Honourable Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature
Deputy Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature
Honourable Premier of Gauteng
Members of the Executive Council
Honourable Members of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature
Members of Mayoral Committees responsible for Community Safety
The Head of Department of Community Safety
The Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service
Deputy Provincial Commissioners
Executive Directors for Community Safety in Municipalities
The Chiefs of Metropolitan Police Departments
The Chiefs of Local Traffic Departments in District Municipalities
Distinguished guests
Our Partners in the fight against crime
Comrades and friends
Introduction
In 1994 when we stood in long queues as early as 5am, we stood in those long queues because we were yearning for change. We were voting for a People’s government because we were saying enough is enough with apartheid police and policing, that of skop, skiet and donder.
Our People voted and gave the ANC an overwhelming majority. By casting their vote they mandated the ANC government to create Structures in defence of our community such as the CPFs and the Community Safety Forums.
The dawn of democratic policing a little under two decades ago brought with it
possibilities and hopes of law enforcement agencies in touch with citizens, responsive to their needs and fears and being a partner rather than a foe. Over the ensuing policing in this country underwent a fundamental transformation intended to imbue it with democratic ethos. A very crucial part of this transformation process was the introduction of community policing.
The second was demilitarising both the nature of the police service as well as its style of policing.
Furthermore, municipal policing also underwent further changes, occasioned in part by local government restructuring which saw the establishment of 3 Metro Police Departments in the municipalities of Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Tshwane. This allowed for municipal policing to take on additional responsibilities of crime prevention and by-law enforcement, in addition to their traditional traffic law enforcement function.
This was crucial to improving police visibility and force-multiplying the police service. As the provincial government we also developed the Gauteng Safety Strategy and the Co-created Safety strategy.
Honourable Members, I am raising these issues because it is crucial that as we
approach the end of the second decade of our democracy (20 years ) we look back to where we come from and where we are headed to, notwithstanding challenges we constantly experience in the fight against crime and creating a crime free Gauteng.
In her State of the Province Address in February, the Honourable Premier Mme
Nomvula Mokonyane said “the men and women of our law enforcement agencies in the province have executed their duties with diligence despite the continued onslaught of organised crime syndicates and the scourge of corruption. We can now show that we have reduced crime in our province and that we have made Gauteng a safer place in which to live.”
Nowhere has this been evident that the police’s efforts resulted in the defeat of cash in transit heists and bank robberies. This is also evident in the decrease in trio crimes as it is recorded over a few years now. Big ups!! to our Provincial Commissioner Lt. General Mzwandile Petros and his deputies, and the most important people the men and women in blue including Traffic Officers from both the Gauteng Traffic Police and Metropolitan Police Departments led by their Chiefs.
When we attained our freedom in 1994, we celebrated that finally we are free from
oppression and the shackles of apartheid. Kanti isende lendlela esisazoyihamba!
The new struggle that we have to fight to free ourselves and our children and
children’s children. The scourge of drug abuse. Our communities are under siege. Our communities, our recreational facilities and parks are now drug dens.
There are lolly lounges in our communities where young people are kept or they hang out and are fed drugs by those who want to destroy the future of our youth and of this country.
The mounting efforts by organised crime to invade non-affluent areas, especially our townships and flood them with drugs, is a cause for concern. We are determined to root out this scourge. The police can’t do this alone, they need communities to help them. It’s you in communities who know who sells drugs to our children and grand children and future leaders of this country. It’s you who know where they are manufactured, how they are packaged. Whether it’s in a form of stock sweet, kota, hubbly bubbly- tell the police.
Some of the social ills that are committed in our communities, our grannies robbed of the pension grant, houses being burgled, washing lines, cables, taps being stolen, is as a result of drug addiction and trying to get a fix.
The recent visit to Eldorado Park on the 14th May 2013 by our President ubaba Jacob Zuma, our Premier, and the Ministers of Police, Social Development and Education, is a demonstration of our resolve to put an end to drugs circulation that destroys young people in communities. We hope to replicate these interventions to all areas that are ravaged by drugs, such as Westbury, Newclare, Sophiatown, Mamelodi, Hammanskraal, parks in Diepkloof, and all other kasies in Gauteng, whilst strengthening the law enforcement side.
