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 and Mayors
Members of Mayoral Committees for Public Safety
Batlotlegi, Dikgosi tsa rona le boemedi jwa ntlo ya Segosi mo Profenseng ya Bokone Bophirima
Heads of Departments
SAPS senior management
Members of the Public Safety Forum
Members of the Provincial Community Policing Board
Business leaders, religious and faith leadership here today
Our special guests
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
On the 50th anniversary of the conquest of Mount Everest by the British climber, Sir Edmund Hillary, a fellow South African, Sibusiso Emmanuel Vilane, a trainee ranger at Bongani Lodge in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, who had started mountain climbing in 1996 by summiting peaks in the Drakensberg set off for the Himalayas in March 2003 in his quest to be the first black African to summit earth's largest and most fearsome mountain, Mount Everest, the Queen of the Himalayas.
In the wee hours of 26 May 2003, at the close of Africa Day, Sibusiso Vilane stood triumphantly on top of the celebrated mountain and demonstrated that given the opportunity, Africans can match or better any feat.
Waving the South African flag embellished with Swazi symbols, Sibusiso cried tears of joy and said, “I wanted to show the world that nothing could stop black people from standing on top of the world, given the opportunity. I wanted to do it for all the people in black communities who have never been given the opportunity before. For myself, I wanted to prove a point, to show that I could do it, even though I have very limited experience.”
How many of us remember the joyous moment that united our rainbow nation when the Springboks led by Francois Pienaar lifted the 1995 World Rugby Cup at Ellis Park Stadium in the first major sporting event to take place in our country following the end of apartheid.
How many of us remember the baited breaths with which all of us in our diversity waited for the historic announcement of the FIFA 2010 Football World Cup in Zurich in 2004?
How many of us still remember the eruption of joy that made us forget our differences, the hugging, the dancing, the pride and unity of our rainbow nation on that historic day?
President Jacob Zuma on the occasion of the State of the Nation on the February 2010 said that together, we can do more to fight crime in South Africa and declared this year as a year of action to accelerate service delivery, the year for us to hold hands and climb together, to conquer together and to celebrate together at the peak.
We concur with Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa that, “We cannot allow a handful of heartless criminals to terrorize our society while we fold our arms and shake our heads in disbelief. We must take and are taking control to ensure that all people in South Africa are and feel safe in their homes, places of work and businesses whilst they carry on with their lives.”
We concur with Minister Mthethwa that things cannot be done the same way. In the spirit of action for accelerated service delivery, Things must and will be done faster and smarter. Those who are saying it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.
The war that heartless criminals have declared on our people in their homes, on our streets, in their neighbourhoods, on their farms has translated into a people’s war against crime because crime is our common enemy.
Now more than ever before, we need to hold hands, tighten the rope around our waist; put our shoulder on the wheel in the spirit of the scrum of the Springboks. Premier Mme Modiselle has issued the clarion call to action for an onslaught against crime and corruption in our province.
We have taken the challenge to succeed in what we do as Africans and believe that no mountain is insurmountable. We believe that working together we can do more to win the war against crime and corruption.
The heroic action of Mr Koketso Mongale, a businessman from Rustenburg during the Confederation Cup reminds us that with our people being our ears and our eyes, victory is guaranteed in the war against crime.
Mongale against the wishes of people who rushed to the scene of accident protected 15 firearms, their cellphones, wallets and money that belonged to police reservists after their minibus overturned. Five reservists died at the scene of the accident while 11 others were critically injured.
We are honoured by the presence of Mr Mongale and our road safety ambassadors, Yvette Kayingo and Barbara Serumaga-Zake from Sol Plaaatjie High School, Retlametswe Maepa and Puseletso Molaaphene from Motswedi High School, Tshenolo Maape of Mafikeng High School, Andries Vumazonke and Bobby Saul, Editor of Mahikeng Mail are our special guests in this august house this morning.
The Department of Public Safety is in the spirit of the scrum of the Springboks and the indomitable spirit of Bafana Bafana. We are inspired by the aspirations and unconquerable spirit of our people to accelerate service delivery.
Performance highlights
Human resource management
The department has during the year 2009/10 gone through a re-configuration process. We had to adopt an interim approved organisational structure whilst remaining within the limited financial resources. This has had a negative impact on the organisation, as critical vacancies could not be filled.
