Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker;
Honourable Premier, Cde Cassel Mathale;
Members of the Provincial Executive Council;
Chairperson and Members of the Portfolio Committee on Safety, Security and Liaison;
Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the Limpopo Provincial House of Traditional Leaders;
Members of the Provincial Legislature;
Provincial Commissioner Lt-Gen TS Mpembe and SAPS Management;
Executive Mayors, Mayors, Safety and Security Municipal Councillors;
Chairperson and Members of the Provincial Community Police Forum Board;
Acting Head of Department for Safety, Security and Liaison, Ms Nchabeng Tsebe and Executive Management;
Heads of Law Enforcement Agencies and Members of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster;
Invited guests;
Comrades and friends;
Ladies and gentlemen.
Good morning
Introduction
Honourable Speaker
On the 26th June 1955, South Africans of all shades and backgrounds gathered for the historic Congress of the People in Kliptown to adopt what has become popularly known as the Freedom Charter. The document contained clauses which articulated the will of the people and their vision for a free, democratic, non-sexist, non-racial and prosperous South Africa.
One of the powerful clauses articulated in the Freedom Charter is one that says: "There shall be security, peace and comfort for all." This is the clause that has seen to my being here today as the MEC for Safety, Security and Liaison. Chapter 11 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa which focuses on security services gives further elaboration of the safety and security clause of the Freedom Charter.
This goes to remind us that the Freedom Charter remains as relevant today as it was when our forebears adopted it in 1955. No wonder it is called the ever green document.
Delegates to the 52nd national conference of the African National Congress (ANC) here in Limpopo, Polokwane, added to the elaboration of the meaning of this clause by adopting a set of resolutions which defined the path the government under its current term wanted to follow in dealing with crime and corruption.
Among some of the key resolutions adopted at the conference which have a direct bearing on the mandate of the department include the following:
- Community Safety Forums must be established to monitor and coordinate the functioning of the Criminal Justice System at the local and municipal level.
- Mobilisation and integration of structures such as School Governing Bodies (SGBs) and Parent-Teacher Associations with safety and security structures in order to defeat crime.
- Mobilisation of Traditional leaders in promoting peace and stability in rural areas, and
- Mobilisation of young people in a massive programme of community policing and safety that would include night street patrols as part of the national youth service to instil the value of service and pride.
Honourable Speaker
I wish to state that, by and large, community safety forums have been established across the province. Much work though still needs to be done to further strengthen them, so that they function effectively and efficiently. The department continues to reach out to municipalities and community stakeholders to get them involved in the fight against crime.
We have always recognised the fight against crime as everyone’s responsibility, and not just the responsibility of the police and other conventional law enforcement agencies alone. Business has a role to play, churches have a role; traditional leaders have a role; civic organisations must play a role; young people and women have a role to play; faith-based organisations and traditional healers as well have a role to play in the eradication of crime.
We all, without exception, have a role to play in ridding our communities of all traces of crime. As we have seen with the intervention by community members in Malamulele following the spate of ritual killings and the escalation of general crime in the area, community members have a critical role to play in isolating criminals.
Had the community sat and done nothing in the wake of the crisis of crime, there is no doubt that criminals would have continued to terrorise the residents and taken over community spaces. We are proud that since the rounding up of suspects, we have not heard anything related to ritual killings in the area, and this can be attributed to the vigilance exercised by the community which made it difficult for ritual killers to continue with their practices. The Malamulele intervention is one case study which proves that crime can indeed be defeated if community members are themselves involved in the fight against crime.
As I have said earlier, and as espoused by my predecessors many other times in the past, fighting crime should in fact be everyone’s responsibility. The mission of the ANC-led government remains to create a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.
"We cannot achieve the objective of building prosperous communities in the midst of crime in the province. Although we are registering progress in the fight against crime, more efforts must still be invested until we have freed our people from the hands of criminals. We will continue with police visibility throughout the province and most significantly, we are counting on members of the society to assist in the battle against crime."
Premier Cassel Mathale said these words during the State of the Province Address. The quotation from the Premier’s State of the Province Address highlights two aspects of the mandate of the department viz. fighting and preventing crime.