To date the following has occurred in Eldorado Park: 116 arrests in the area for various crimes, and counting, 43 for drug related crimes, 20 for driving under the influence of liquor, 10 for Assault GBH, Burglary 5, Theft out and of Motor vehicle 5, and two (2) unlicensed firearms seized with arrests.
Drugs that have been confiscated were to the value of R33 million are: CAT, Mandrax, Cocaine, rock and nyaope. The teams visited and closed twenty (20) lolly houses.
The operations consisting of vehicle check points, stop and searches, visiting of
identified houses of dealers and lolly lounges, are continuing on a 24 hour basis in the area.
The advent of community policing has also had positive spin offs. The same vigour and activism seen in the fight against apartheid has been transferred into community activism against criminal activity. The response and uptake of our communities towards the Take Charge campaign is simply a demonstration that our communities have an inherent intolerance towards disorder in society. Ours is to harness such energies and ensure they are channelled in the right fashion.
You are not men enough if you abuse, rape, sexually molest women, children, elderly people and people with disabilities. The increase in crimes against the vulnerable makes all of us to be ashamed and wonder what has happened. What has happened to our beloved country! Why do we have to hear that women in Mpahlwa Village in Fochville can’t walk at night because they are accosted by coward men in groups wearing balaclavas to hide their faces then gang rape them. Why do we have to listen to women in Khutsong crying for help that their children as young as three years are raped, they can’t play in the streets, they can’t go to the shops because they become victims of rapes by their so-called uncles, brother’s friend, neighbours, etc?
Women in Westonaria are terrorised by a serial rapist. Women are beheaded by their husbands in Benoni. A woman killed and buried in her own backyard by the one she loves – her husband in Braamfischer. It’s no longer even safe to go to some churches because some Pastors rape women in the house of God.
All Gauteng men need to stand up and pledge and say “ Not in our NAME” and take a lead in the fight against gender-based violence.
Madam Speaker and Honourable members I hereby present to you the Department of Community Safety budget for 2013/2014. This is a budget that takes us to the 20th Anniversary of the dawn of democracy. The budget we received is to perform all the tasks as stipulated in our Constitution, section 206(3). Is R496, 937million, and it is allocated as follows:
Programme 1: Administration R77, 112 million
Programme 2: Civilian Oversight R28, 322 million
Programme 3: Crime Prevention and Community Police Relations R106, 040 million
Programme 4: Traffic Management R285, 463 million
There’s a specific allocation for the implementation of the Civilian Secretariat which is R8,5 million, whilst the reduction of Violence against Women and Children receives an additional R6,5 million.
Our programmes are underpinned by the seven outputs that form part of the Gauteng Provincial Government’s outcome three, which is All People in South Africa are and feel safe.
These are:
Outcome 1: reducing trio crimes
Outcome 2: reducing violence against women and children
Outcome 3: social crime prevention
Outcome 4: crime perception management
Outcome 5: effectiveness and integration of the criminal justice system
Outcome 6: reduction in corruption, and
Outcome 7: reduction in road fatalities
We are convinced that the collective impact of successfully rolling out these programmes will contribute substantially not only in making Gauteng safe, but in enhancing social cohesion as well.
REDUCING TRIO CRIMES
Given the high levels of crime between 2003 and 2007 the department developed the Gauteng Safety Strategy in 2006, announced the SAPS’s Operation Iron Fist in July 2006, whilst the National Commissioner of the South African Police Service introduced ‘Operation Trio’ in July 2007 and the development of the Aggravated Robbery Strategy in June 2008. These were intended to address increasing serious and violent crime commonly known as Trio Crimes namely, car hijacking, robberies of houses and businesses, cash-in-transit heists and public transport related crime and violence.
The strategy and these policing plans have collectively contributed significantly to the crime picture we have currently.
Since 2003\04 Murder has declined from 4 433 reported cases per annum to 3 012 in 2011\12 a decrease of 32.05%. Attempted Murder has dropped from 8 588 cases in 2003\4 to 3 474 in 2011\12 a decline of 59.54%. Sexual crimes have decrease from 16 402 cases per annum in 2003\04 to 12 419 in 2011\12 a decrease of 24.28%.