We are currently reviewing our organisational structure to create an enabling environment for meeting the mandate and objectives of the department, and would soon submit it to the Minister for Department of Public Service and Administration and the Executive Council for approval.
The department’s vacancy rate at the end of 2009/10 financial year stood at 53 percent of the 1 738 approved posts, 814 are filed while 924 are vacant. The alarming vacancy rate is mostly in support functions ,i.e. finance, supply chain management, revenue and debt management, human resource management, management service and planning, legal services and communications units.
We have identified 112 critical vacancies within the baseline figures that are to be filled during this financial year.
The department has on its approved establishment 37.5 percent women at senior management service level, whilst it has 56 percent between levels 8 to 12 and 51 percent between levels seven and below. Greater efforts still has to be made to increase representivity of women within the executive and senior management levels.
As part of implementing our approved human resource development strategy implementation plan, the department has among others afforded training and development opportunities to 603 employees and awarded 20 bursaries to employees during the past financial year.
Training and development will be prioritised in this financial year in order to create a learning and developmental environment for our employees.
Revenue and internal control
Honourable Speaker, as a department we contribute about 40 percent of the provincial own revenue. As a result of stringent systems of internal control and constant monitoring of all revenue collection offices and agencies, we exceeded our revenue budget by 3.6 percent during the past financial year as we realised an over collection of over R8,9 million in revenue. We collected over R258,4 million in revenue compared to the initial projection of R249,4 million.
All revenue deposited directly into the account of the Provincial Treasury by all the collecting offices were reconciled against own files and Walker reports.
We collected over R685 000 in penalties and arrears of long outstanding motor license fees and recovered R9,5 million from the Gauteng Provincial Administration for revenue that was collected by the Mabopane and Moretele Registering Authorities over the past three financial years but not paid over into the our provincial revenue account.
To ensure that service delivery did not collapse at offices that were experiencing internal challenges; we intervened and took over administration of operations at Ventersdorp, Delarayville, Sannieshof, Ottosdal, Wolmaranstad and Leeudoringsstad.
We provided training to municipal finance officials on the management and reconciliation of the motor vehicle license fees in order to address late submission of supporting documents to revenue reconciliation office and non-performance of reconciliation.
The department monitored licensing offices and conducted monthly audit inspections to ensure compliance with legislative prescripts and invoicing them on a monthly basis to detect and eliminate late deposit of revenue collected.
We signed service level agreement with municipalities in compliance with the new eNaTis requirements and the Business Against Crime requirements in order to retain staff trained on eNaTis as their transfer to other sections within municipalities was disruptive to service delivery.
To prevent loss of files, we digitised motor vehicle files at registering authorities in accordance with the National Archive requirements. We established a call centre for the motor vehicle licensing debt management to assist with the recovery of outstanding licensing debts.
Coordination of crime prevention
As per commitment made to this august house, we hosted a provincial consultative workshop with over 600 CPF members from 81 police stations in September last year to seek solutions to challenges that are faced by our crime prevention structures which are a critical success factor for mobilising communities for the war against crime.
The working session exposed me to the depth of passion and sacrifices that many selfless men and women make in order to serve their communities. The determination of the CPF’s to work with the police to intensify the onslaught against crime and corruption is phenomenal.
As per recommendation of the workshop, two audits to assess functionality and skills levels of CPF were conducted and twelve policing cluster induction workshops in preparation for funding were conducted though 50 CPF’s were initially targeted for funding during the past financial year, we exceeded our target by funding 58 CPF’s through a transfer payment that also included funding for the newly elected Provincial Community Police Board. We conducted four successful district workshops on strategy to prevent and combat sexual offences in partnership with our district and local municipalities across the province and also conducted Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) workshops in Rustenburg, Maquassi Hills, Ventersdorp, Ramotshere Moiloa, Ratlou, Mafikeng, and Kgetleng Rivier local municipalities.
We urge other municipalities to join and support our effort to eliminate crime hotspots by cutting overgrown vegetation along footpaths, demolishing disused houses used as hideouts to conduct criminal activities and installing high mast lights so that criminals will have nowhere to hide.