During his State of the Nation Address President Jacob Zuma said the following on the Safety and Security mandate:
"In 2009 we made a commitment to accelerate the fight against crime and corruption."
"The crime statistics for the period 2010/11 indicate that our country witnessed a decline of 5.7% in the number of reported serious crimes compared to the previous year."
"We will however, not become complacent. We are continuing to implement our programmes of making South Africans feel safe and to be safe."
"We also continue to improve the performance of the state in various ways, including the fight against corruption."
Official figures show that the most serious crimes are on the decline. Achievements attained in 2011 include, among others:
- Serious crimes dropped by 5.75% in 2011/12 compared to 2010/11.
- Contact crimes decreased by 9.65 in 2011/12 compared to 2010/11
- The detection rate for contact crimes increased from 53.46% to 56.99 and for Trio Crimes (vehicle hijacking, house robbery and business robbery) from 14.77% to 16.2 in 2010/11
The fight against corruption continues apace. The department will continue its support and guidance to all initiatives to fight and defeat corruption in the province.
On the occasion of the 2012/13 Provincial Budget Speech, the MEC for Treasury David Masondo said, "Our people must be freed from the scourge of crime, and its personal carriers – criminals. Our people must be safe. No one has the freedom to commit domestic violence.
Women must feel free to walk in any social space and live freely in our communities without fear of being harassed, raped or killed. R67.3 million is allocated to enable the Department of Safety, Security and Liaison to perform their tasks to ensure that our people have rights to these freedoms, including supporting the Community Safety Forums."
What follows are the programme areas through which the mandate of the department finds concrete expression and upon which the allocation will be spent.
Civilian oversight
The objective of the Civilian Oversight programme is to exercise the oversight function with regards to policing in the province. This function is defined in Section 206 Sub-Section 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa:
Each province is entitled:
(a) To monitor police conduct;
(b) To overseer the effectiveness and efficiency of the police service, including receiving reports on the police service;
(c) To promote good relations between the police and the community;
(d) To assess the effectiveness of visible policing; and
(e) To liaise with the Cabinet member responsible for policing with respect to crime and policing in the province.
The Constitution further empowers the Executive Authority and the provincial Legislature, and by extension the department, to perform the following functions:
- Investigate, or appoint a commission of enquiry into any complaints of police inefficiency or breakdown in relations between the police and the community;
- Make recommendations to the Cabinet member responsible for policing
- The provincial Legislature may require the Provincial Commissioner of the province to appear before it or any of its committees to answer questions.
For the 2011/12 the Civilian Oversight programme introduced the monitoring and evaluation of specialised units and Head of Provincial components. As a result of the work of the Programme outstanding achievements were attained.
During the period under review 26 life sentences and 719 imprisonments were handed out by the courts as a result of the work of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual offences Unit (FCS).
The latest achievement of the unit is in Modimolle whose efforts were rewarded when a 32 year old man from Phahameng was positively linked to four rape cases through Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) results. According to police reports, the suspect may later be linked to as many as 100 cases in the area.
Another specialised unit that is making strides is the Stock Theft Unit. The unit recovered 1 870 out of 3 030 cattle reported stolen and effected 619 convictions for the first 6 months of the 2011/12 financial.
Should the following challenges be addressed the Stock Theft Unit will do much better than at the moment:
- Non-functional cattle pounds in some municipalities
- Non-implementation of the Animal Identification Act by stock owners
- Untrustworthy shepherds
- Stray animals
During the 2012/13 financial year the department has planned to continue to exercise oversight function with regards to law enforcement agencies in the province. The exercise of the oversight function on law enforcement agencies will be geared at sustaining the initiatives and vigilance undertaken during the 2011/12 financial year.
Through the oversight function the programme shall continue to deliver on the mandate of the Department as derived from Section 206 (3) of the Republic of South Africa, the Department is in the process of planning for the implementation and ensuring compliance to all provisions of Section 17 Sub-Section (1) and (2) of the Civilian Secretariat for Police Act on the functions and duties of the Provincial Secretariat for Police.