Robbery with aggravating circumstances has declined from 63 639 in 2003\4 to 35 323 in 2011\12 a decline of 44.49%. Burglary at residential premises has fallen from 84 643 in 2003\4 to 64 714 in 2011\12 a decrease of 23.54%. Carjacking has declined from 8 914 in 2003\4 to 5 000 reported cases in 2011\12 a decline of 43.90%.
As we indicated above, transformation of law enforcement agencies and their policing ethos have brought us to where we are today. Indeed the role of communities must be appraised as a lot of our successes have had to do with communities providing crucial intelligence to law enforcement agencies.
In the last financial year the department had a round table discussion with the SAPS and made significant strides with respect to information from the SAPS by agreeing on Standard Operating Procedures and the flow of information. There is also agreement that a joint team consisting of the department and the SAPS will undertake the docket audits at stations. A team building session between the department and the SAPS is also in the pipe line. Dates have since been agreed on for the Quarterly Reviews and Gauteng Information on Police Performance Systems (GIPPS) sessions with SAPS province.
The department has been monitoring the effectiveness of the Gauteng Co-Created Policing Strategy since its inception in 2010 when the new Provincial Commissioner was appointed. Station visits are conducted on poor performing stations that have a two star rating on the SAPS Performance Chart and those that are considered to be the best performers so that best practices are gleaned and shared. To this end the department will conduct station visits at 40 police stations in the province and follow up visits will be made to determine if the recommendations made are implemented.
In addition, the department will continue to conduct 1 200 docket audits on closed
cases to determine if the Detective 10 Point Plan is being implemented and is having the desired results. The overall aim of this exercise is to improve on the investigation of cases reported and ensure that dockets are trial ready so as to increase the conviction rate for Trio\Priority crimes in Gauteng. This will instill community confidence in the police’s ability to apprehend perpetrators and ensure that they are brought to book.
Moreover, the general public will have confidence in the criminal justice system. In
the last financial year, 1 278 dockets were audited, the findings were communicated to the Station Commander, Branch Commander and Detectives and action plans with stipulated time frames were developed. The findings of the docket audits were well received by Station Management. This revealed that detectives require further training at a basic level as well as specific training on Forensic investigations.
During the Quarterly Review and Gauteng Information on Police Performance Systems (GIPPS) sessions the department will focus on the performance and training of the detectives to ensure that cases are comprehensively investigated so that the conviction rate improves considerably.
The department also analysed resource allocation to Detective components at ten
police stations in the province and found that the lack of resources impacts negatively on the performanc of Detectives. The recommendations emanating from this exercise are that:
- there is a need to develop an Action Plan that will ensure improvement of the performance of the Detectives in the province
- conduct an audit and ensure that Detective units in the province are resourced in line with the dynamics that are affecting the precinct
- develop tools which will be utilized to measure the competency of the Detectives, prioritise the safe keeping of case dockets through ensuring that stations are furnished with lockable cabinet facilities; and,
- address issues of accommodation for most of the affected police stations in the province.
To date the department has audited 1 968 dockets since the inception of the exercise during 2011\12 financial year.
The department will continue to assess the performance of clusters with respect to priority crimes and monitor the collaboration and coordination between the South African Police Service and the National Prosecuting Authority at cluster level.
Furthermore, the effectiveness and efficiency of sector policing and specialised units will also be carried out in this financial year. A new template focusing on the Regulations governing the Metropolitan Police Departments has been developed to monitor their performance. The quarterly review sessions have focused on ensuring that the Metropolitan Police Departments have adopted the 18 month priorities and meet the objectives thereto.
These quarterly review sessions will continue in the new financial year. The tool will be rolled in the beginning of July 2013 to align with local government planning cycles.
REDUCING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN
The department has assessed the effectiveness of the Family Violence, Child
Protection and Sexual Offences Units (FCS) in five clusters since their re-launch in 2011. In addition, the department in terms of the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service Act is required to monitor the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act (DVA) by the SAPS in the province.
To this end the department conducted Domestic Violence Audits at 69 police stations in the province in the last financial year. Follow up visits were also conducted to determine if the recommendations had been implemented. Police stations are rated as non-compliant, partially compliant and fully compliant.