The department funded and coordinated the media outreach campaign towards
SAPS’ annual Anti-Police killings Commemoration ceremony held in Potchefstroom in Tlokwe Local Municipality during October. During November, we held a Provincial Impact Assessment Workshop to mark the launch of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children Campaign in partnership with SAPS and the Gender Commission.
A National impact assessment report on the campaign was presented with consideration for development of a provincial action plan jointly with the Office of the Premier as the champion of the gender machinery in the province.
We are encouraged by the overwhelming support and gender activism that the campaign received from departments in the Provincial Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster, churches, the NGO sector, the leadership of the trade union movement.
Monitoring and oversight
We have not only tightened and intensified our oversight role on the SAPS by monitoring service delivery at police station across the province, but surpassed our target of 48 visits by conducting 76 announced visits after hours and during weekends. We are delighted that SAPS have also received some of the recommendations positively and engaged the department in other areas so that we improve the services at the police stations.
I am therefore pleased to announce that there is a huge improvement in the manner which service is provided to the public. I was impressed by the conditions of the Orkney Police station and many others that I conducted the unannounced visits at. I must however inform the house that some of them still need a shake up. The reports on these visits and infrastructure monitoring will be shared with the Portfolio Committee on Public Safety.
During the year of action, we will tightly monitor implementation of recommendations made during the 2009/10 Police Stations Assessment. Monitoring of Compliance at all 76 Police Stations will also include infrastructure development. We received 106 service delivery complaints against police from the public during the past financial year and completed investigation of 66, I.e. 70 percent of the complaints and are continuing with investigation of outstanding ones.
As part of our commitment to engage communities on crime prevention, we have for the first time presented the crime statistics for 2009/10 to all our stakeholders and given them an opportunity to engage on the possible measures.
We want communities to be part of the solution and will well therefore ensure that policing priorities are determined with the participation and their inputs. The department will together with the Provincial Community Policing Board conduct workshops in all clusters. Sedikwa ke Ntja pedi ga se thata.
Working together with our municipalities, traditional leaders, the business sector, churches, women and youth formations we can do more to intensify the onslaught against crime.
Our strength lies in our shared vision of a crime free society and our determination to reclaim our streets and neighbourhoods from criminals and to rid our schools of violent crime, gangsterism and drugs.
The department will also assess the SAPS’ rural safety plan with a view to strengthen sectoral policing in the farming community and prevent farm attacks in our peaceful province. To ensure that quality of service to our communities is not compromised particularly during the night and weekends, the department will continue to conduct unannounced visits to all police stations.
By increasing our investigative capacity with the appointment of three complaints investigators, we expect a speedy and higher percentage of finalised cases of service delivery complaints against the SAPS. As a caring and compassionate government, we will also embark on a project to assess the impact of the Victim Charter in our province.
Service revitalisation programme
Long and winding queues at Drivers Testing and Licensing Centres (DTLCs) suggest that our people will only take us serious on Batho Pele when the queues are shorter and service quicker. The department has adopted and will abide by objectives of the White Paper on Transforming the Public Service Delivery of 1997 as a framework for the provision of services to the public.
The Service Delivery Revitalisation Programme encompassed in the White Paper seeks to entrench the Batho Pele belief set, we belong, we care, we serve which are a pillar of the eight Batho Pele principles and is represented by two key elements which are Front-Office re-engineering and Back-Office engineering.
We call upon our registering authorities to adopt this model as it provides a common and shared understanding and interpretation of Batho Pele principles. Action needs to be taken against those who do not subscribe to the principles of Batho Pele. Ke Nako ya go feela ditshwakga. Dit is tyd om van die onbevoegde mense ontslae te raak.
Service delivery improvements
To reduce the number of North West citizens registering their vehicles in other provinces, the departments has together with Madibeng and Rustenburg Local Municipalities identified the need to establish satellite motor vehicle registration and licensing offices at Hartbeespoordam, Letlhabile and Marikana.
We will also pursue engagements with Ramotshere Moila and Moretele Local
Municipality towards establishment of a satellite office in Dinokana and a Motor Vehicle Registration, Licensing authority and Driver License Testing Centre in Mathibestad.
The Minister of Transport has proclaimed on the extension of services during weekends. We are currently working on possible solutions towards appointment of more licensing examiners. We are exploring on the satellite traffic college which will see us realising this target.