The provisions of Section 17 (1) and (2) shall be incorporated into the entire oversight function of the department to ensure that these are implemented in the process of monitoring and evaluation of SAPS service delivery and transformation in all 94 police stations in the province, 16 Cluster Commanders, 8 specialised units and 7 South African Police Service (SAPS) garages and 12 Heads of Components at SAPS provincial head office.
The department has, as informed by the new mandate flowing from the Civilian Secretariat of Police Act planned to build capacity while at the same time auditing compliance to the Domestic Violence Act in all the 94 police stations in the province. This is a new function which was previously performed by the Police Investigations Directorate (previously called Independent Complaints Directorate) which the Civilian Secretariat for Police Act has now transferred to the department.
In a bid to improve community policing and in line with its mandate of improving community police relations in the province, the department has also planned to conduct a research project on community policing.
With the view of adding value to the transformation of the criminal justice as well as ensuring speedy delivery of service within the criminal justice system, the department was last year able to conduct a research project on the Case Flow Management with the criminal justice system in the province. It is the view of the department that the findings of the research project will impact on how different stakeholders within the Criminal Justice System deliver services in the province.
To avoid the denial and delay of justice caused by the backlog of cases, 8 backlog courts were established in the province. The establishment of the backlog courts has led to a significant reduction of backlog cases by between 3 and 6%. The province will next year boast a fully-fledged High Court when the construction of the Polokwane High Court is completed in the new financial year.
The proclamation of Tiyani and Northam as fully-fledged courts will see these courts rendering criminal, civil and family justice services. Six civil courts’ jurisdiction in the province has been extended to regional courts and can now deal with divorce matters.
The Thohoyandou magistrate court has been designated as centre of excellence pilot under the Court Improvement and Capacitation Project. This achievement, in the view of the department, will improve access to the justice system by communities as well as improve effectiveness and efficiency of providing the service among stakeholders within the Criminal Justice System in the province.
The Civilian Oversight Programme further conducts research and influences policy interventions with regard to civilian oversight and coordinates departmental planning processes. It is our belief that through these oversight interventions the capacity and effectiveness of policing will improve remarkably leading to the people of the province feeling safe, and being safe.
Crime prevention and community police relations
The Crime Prevention and Community Police Relations programme facilitates, develops and implements integrated social crime prevention interventions for safer communities. It further provides for the participation and involvement of communities in social crime prevention initiatives and strengthens relations between communities and police agencies.
The programme further seeks to promote safety and security through the provision of education and awareness programmes to communities.
The department will in the 2012/13 financial year continue to provide integrated social crime prevention interventions for safer communities through mass mobilisation and crime prevention initiatives. More effort will further be made to strengthen crime prevention capacity in all 30 Community Safety Forums which have been established in all our local municipalities. This will help in ensuring that municipalities take part and ownership in the implementation of the Provincial Crime Prevention Strategy.
Through the Crime Prevention and Community Police Relations programme the department has been able to:
- Continuously monitor the implementation of the five Safety and Security Summit resolutions, namely, Rural Safety, Tourism Safety, Reinforcement of Business Against Crime, Partnership with the Private Security Industry and Corruption.
- Conduct 8 focused interventions
- Establish the remaining 22 Community Safety Forums
- Facilitate reviews of 30 Municipal Community Safety Plans (CSP)
- Conduct 21 CPF/CSF led public education awareness campaigns.
For the 2012/13 financial year, the department will continue to strengthen effectiveness of community policing structures such as Community Safety Forums and Community Police Forums through targeted workshops in all municipalities and police stations. Twenty Community Safety Forums programmes will also be conducted in our five districts.
With regard to promoting good relations between the police and the community, 8 public education and community mobilisation campaigns will also be conducted. The loss of the lives of our men and women in blue remains a serious concern to the people of the province. In their honour a Summit on Police Killings will be held in the first quarter of this coming financial year and it is hoped that the resolutions to be adopted from the summit will assist to curtail this unnecessary loss of life.