It was found that training is required for members in the Visible Policing division (VISPOL) and Detective components on victim empowerment and the Domestic Violence, Sexual Offences and the Child Justice Acts.
Moreover, the following challenges were identified:
- the withdrawal of cases by complainants in the implementation of the DVA
- attitude of the members
- complicated forms and registers
- serving of protection orders
In this financial year, Domestic Violence Audits will be undertaken at 80 police stations in the province.
Ikhaya Lethemba (IKLT) opened in March 2004. IKLT is the largest, most comprehensive one stop centre for victims in Gauteng.
Only intake services were rendered on a 24/7 basis during 2004/05. Since the
launch of Ikhaya Lethemba more than 8 000 adults have received psycho-social
support services that assisted them to develop coping skills and the ability to triumph over the effect of abuse and sexual offences. Specialised child- focussed therapeutic services have been rendered to more than 2380 children under the age of 18 years old. This service supported children through the adverse impact of physical, emotional, economic and sexual abuse.
From May 2005, Ikhaya Lethemba opened the residential wing of the One Stop Centre.
The first client was admitted on the 7th of May 2005. Since May 2005 more than 3 600 women and children have been accommodated at Ikhaya Lethemba shelter.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY SAFETY I BUDGET VOTE I 2013/14 11
Women that participated in the skills development programme sustain themselves as a result of training received whilst accommodated at Ikhaya Lethemba. More than 1 250 women have been equipped with skills. Many of these survivors sustain their families’ through small business such as hairdressing, African jewellery making and child minding. Ikhaya Lethemba remains in contact with 25 women that have excelled within their communities as a result of skills development received at Ikhaya Lethemba.
In 2007 Ikhaya Lethemba rolled-out Victim Empowerment Services at police station level. To date more than 50 000 victims of crime have received basic victim support services at these sites.
Regional Victim Offices were launched in 2009 and services continue in two regional offices.
Ikhaya Lethemba initiated the roll-out of the implementation of Green Doors in 2010.
This project continues and 32 green doors have been established to date and more will be opened in all the areas. Upon reconstitution of FCS services IKLT accommodated all FCS members attached to the Johannesburg Central and Hillbrow clusters as well as the Unit that specialises in Serial Rapists.
In 2012 the Department absorbed Medico-Legal services internally to ensure that no disruptions within the chain of services to victims occur. This unit successfully assisted more than 550 women and children that suffered sexual violence and or domestic violence. Full forensic services have been rendered that assist in the prosecution of perpetrators.
Our medico legal unit at Ikhaya Lethemba is fully functional and already making a
huge difference to the lives of victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. We
have a highly qualified and experienced medical team that is able to respond to even the most complex cases. We are in the process of procuring the best possible medical equipment for the centre to assist in getting the best results and possibly improve the conviction rate. Our good partnership with the FCS in house has resulted in improved referral rates.
Moving forward Ikhaya Lethemba services will be prosecutorial driven to ensure
improved conviction rates of our clients’ court cases. The Family Justice Support Unit has been capacitated to respond to all civil and criminal matters raised by clients.
Additional staff will be sourced to assist with effective case tracking that ensures that all stakeholders within the Criminal Justice System will work towards the benefit of victims of crime.
During this financial year we will establish an additional 18 green doors in communities focusing on rural and problematic areas and further focus on communities that have high incidences as well as those far from police stations. Additional capacity will be sourced to ensure the sustainability of green doors.
Special focus will be to increase security of green doors. The green doors operate as localised reception-assessmentreferral sites. They will continue referring clients to closest professional victim sites.
During this financial year green doors will be established in the following areas:
- Meyerton
- Fochville
- Sebokeng
- Randfontein
- Mamelodi
- Soshanguve
- Diepsloot
- Sunnyside
- Kagiso
- Zonkizizwe
- Tsakane
- Bophelong
- Cullinan
- Tembisa
- Westonaria
- Kwathema
- Garankuwa, and
- Vosloorus
Honourable Members will note that we are establishing these green doors at a ward level, so some areas may already have a green door but in a different ward.