Road Safety Management
Road safety is not what you do to a community; it is what you do with the community. The duty to ensure safety on our roads is not just the responsibility of government, the public transport sector and business but also the responsibility of all road users. Over 2 100 learners from 64 high schools in our province participated in the National Road Safety debate that started at district level. Winners at provincial level from Ngaka Modiri Molema District introduced earlier as our road safety ambassadors made us proud by scooping the 2009 National Road Safety Championship.
Ten selected high schools in our province participated in the Participatory Education Technique (PET) pilot programme aimed at changing learners’ attitude towards road safety by means of participatory education. Mayflower Educational College from Tlokwe won the technology transfer project and represented the province at national level.
We intent to broaden participation by involving more schools in the programme during this financial year especially in rural and farming communities. During the Festive Arrive Alive Road Safety Campaign, we appointed 40 volunteers as road rangers to assist with the management of stray animals across 10 villages of Phela, Tlokweng, Rampampastad, Setlagole, Letlhakane, Disang, Taung, Pudumoe, Dryharts and Mokgareng.
Through this pilot project, there was a remarkable reduction of road crashes and fatalities involving stray animals. Given the success of the stray animals’ rangers programme, we have resolved to make it a permanent programme to ensure effective management of stray animals on our roads.
For the second year, we implemented a driver skills enhancement programme targeted at heavy motor vehicle drivers from the public transport system, transport companies, government and women drivers in order to reduce road accidents involving busses, taxis and other commercial vehicles.
We are proud that through this initiative Mr. Andries Vumazonke employed by Atamelang Bus Serves in Ngaka Modiri Molema District was crowned the best bus driver of the year in the country. Vumazonke joins the select team of our road safety ambassadors.
Lazarus Lenkoe also became our pride and a role model in the taxi industry after being announced provincial winner of the prestigious 2009 North West Brandhouse Road Traffic Management Corporation Number One Taxi Driver competition.
An awareness campaign to empower communities within the operational proximity of Anglo Platinum to improve school and community safety as a contribution to road accidents and crime prevention was launched by Premier Mme Maureen Modiselle in March this year.
In partnership with Anglo Platinum, We together with the Department of Education, Bojanala Platinum District and Rustenburg Local Municipalities signed a pledge committing ourselves to promote and sustain the initiative.
The Provincial Community Road Safety Council was launched on 7 April 2010.District Community Road Safety Councils will be launched by end of July this year. The local structures will only be launched in 2011 as this has financial implications that need to be budgeted for. These structures will be critical in our drive for safer roads and mobilisation of all stakeholders towards one vision and plan for the creation of safer roads and safer road user communities. The RSC’s will help us carry out the education, enforcement part of our road safety strategy but also the engineering part which is about the creation of safer environments through road design which includes the introduction of traffic calming mechanisms such as speed humps.
Traditional leaders and municipalities as our partners in road safety will play a crucial role in the coordination and functionality of the RSCs. Easter and Festive Season Arrive Alive Operations during Easter Arrive Alive Operation of 2009; we targeted reduction of fatal accidents by five percent we recorded 23 fatal accidents compared to 19 fatal accidents in 2008.
We recorded fewer deaths in the 103 fatal crashes during the 2009 festive season though we recorded an increase of fatal crashes by 1.9 percent as compared to 2008. Fatal accidents decreased from one 148 in 2008 to one hundred and twenty one (121) in 2009 a decrease of about 9.2 percent.
Fewer pedestrians died on our roads, i.e. ten less than the previous period, a decrease of 11.4 percent. The major causal factor to fatal accidents in the last five years has consistently been over speeding. This year speeding contributed 36 percent followed by pedestrian jaywalking at 25 percent overtaking at unsafe or unlawful at seven percent, hit and run seven percent other eight percent.
A total of 33 088 summonses were issued by our traffic officers with 79 arrests for various offences. For the period 2009/10, a total of about 200 000 summonses were issued for various offences. A total of about 60 000 summonses were issued for speed during the year under review. This shows that we do not just experience the problem during Easter period but throughout the year.