Revisions to the legislative environment and other mandates
The 2012/13 budget of the department is tabled at the same period when the Independent Police Investigations Directorate Act (Act1 of 2011) and the Civilian Secretariat of Police Act (Act 2 of 2011) have been enacted and adding more responsibilities and need for more vigilance in the implementation of existing mandates of the department and thus demand for more inputs in terms of financial and human resources thereof.
Further on the SAPS Act (Act 68 of 1995) and the White Paper on Safety and Security is being reviewed, and will also have an impact on the mandate of the department.
During the 2012/13 Financial Year the department will seek to implement two important pieces of safety and security legislation which have recently been accented to by the President. These are the Civilian Secretariat for Police Act and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Act. The commencement of the Civilian Secretariat for Police Act with effect from 1 December 2012 will no doubt positively affect the safety and security landscape in the province by contributing to a better policing culture.
In terms of the Civilian Secretariat for Police Act, the MEC for Safety, Security and Liaison in consultation with the Minister of Police has 18 months from the commencement date to establish a Provincial Secretariat for Police.
The objects of the Civilian Secretariat are:
- to exercise civilian oversight over the police service
- to give strategic advice to the Minister in respect to developing and implementing policies and provide administrative support on international obligations
- to liaise and communicate with stakeholders
- to implement a partnership strategy to mobilise roleplayers and stakeholders to strengthen service delivery of SAPS
- to implement, promote and align the operations of the Civilian Secretariat in the national and provincial spheres of government.
The objects of the Independent Police Investigation Directorate Act are:
- to establish and assign powers and functions to the Directorate on national and provincial level;
- to ensure independent oversight of the SAPS and Municipal Police Services;
- to align provincial strategic objectives with those of the national office to enhance the functioning of the Directorate;
- to provide for independent and impartial investigation of identified criminal offences allegedly committed by members of the SAPS and Municipal Police Services resulting from investigations conducted by the Directorate;
- to provide for close co-operation between the Directorate and the Secretariat;
- to enhance accountability and transparency by the South African Police Service and Municipal Police Services in accordance with the principles of the Constitution.
On 13 March 2012 the department held a workshop on the implementation of the two Acts to prepare itself and other role players for the road ahead.
From the workshop it is very clear where we are heading in the course of implementing the two pieces of legislation. Very soon we shall have developed an implementation plan which takes into account the implications on the mandate, structure and funding.
From 17 to 18 February the department consulted with the Community Policing Forum (CPF) Provincial Board to discuss best practices and to reinforce community mobilisation in the fight against crime. It was also resolved that there be a strategy document that will help accelerate CPF visibility and to improve safety and security service delivery in favour of residents across the province.
The state of policing in the province
The South African Police Services currently under the Provincial Commissioner Lt-Gen TS Mpembe continues to do us proud by ensuring that we are safe and feel safe. This fact is borne by the 2010/11 National Crime Statistics which we have referred to elsewhere in the speech. The impact the province is achieving in the fight against crime did not descend upon us like the Biblical manna from heaven, or the good will of criminals. The impact is the product of good work by the police and the support of the general Limpopo public.
On the part of the police, a lot of initiatives are unfolding to knock the sail off the ship of criminals. The initiatives include the roll-out of sector policing. All fifteen High Contact Crime stations including the Presidential Station in the province are having fully functioning sectors. The roll-out process of sector policing is now at 78% of the 94 police stations in the province.
The SAPS responsibilities regarding Victim Empowerment programmes include the development, implementation and monitoring of relevant policies and directives aimed at improving services to victims of crime through training, sensitisation of police members at station level.
In an effort to ensure effective services, support and empowerment of the victims of crime, the SAPS in the province has up to this stage established seventy-one (71) victim friendly facilities (rooms) at local police station level. More park homes have been purchased to address the situation at the remaining 25% of the ninety-four (94) police stations.
The effectiveness of the investigative capacity of our police has been amplified by the recent quick arrest of the so-called Modimolle monster, Johan Kotze, who allegedly killed his stepson and orchestrated the gang-raping of his estranged wife by his employees at gun point. The case is currently in the court for hearing.