We are in the process of building the capacity of Forensic Social Workers. In partnership with the University of Cape Town, the Gauteng City Region Academy, the Department of Social Development and various experts in the field are currently developing a certificate programme to train 20 Forensic Social Workers during the 2013/14 financial year. The programme is aimed at assisting the criminal justice system in improving the conviction rate around the sexual assault and domestic violence cases.
SOCIAL CRIME PREVENTION
Given the high levels of drug abuse incidents in the province, the department will
expand the drug abuse prevention forum by:
- Launching a provincial integrated ‘Anti-Nyaope Campaign’ that will focus on awareness,
- classification of the drug as illegal, raids, rehabilitation and reintegration of former addicts back into the society.
The department will continue to raise awareness about the scourge of drug abuse and its consequences, continue to support the work done by the Department of Social Development to reclassify nyaope as an illegal substance. We will continue to identify illegal substance users for referral to rehabilitation centres. The department will further link the users with the youth desk volunteers to implement programmes relating to drug awareness in communities and schools. Mentorship programmes in the form of week-long camps where the users will be assessed and mentored will be undertaken.
Further, the department will conduct awareness programmes focusing on substance abuse and gender based violence in universities and Further Education and Training colleges. The department recently attended a seminar on gender based violence at Wits University, whilst the Executive Council last week interacted with students at the University of Johannesburg.
Due to the high incidents or violent behaviors amongst learners in schools and the use of substances the department will further enhance the unannounced law enforcement operations by putting more focus on the inner city as well as schools in suburbs. The school searches are intended as a deterrent to learners to carry drugs and weapons into school premises. We will continue to establish school safety desks and train ambassadors at identified schools.
The programme will focus on some of the generators of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse.
We will be establishing Men as Safety Promoters in taverns and social clubs and areas of social interactions. To date we have 162 Men as Safety Promoters groups across the province, and will establish an additional 100 groups during the 2013/14 financial year. These will be established in areas where we hold public meetings, areas targeted for the Know your Neighbour campaign and those where there are high incidences of violence against women and children.
CRIME PERCEPTION MANAGEMENT
The Take Charge Campaign, our overarching community mobilisation flagship,
continues to grow in leaps and bounds as more communities and citizens respond positively to our calls to participate in anti-crime initiatives. Its more localised sister campaign, the Know your Neighbour campaign, gives concrete meaning and guidance to communities on what they can practically do to contribute to the fight against crime.
There is just no substitute to residents knowing each other and what they do for a
living. We recently had a meeting with the Bedfordview community, at which it was
indicated a lot of the syndicates in this province take refuge in affluent areas, in the hope police won’t take notice of their presence. This is the essence of our campaign about knowing your neighbour.
The Take Charge campaign has since its launch in 2007, directly interacted with more than a million citizens. Our Labour, Faith Based and Sports, Arts, Culture and Edutainment (SPACE) sectors have consistently mobilised thousands of citizens behind the Take Charge campaign.
The Faith Based sector has been crucial in ensuring that a number of church buildings in our communities avail their facility to house our green doors. We also extend our gratitude to those members of communities who make available their places of residence to house green doors.
We will continue our interactions with citizens through exhibitions in shopping malls and centres. This provides citizens an opportunity to interact with law enforcement agencies in an unprecedented fashion, allowing citizens to understand the inner working of these agencies.
Honourable Members,
Civilian Oversight has evolved for the better in the last 19 years since it was formally sanctioned. Police accountability in a democracy is crucial both to ensure effective and efficient service provision, as well as prevent the abuse of power by the police.
As I indicated at the beginning, the centrality of community policing is perhaps the very heartbeat of democratic policing. The unsavoury incident in Daveyton in February of alleged police brutality indicates the risks involved if relations between the police and communities are not managed appropriately. We eagerly await the outcome of the court case in this regard, so if necessary remedial steps can be taken.
In the meantime we successfully convened and held a safety summit with stakeholders in the Daveyton and Etwatwa areas, on the 25th of April 2013, to understand in depth some of the causes of this breakdown. The summit emerged with a Programme of Action that tackles all facets of community safety, both policing and non-policing.
We hope the successful implementation of this plan will also serve to inspire other communities to pre-empt similar incidents from occurring.
The Civilian Secretariat for Police Service Act requires Secretariats to provide
guidance to Community Police Fora and other community structures. Therefore, the department will continue to support Community Police Fora (CPF), Cluster Boards and the Provincial Board in their public meetings, anti-crime campaigns and development of Programmes of Action.