A total of 356 000 summonses were issued during the year under review for various offences, 565 fatal crashes were recorded resulting in 725 deaths of which 221 were drivers, 296 passengers and 208 pedestrians. These figures are in our view unacceptably high because in our view, one death on our roads is a death too many. We have resolved to adopt zero tolerance to reckless and negligent driving and will intensify traffic law enforcement operations throughout the year through different special operations focusing on speed.
Re tlile go feela le go letsa seroba. Ons gaan vee and hard slaan. Die Poppe sal dans. We are going to sweep with a big broom and hit hard in order to save lives on our roads.
The department will also explore other measures of dealing with pedestrian jay walking as some of these continuously happen at same areas like Majakaneng outside Brits on the N4, Seweding and Majemantsho in Mafikeng.
FIFA Confederation Cup
A combined traffic law enforcement contingent of 600 traffic officers, about 1 300 police officers and 500 police students was deployed for intensified law enforcement and traffic control during the FIFA 2009 Confederation Cup in Rustenburg. This deployment yielded a huge success with only few incidents some unrelated to the Confederation Cup reported during the period.
Informed by lessons learnt during the Confederation Cup, We have adjusted and altered certain aspects of our master plans to reinforce them for the successful delivery of 2010 FIFA Football World Cup.
In anticipation of larger crowds and more cars ,we have together with Rustenburg host city appointed 500 traffic wardens to compliment our current strength and bring the total the total number of traffic officers to be deployed in Rustenburg during the Football World Cup to 800.
We had budgeted R4,6 million for training of our traffic officials in customer service, street survival and crowd management, human trafficking, safe stopping of vehicles, customer relations, traffic legislation, criminal procedure act and general orientation of traffic wardens.
I am confident that the employment of the wardens and the training interventions will ensure proper use of the road by pedestrians and other road users during the Football World Cup.
We expect the last group of 80 traffic officers to complete training in professional driving and high speed escort services for VIP’s by end of next week. We have also trained other police and traffic Officers on customer service, human trafficking, tactical street survival and crowd control and will provide diplomacy though the assistance of SARS Academy.
We have also established Tactical Response Team to deal with serious contact crimes. They are ready to deal and react to any incident anywhere in the province.
Honourable Speaker, we can boldly and without fear of any contradiction say that we are ready for the tasks ahead of us.
Operation DIC 1000
During the year under review, we undertook an operation DIC 1000 to arrest drunk drivers who do not to heed our call “Don’t Drink and Drive” and arrested about 300 drunk drivers between October and November 2009 admission of guilt collected during the operation amounted to R90 000.
Drunk driving operations will be intensified leading up to, during and beyond the Football World Cup to ensure that drunken driving does not cause unnecessary loss of lives.
In the interest of safer roads, all road users, football fans as well as tourists will be routinely tested for sobriety when they drive on our roads and those who are over the permissible alcohol limit will face the wrath of the law.
Ba tla di gama basa di tlhapela!!!
Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO)
Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences will contribute to the more effective and efficient finalisation of road traffic cases and its demerit point system is our hope to assist reduces the carnage on public roads. We will therefore roll it in our province during this financial year.
We wish to issue a stern warning to those drivers who behave as if they own the road and the general rules of the road are not applicable to them, your time is up, change your attitude because Aarto’s point demerit system will catch up with you.
Weigh bridge management
Our road infrastructure has been mainly damaged by overloading of heavy vehicles. On the other hand, we faced a number of challenges on operations of our weigh bridge infrastructure including those that we still have to make function like Ventersdorp and Wolmaranstad. However, I am pleased to report that Koster, Potchefstroom and Zeerust are now at a satisfactory level.
We have improved the management of our weighbridges and as a result over 7 000 summonses for overloading were issued. We have increased the number of operations at Bapong Traffic Control Centre on the N4 Bakwena Platinum Highway in preparation for the Football World Cup so as to protect the road infrastructure towards the Host City against heavy overloading.
Fighting corruption
We dealt decisively with cases involving maladministration and corruption in order to protect the integrity of our learner driver and driver licensing testing system by suspending 17 municipal employees, 15 examiners and two cashiers.
