no motor vehicle registration and licensing office in the area. Therefore, the establishment of a satellite office will not only be convenient for the motorists but will enhance service delivery to the people of the North West and to further improve on our revenue collection.
Civilian oversight of the South African Police Service
While we prioritised police stations in the last five years for monitoring purpose, we will this year assess all police stations on certain programmes which impact towards on service delivery. This will include announced and unannounced visits.
Co-ordination of crime prevention in the province
Our plan is to implement the following programmes:
* Co-ordinate crime prevention projects on women and children
* Marketing and implementation of the sexual offences strategy
* Develop an integrated crime prevention strategy
* Mobilise youth against crime
* Marketing and monitoring implementation of the CPTED strategy
* Contribute towards reduction of contact crimes
Community Policing Programme:
* Promote community police relations through community policing
* Facilitate redefining of CPFs into CSFs
* Capacity Development of Community Police Forums
* Audit effective and efficient functionality of CPFs
Traffic Management:
* Promote and ensure adequate and safe free-flow of traffic on the roads of the North West province
* Implementation of jaws operations
* Implementation of special task team on taxis
Road Safety Management:
* Enhance road safety education
* Enhance road safety promotion
* Implementation of the provincial road safety strategy
Special projects:
* Provide safe and secure FIFA Confederation Cup and FIFA 2010 World Cup
* Co-ordination of the stewards programme for the FIFA Confederation Cup and FIFA 2010 World Cup
Let us beat the drum and blow the horn to tell everyone one in the words of Moses Kotane, the wise of the leader of our liberation movement from Phela that, “At this hour of destiny, your country and your people need you. South Africa is in your hands and it will be what you make of it.”
Daar is geen ander uitweg nie.Alleenlik deur saam te werk kan ons meer doen.
Honourable speaker, I hereby present the departmental budget vote 5 for the Department of Public Safety.
Budget per programme
Programme: R'000
Administration: 40 204
Traffic Management: 203 895
Community Safety: 35 714
Total: 279 813
Budget per economic classification
Classification: R'000
Current budget
Compensation of employees: 155 635
Transfer payments: 3 269
Administrative: 32 367
Stores: 9055
Professional services: 31279
Other goods and services: 42 845
Total Current budget: 274 450
Capital Budget
Equipment: 5363
Total budget for 2009/10: 279 819
As I conclude honourable speaker, let me express my profound appreciation to the organisation that has deployed me in this responsibility, the ANC to which I remain indebted. I would also like to thank the Premier for her confidence and dedicated leadership, and my fellow colleagues in the executive, for their support and encouragement. Their words of wisdom have been most encouraging.
My predecessors in this portfolio, Advocate Satish Roopa, Mme Nomonde Rasmeni, Honourable Premier Mme Maureen Modiselle, Mr Dimotana Thibedi and Mr Phenye Vilakazi have laid a solid foundation for us to take the fight against crime to the next higher level .I wish to assure these remarkable servants of our people I’ll hold tight to the baton and run the comrades marathon with our people and our communities
I would also wish to thank the committed staff of the department, led by the Head of the Department, Obakeng Mongale for their commitment to live up to expectation towards a new culture of excellence in service delivery. The constitution demands of us to create a nation state free from crime with citizen living in harmony. We dare not fail in our duty to advance towards such a reality.
I wish to extend our words of appreciation to the work that our men and women in blue and our traffic officers are doing under the able leadership of Provincial Commissioner Lesetja Beetha, Deputy Commissioners Mpembe and Basson and Chief Director Bailey Mahlakoleng. Your loyalty, dedication and commitment to serve our communities gives us confidence that we are going to win the war against crime and that we will host the FIFA 2010 World cup in a safe and secure environment. We appreciate the contribution of every member of the police service and the selfless contribution of our youth volunteers.
I thank all the stakeholders that work with the department, from sector departments to district municipalities, local municipalities and many others.
The co-operation we continue to receive from the House of Traditional Leadership, Royal Bafokeng Administration, Business Against Crime North West, Mining Companies ,Transport Companies, South African Ministers Fraternal, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), Police and Prison Civil Rights Union (Popcru), South African Police Union (SAPU), National Education, Health and Allied Worker's Union (Nehawu), our partners and our sponsors mentioned earlier among others deserve a special mention.
It reconfirms our belief that government cannot do it alone; it needs all forms of strategic partnerships in order to deliver on its mandate.
My words of appreciation also go to the leadership of the provincial justice crime prevention and security cluster, the judiciary under the leadership of Judge President Mogoeng Mogoeng, Directors of Public Prosecution, the Community Policing Board, Public Safety Managers Forum, CPFs and participating stakeholders in the province who have once more declared their support and commitment towards the attainment of the vision of government in terms of the criminal justice system.
As a new department, we look up to the Portfolio Committee for support, guidance and leadership to keep us on track.
Let me also take this opportunity to thank my dearest wife, Nowethu, my children, Vuyokazi, Lubabalo and Zola for the continuous support they have given me throughout the years that I was deployed into various areas of responsibility. Most importantly, I wish to thank them for their understanding in advance, of the implications of my deployment to this portfolio in terms of its implications on visits during the festive seasons.
Honourable speaker and the house, I am now pleased to present this budget vote for Department of Public Safety for appropriation by the august house as elaborated above.
Ke a leboga.