In addition, Hostel Communities, Business Communities and Rural Communities outreach, public meetings and Programmes of Action will be sustained. Community Police Fora members will be trained to professionalise the structures and ensure that they function according to the Minimum Standards and Guidelines. The Community Patrollers will also be trained during this financial year. Both sets of training will be provided by accredited institutions.
Induction sessions will also be held for CPFs and Community Patrollers in the province.
Uniforms and equipment such as two way radios and torches will be procured. The Patroller programme has been in place since the 2007\08 financial year and it has evolved from providing safety and security to communities to guarding schools in the province since 2011\12. Statutory bodies such as CPFs and Volunteers such as the Community Patrollers are an attempt to strengthen the social movement against crime in the province.
Patroller insurance has been extended over the next three years at a cost of R1,
066 million. Community Patrollers are insured for injury on duty resulting in hospital confinement with a cover of R1000 a day whilst hospitalised, up to a maximum of 90 days, death as a result of an accident whilst on duty for an amount of R80 000 and permanent total disablement as a result of an accident for R80 000.
With respect to job creation, to date 5 980 Community Patrollers have been deployed at schools to provide security and ensure that vandalism and theft of computers is minimised. Since the deployment of Patrollers such incidents have declined drastically.
In addition, for the second year in a row, Patrollers were deployed at shopping malls, taxi and bus ranks during the festive season. During the 2013 African Cup of Nations approximately 478 Community Patrollers were deployed at Township TV and Public Viewing Areas.
Patrollers continue to be deployed at Metrorail sites, provide security at Koedoespoort Traffic Regional Office, the Johannesburg Central Business District, Ikhaya Lethemba and Head Office. Furthermore, Patrollers have also been placed at a construction site in Jabulani to provide security as there was theft of material. In this financial year 100 Patrollers will be trained to do point duty and crime prevention in the Central Business District. Patrollers will also be deployed at certain Green Doors in Gauteng.
The department will continue to try and source job creation opportunities for the Patrollers as there are a number of educated and skilled Patrollers who have Bachelor’s degrees and certificates in engineering on our database.
Five research projects will be undertaken to further enhance the department’s capacity to understand and respond to policing challenges.
These are:
- Rural safety
- The role of Metropolitan Police Departments in crime prevention
- An assessment of case ready dockets
- An analysis of crimes dependent on police action, and
- An evaluation of Family Violence, Child and Sexual Offences (FCS) units.
EFFECTIVENESS AND INTEGRATION OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
The department will continue to ensure the effectiveness and integration of the criminal justice system in the province. Three subcommittees were established in the previous financial year and they will continue to operate during the 2013\14 financial year. The department will resume its work on monitoring the Case Flow Management meetings to determine if there is cooperation and coordination between agencies in the criminal justice system.
There have been significant strides made in improving Forensics Capacity in the
province. The cabinet memo has been revised extensively to reflect the need to improve the number of posts for Specialist Forensic Pathologists (40), Forensic Social Workers (100), and Clinical Forensic Nurses and ensure that the Forensic Officers course is accepted as an offering at Universities and Universities of Technology. Financial assistance will be provided to Specialist Forensic Pathologists for accommodation and examination fees, bursaries for Forensic Social Workers and Forensic Officers.
REDUCTION IN CORRUPTION
The department will continue to support the Gauteng Provincial Governments drive to reduce fraud and corruption by intensifying its efforts to fully implement its anticorruption initiatives. In the Driver Licence Testing Centres and Vehicle Testing Stations further capacity will be created to ensure that our oversight and investigations capacity is enhanced. We will also be working more closely together with the Gauteng Department of Transport to ensure that persons perpetuating any fraudulent and criminal activities are indeed apprehended and prosecuted.
The implementation of the sectoral strategy is also ongoing, and in this regard let us congratulate the South African Police Service for having arrested more than 900 of their own members for alleged corruption.
REDUCTION IN ROAD FATALITIES
This output is responsible for the implementation of our Gauteng Road Safety Strategy, also adopted in 2006.