We withdrew 600 roadworthy certificates, 455 driver licences, 222 learners licences which were fraudulently obtained from across 11 Drivers Licence Testing Centre obtained and delinked one examiner from the eNaTis system. Among these cases, one examiner and a cashier were suspended on allegations of fraudulently issuing 250 drivers licences, 125 learners licenses and 600 roadworthy certificates at Bloemhof Drivers Testing Stations.
Due to the severity of cases which were uncovered during routine inspections at Bloemhof, Orkney and Delarayville DLTCs, we have referred them to the Special Investigating Unit and SAPS commercial branch for further investigation. Six cases of fraud and corruption were brought against traffic officials employed by the provincial department in the past financial year. We have dismissed three officials for of them and suspended three others pending finalisation of their cases.
In cases unrelated to issuing of learners and drivers licenses, 61 cases of misconduct were brought against police officials for investigation in our province. Fifty one of these cases relate to allegations of involvement in criminal activities while 10 relate to allegations of involvement in corruption. While 44 case dockets are still under investigation, seventeen police officials were arrested and 14 police officials were dismissed in the past financial year.
We will continue to be tough on fraud and corruption because police cannot run with the hounds and run with the hares. There is no place in the public service for vampires. You are either clean or dirty, in or out.
During this year of action, we will intensify our effort to deal with fraud and corruption in order stamp out greed and corruption within the ranks of traffic and the police. Re sa tlile go feela. This is the year of action against greed and corruption.
Projects community
Our provincial women traffic officers embarked on fundraising initiative in response to the plight of learners in the impoverished farming community. They handed over school uniforms to all 165 learners at Phakedi Primary School at Greylingsrus farm outside Maquassi during August month.
We pride ourselves with the calibre of public servants and in particular women who go beyond their call of duty to make a difference within our various communities.
Mandela Day
During the inaugural Mandela Day that served to remind us that values of human solidarity, compassion and human dignity that are the legacy of Nelson Mandela enables our communities to achieve higher results through collective efforts, we had a joint programme with Moretele Local Municipality to celebrate through active community service. The initiative was sponsored by private sector organisations like Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC), Builders Trade Depot in Rustenburg and Xstrata
Alloys-Merafe Resources.
Our programme for 67 minutes activities included distribution of food parcels to needy families and the cleaning and painting of Cyferskuil Police Station. The climax of the day’s activities was the birthday celebration of five elders who shared their 91st birthday with the former President of South Africa and icon, Nelson Mandela. Two hundred pensioners attended the celebrations.
The response we have received from the business sector, non-government organisations, community policing forums in the Mmakau Cluster and volunteers from the South African Police Service (SAPS), Moretele Local Municipality and our communities was phenomenal and has galvanised us to take forward the legacy of humility and selflessness that Madiba as our icon espoused and personified in pursuit of freedom, equality and a better life for all.
Crime situation
During the period under review, we reduced contact crimes by -2,87 percent, contact related crimes by - 2,84 percent and all other serious crimes by -7,52 percent. The crimes depended on police action for detection increased by + 6,54 percent, while property related crime increase by +3, 86 percent.
Our police arrested 31 suspects for drug related cases and seized cocaine weighing 14,8kg with a total street value of more than R25.4 million. They also managed to secure convictions in some of the cases involving women and children. For an example, a 27 year old suspect was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape of a nine year old girl in Lethabong.
In another case, a 24 year old suspect was also convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape of 4 year old girl. A 28 year old male was convicted and sentenced to 20 years for the rape of a 24 year old woman. These and many other cases to be concluded will ensure that we deal harshly with perpetrators of crimes against women and children.
Operation Washa Tsotsi
Since the launch of this operation, a total of about 872 suspects were reported wanted in terms of the national list of wanted suspects. A total of 283 suspects were arrested and though 382 are still remain at large, it’s just a matter of time before they are arrested, they may run but they cannot hide.
Eleven of those arrested have been convicted and sentenced. Others not accounted for were either reported dead or cases withdrawn in court.
Rural safety plan
Our rural safety plan is in place and fully implemented by all our clusters. The Rustenburg, Brits, Hartebeespoortdam, Mooinooi and Ventersdorp areas still remain a concern to us but we have intensified visibility of police through farm visits and patrols in order to prevent violent attacks in farming communities.
Our police have scored major successes including the arrest of suspects in the murder case of Kleinfontein farmer, Koos Van Staden and violent attacks on farmworkers in Biesiesvlei and Ventersdorp.
Firearm amnesty
During the 90 days Firearm Amnesty period that was proclaimed by Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa from 11 January to 11 April 2010, the department in partnership with SAPS, Business Against Crime North West, Provincial Chapter of Gun Free South Africa and the North West Taxi Council rolled out a public outreach and media campaign that was aimed at reducing the proliferation of illegal firearms that were in circulation and mobilising members of the public to head national clarion call- Awulethu Umshini Wakho-Surrender your firearms.
The success of the campaign exceeded our expectation by far and is an indication that the majority of people in our province have confidence in the capacity of the police to protect them against criminals. A total of 3262 firearms, i.e. 2576 handguns, 443 rifles, 236 shotguns, 5 semi-automatic firearms and 2 homemade firearms and 26 878 bullets were surrendered at various police stations across the province during the amnesty period.
The Cluster in which the highest numbers of firearms were surrendered was Rustenburg with 745 firearms while the police station at which the highest firearm number was surrendered was Klerksdorp which received 473 firearms. The said firearms and ammunition were permanently removed from circulation and will no longer pose a threat to anyone or be used in violent crimes. The firearms will after undergoing ballistic tests to determine whether they were used to commit crime or not be gazette for verification and either be crushed or melted to permanently dispose them.
Operation festive season
We have turned the heat on criminals and will continue to do so.
Operation festive
Season which was conducted from 1 October 2009 to 13 January 2010 was a resounding success.
More than 6 200 suspects were arrested for various crimes across the province of which 1 341 were arrested for contact crime ranging from murder, rape and assault.
During the operation, 140 multipurpose road blocks were conducted by police supported by provincial and municipal traffic, officers from Road Safety, Home Affairs Immigration and South African Revenue Services. Over 168 000 people and over 65 000 vehicle searched. One hundred and seventy eight firearms (178), over 65 000 grams of dagga, 71 dagga plants and various other drugs including Ecstacy, Mandrax, Cocaine and Heroin were seized.
The momentum we have gained in the war against crime will be sustained to give criminals no breathing space towards, during and beyond the Football World Cup.
2010 FIFA World Cup
The moment we’ve all been waiting for is upon us. There is excitement all over the world about the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup. It’s time for us to roll the red carpet for teams, guests, fans and tourists who will be in our country during the tournament to celebrate universal friendship through the game of football.
This is not the time for apathy or petty squabbles but a time for solidarity and unity. It’s time for us to hold hands, face and conquer our Kilimanjaros and our Everests together.
Ke nako, Dit is die tyd. It’s time for every citizen of the world, every African and every South African to shed xenophobia, racism, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, violence and crime and embrace the spirit of love, Ubuntu, peace and joy.
In line with our plan for policing of the Football World Cup, deployment of teams for operations to ensure that the Football World Cup is hosted in a safe and secure environment commenced as from last week and is being increased at different stages in line with our priorities until such time that the entire team of 6 000 is on the ground in the host city of Rustenburg and throughout our province.
We have long been on the ground, we know what to expect, this time around, we will be vigilant, better organised and sharp as a razor. We will not allow any person to rob those who will be in our province during the world’s greatest sporting event of the thrill of their lifetime. We call on all our people to be our eyes and our ears. On your word, we will be watching in the stealth of the night, on your word, we will be watching during moments of excitement, we will not blink or be caught off guard and on your word; we will be waiting in the shadows to pounce with the speed of lightning.
We have rehearsed, had enough time to make the necessary alterations and adjustments to our plans after the FIFA Confederation Cup and are ready to host the teams, fans and tourists within a safe and secure environment on behalf of the people of the Africa, South Africa and the North West Province.
The Provincial Community Policing Board, our Cluster Boards and CPF’s are hard at work mobilising communities for an onslaught against crime for the best ever Football World Cup to be hosted in a safe and secure environment.
Forces of evil, criminals and hooligans will be given no space to breathe. Our men and women in blue are ready to raise our black, green, gold white and red flag with pride like Sibusiso Vilane raised it on Mount Everest They will neither blink, slumber nor be caught off guard. We will be on top of our game.