The strategy emphasises both static and mobile deployments. Static on known stretches of roads that are problematic. Such roads are normally referred to as hazardous locations. These roads will be isolated and prioritised for customised law enforcement and road safety educational programmes in order to bring down the rate of accidents on such roads and most importantly reduce the number of fatalities recorded on such roads.
Linked to targeting these hazardous locations is deploying Traffic Officers at the times at which accidents have been identified to mostly occur which is mostly at awkward times such as such as pre-dawn times, at night and over weekends. Added to this, our Road Safety Officers will prioritize communities in and around such hazardous locations with a view to educating them about the safe usage of the road and also mobilising them to become road safety ambassadors. It is our intention through this intervention to tackle head on identified hazardous locations in the province in order to significantly reducing road accidents and fatalities in those identified locations.
Unroadworthy vehicles contribute substantially to accidents and fatalities, and
therefore constitute a special area of focus. The public must expect to be stopped at any given moment during their journeys for Law Enforcement Agencies to inspect their vehicles either through road blocks, roadside checkpoints, whilst conducting visible patrols or through any tactic that’s deemed fit. We would also want to caution all people in the townships who are utilising unauthorised vehicles popularly known as “Amaphela” which have proliferated to unprecedented proportions, that Law Enforcers have adopted a zero-tolerance and will not hesitate to impound such vehicles as they are not authorised to transport passengers, nor do they comply with safety regulations.
The Gauteng Traffic Police will also be improving its focus on congestion on provincial roads through the deployment of the Motorbike Unit. This unit will also assist with moving violations such as people talking on cell phones and motorists driving on the yellow lane.
A new Saturation Unit is deployed to assist the South African Police Service to combat crime and criminality in the province. This new unit collapses previously specialised units such as the Anti-truck Hijacking Unit, Special Law Enforcement Unit and the Taxi Conflict. It will operate with a sense of renewed vigour targeting criminal elements that utilise our roads to access certain areas in order to commit crime and as escape routes after the commission of such acts. Members of the public should also expect that if stolen goods are found in their possession, arrests will be immediately effected.
The idea of the new unit is to integrate the work of the Gauteng Traffic Police.
Members of the public are duly warned that the Gauteng Traffic Police is going to have a special focus on offences which have been identified to be at the heart of the growing rate of road accidents and fatalities nationally. These pertain to drunk driving (motorists who drive while intoxicated), reckless and negligent driving (includes motorists who drive in an inconsiderate manner to other motorists), Excessive speeding (this refers to motorists who drive way above the prescribed speed limit). Officers will arrest any member of the public found in violation of any of these offences as they constitute our zero-tolerance offences.
There has been an alarming and steady increase in the number of taxi violence
incidents in the province which we cannot allow to continue unabated. Taxi violence will therefore not be tolerated and Law Enforcers will deal decisively and accordingly with taxi operators who engage in violence which often leads to brutal loss of lives.
Taxis belonging to operators who partake in these violent acts will be impounded in order to restore law and order. Operators will be charged impoundment and storage fees for as long as their vehicles are in our pound facility. Law Enforcers will also not hesitate to arrest those identified to be instrumental in perpetuating these acts of criminality.
We will also focus all our efforts to deal with other public passenger modes of transport (taxis/buses) and freight (trucks/light delivery vans and other modes) for roadworthiness.
Where there is non-compliance vehicles will be impounded without fail.
Road Safety Education Pedestrian fatalities continue to outnumber all other categories of road users who perish on roads. The fact that we know this information compels us to do something about this unacceptable situation. It is for this reason that we have prioritised three areas which statistics have shown to be some of the areas which have greatly contributed towards pedestrian fatalities.
These areas are the N14 (next to Diepsloot) and N3 Magagula Heights. Our strategy is to target various leaders in and around these areas including Ward Councillors, Church leaders, School Principals and Teachers alike, community representatives, learners and the community at large, and mobilise them behind our road safety messages and actions.
Added to these areas, we will also be targeting Moloto Road. In Moloto Road our focus will primarily be on public passenger transport which is a real problem on this stretch of road. A range of traffic law enforcement operations will be mounted along the stretch of Moloto daily. Motorists utilising this road should expect to be inconvenienced on this road as we step up our efforts to bring down the level of accidents and rate of fatalities. Communities in and around this stretch of road will also benefit from our road safety education programmes as they also fall victim to being knocked down by speeding vehicles, especially buses that travel on this road daily.
We will continue to maintain presence in other areas recording pedestrian fatalities and also continue with the work we do in schools targeting children in elementary schools, primary and high schools. Over and above this, we will continue with our driver educational programmes targeting different companies and taxi drivers.
Traffic College
We also have a College in the West of Pretoria which provides traffic training to
traffic officers. Our intention remains to transform this College to become a centre of excellence through recruiting as many students as possible as well as provide quality training that is accredited. We are currently implementing our turnaround strategy for the college to modernise aspects of training, infrastructure and making it one of our revenue streams.
Currently the college has students from Mpumalanga, KwaZulu- Natal and Free State, in addition to our own departmental intake, registered at the College.
STRATEGIC PLANNING AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
There has been an increased focus on issues of performance measured and the
verification of performance. In line with the Practice Note issued by the Auditor General in 2012 the departments will be expected to develop capacity to verify performance information, evaluate progress on outputs and assess real impact.
During the course of this financial year the department will ensure that it develops the requisite capacity to achieve this important institutional task.
Prudent financial management is the cornerstone in our corporate governance regime. Having consistently achieved an unqualified audit for more than five years now, the department is aiming for a clean audit.
Measures in place include strengthening our internal control systems and attending to matters raised during the previous audit.
Business units are also assisted through regular budget monitoring sessions convened by the Office of the Chief Financial Officer.
The department also follows a zero-based budgeting method, thus ensuring the
most efficient resource allocation based on concrete need, as opposed to historical patterns. We are also strengthening of Risk Management strategy as well as meetings to regularly keep track of our risk environment and proactively mitigate it.
CONCLUSION
Honourable Members,
All of the programmes and activities outlined above would not be possible without the collective efforts of a range of players and stakeholders in the public safety arena.
I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the Premier mama Nomvula Mokonyane for her leadership, guidance and encouragement at all times and her barking orders and saying “ Kuyasheshwa” I also thank my colleagues in the Executive Council for always being friendly and giving ideas. The Portfolio Committee for always continuing to inspire us when doing their oversight work, especially members of the ANC, as well as ensuring accountability in keeping with democratic ethos.
My counterparts in municipalities, the Members of Mayoral Committees for Public
Safety, Councillors Masabatha of Merafong, Zaza Raikane of Sedibeng, Buyiswa Xulu of West Rand District, Nomalizo Kufa of Mogale City, Sibongile Makhubu of Lesedi, Alex Ntshiba of Westonaria, Mthuthuzeli Siboza of Ekurhuleni, Mcera of Emfuleni, Terence Mashego of Tshwane, and Lemao of Johannesburg. Together have ensured that we have in place a “team Community Safety Gauteng”.
I also thank the Head of Department Advocate Mongezi Tshongweni, Chief Directors Sipho Thanjekwayo, Duxita Mistry, Dumisani Ngema, Stanley De Klerk, Nomvula Nzimande, ALL the Directors, present and all those who left the department, all the foot soldiers of the department- The Field Workers and all committed staff of the department for the commitment they continue to show in discharging their responsibilities and understanding that Kuyasheshwa la e Gauteng.
The Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service and his team continue to strike at the heart of criminals and breaking the syndicates’ backs week in week out.
The Chiefs of the Metropolitan Police Departments and Traffic Departments in the
District Municipalities also deserve our appreciation.
We would not be as effective without the thousands of volunteers scattered across the province that work round the clock to complement our work as a department. In this regard let me thank our Community Police Forums at station level and The Provincial Community Policing Board under the leadership of Ntate Andy Mashaile and all other board members. Our Youth Desks continue to perform the important work of rallying around young people behind the agenda of public safety, our Men as Safety Promoters for raising their voices and taking a stance as men against gender based violence.
Community patrollers are perhaps a demonstration of the ultimate sacrifice in
volunteerism as they put their very lives at risk in the quest to make our communities safer. Our Take Charge sectors, the Faith Based, Labour and SPACE have played an important role in sectoral mobilisation.
We continue bravely to declare:
In Gauteng asibhenywa! Siyabopha!