All routes leading in and out of the Host City will be patrolled by both the police and traffic officials. We will maintain high visibility of the police in all corners of Rustenburg and at all public viewing areas, hotels and places of entertainment across our province to prevent crime.
Honourable Speaker, we are indeed in the awakening age that the African genius, poet and writer, Ben Okri in his poem titled the Awakening Age captured as follows:
"O ye who travel the meridian line,
May the vision of a new world within you shine.
May eyes that have lived with poverty's rage,
See through to the glory of the awakening age.
For we are all richly linked in hope,
Woven in history, like a mountain rope.
Together we can ascend to a new height;
Guided by our heart's clearest light.
When perceptions are changed there's much to gain,
A flowering of truth instead of pain.
There's more to a people than their poverty;
There's their work, wisdom, and creativity.
Along the line may our lives rhyme,
To make a loving harvest of space and time."
Our people have waited for too long;
This is their time, their moment of glory, their age of awakening. We are not going to allow any criminal, corrupt official or any evil force to rob them of this moment.
Honourable Speaker, I hereby present the departmental budget vote five for the Department of Public Safety for consideration and approval by your august house:
Budget by programme:
Programme: Management administrations
Budget: R116 692
Programme: Crime prevention and community police relations
Budget: R28 730
Programme: Transport regulation
Budget: R191 440
Total: R336 862
Budget per economic classification:
Compensation of employees
Current budget: R237807
Admin expenditure
Current budget: R24997
Stores
Current budget: R8559
Transfer payments
Current budget: R3373
Professional services
Current budget: R24220
Other goods and services
Current budget: R35715
Total current budget: R334671
Equipment: 2191
Total budget for 2010/11: R336 862
My appreciation goes to the Honourable Premier Mme Modiselle, colleagues in the Executive Council, Honourable Members of the Legislature and in particular to the Chairperson, Honourable Khoza Pelele and members of the Public Safety Portfolio Committee for support guidance and encouragement.
To the Head of Department, Mr Iqbal Motala, Provincial Commissioner General Lesetja Beetha, Executive and Senior Managers, SAPS Provincial Management, Executive and Members of the Provincial Community Policing Board, Cluster and Station Commanders, Executive and Members of Community Policing Cluster Board and employees of the department and staff on my office, I wish to convey my appreciation for your commitment to do things faster and smarter during this year of action for accelerated service delivery.
I wish to thank my beloved wife, Nowethu and my children for their support, patience and unconditional love. Business Against Crime North West, Anglo Platinum, Bakwena Toll, Gender Commission, Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality, Magalies Water, Pretoria Portland Cement, Xstrata Alloys-Merafe Resources, Builders Trade Depot in Rustenburg, Agri-North West, South African Ministers Fraternal ,Progressive Women’s
Movement, North West Taxi Council and all its Regional Structures and affiliates, Transport Companies, Taletso FET College, Uniwest, Man trucks and Bus (S.A),Risk Administrative Consultants Driving Solutions, Atamelang Bus Services, Cosatu, Popcru, SAPU, Nehawu and SADTU, You had confidence in us to make a difference and demonstrated this by supporting our programmes. We value your partnership and count on your continued support.
We count on the continued partnership of the judiciary under the leadership of Judge President Monicca Leeuw ,Our traditional leaders, Directors of Public Prosecution, Royal Bafokeng Administration, MMC’s for Public Safety, Members Provincial Justice Crime Prevention & Security Cluster departments, client departments, schools and our municipalities to accelerate service delivery.
I wish to salute the former Head of Department, Mr Obakeng Mongale for his exceptional strategic leadership, immeasurable contribution and excellent service rendered during his tenure and wish him success in this future endeavours.
A special word of thanks goes to churches for coming closer to us during Arrive Alive Campaigns and Firearm Amnesty Campaign and for taking their rightful place in the moral regeneration initiative. In particular we thank Pastors, Servants of God for their wise counsel, encouragement, support and prayers.
To our women and men in blue and our traffic officers, road safety officers, police reservists and traffic wardens , a big thank you for your sacrifices, loyalty and dedication.
The hopes of South Africans, the people on the continent and the entire world are on all of us to bring the harvest of space and time. We dare not fail them.
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.
Issued by: Department of Public Safety, North West Provincial Government
20 May 2010