In another case involving a certain Tshepiso Peter Malapane 41 year accused from Sapekoe in Tzaneen was sentenced to life imprisonment in February 2012 for raping his step daughter aged 13 years in December, 2009.
Success has also been achieved in a case that came under the spotlight where a 23 year old man of Ga-Mogashoa village in Sekhukhune, a certain Freedom Mohlobotho Moela was sentenced to life imprisonment in February 2012 for raping a 19 year old girl of the same village in November 2010.
Honourable Speaker
It is my pleasure to announce that as part of the SAPS infrastructure development programme a new police station was officially handed over to the Ga-Masemola community in Sekhukhune district. The upgrading of the Musina police station has been completed and personnel has moved into the new building in which the community is being served. This will boost the morale of personnel and give a sense of hope to the local community and its expectations from the local police.
The fast rate of socio-economic development in Polokwane has compelled Police Management to urgently open a second police station at Westenburg. This establishment was previously a Satellite police station in Polokwane West. A permanent site for construction of the second police station is still under investigation. This move enables the local communities at Western outskirts of the city to access the police services.
During the last Ministers and Members of Executive Council (MinMec) the issue of infrastructure development in as far as the building of new police stations and upgrading of existing ones received attention. Provinces are demanding a say on how infrastructure developments are allocated to their areas of jurisdiction, they know and understand the needs of their provinces better.
To mitigate the shortage of fully-fledged police stations the following arrangements are put in place:
- Satellite police stations
- Fixed Service Points
- Mobile Service Points
There are challenges which will be dealt with in the new financial year and in years to come. The challenges include staffing, access roads, community cooperation in crime prevention and investigation; some stations like in the Waterberg district are lagging behind in the implementation of sector policing.
Integrated border management
The Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster in the past financial year played a critical role in ensuring that our ports of entries are well managed through the support of the Border Control Operational Coordinating Committee (BCOCC). Government efforts in ensuring effective facilitation of travellers and goods through collaborative border management has ensured that over 4 734 918 travellers who passed through our ports of entry during the current financial year were facilitated better than the 4 376 915 of the previous financial year.
The readiness and the capacity of our ports of entry have been tested and will continue to be tested due to the location of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) headquarters in the province. During the Easter and September pilgrimages of the churches our ports of entry are tested to the maximum with the influx of pilgrims from neighbouring countries.
Recently the Beit-bridge border post had to contend with over 100 000 ZCC members accompanying the leader of the church for a service in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The exit and entry of these church members were handled with neither glitch nor hitch, a sign that our officials are ready and capable of handling any influx at our ports of entry.
BCOCC in partnership with the department of Public Service and Administration saw 39 officials being trained to deal with all forms of possible corruption at our ports of entry. As a result of the deployment of skilled officials at our ports, 16 cases of corruption are in the hands of law enforcement agencies.
The Border Control Operational Coordinating will continue through collaborative border management with the introduction of a risk management system within our border management environment. In collaboration with other roleplayers BCOCC will continue with other programmes such as the Joint Operational Planning, the removal of the taxi rank next to Beit Bridge port of entry and working with the South African National Defence Force in monitoring and securing our borderline environment.
Smart partnerships against crime
The credo of the government under its current term is: Working together we can do more. The Department of Safety, Security and Liaison has combined the motto and the need to supplement the budget by going out into society to establish smart partnerships against crime. The initiative of smart partnerships has borne fruits with the South African Breweries, Eskom, ABSA and Thulamela Chamber of Business and Industry coming to the party of kicking crime out of our neighbourhoods. We anticipate even more partnerships in the New Year.
We in fact are making a call on all stakeholders who have resources to pool efforts with the department to maximize impact in the fight against crime.
The partnership with the SAB is a response to the 2010/11 national crime statistics which revealed that 70% of social crimes are a result of alcohol consumption or abuse. There is also the outcry by communities regarding the mushrooming of taverns and other liquor outlets near places of worship and schools. The non-adherence to license conditions by liquor traders has also been raised by communities and government.
The department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism is charged with the responsibility of reviewing the Liquor Act whilst the Department of Safety, Security and Liaison is charged with the responsibility to ensure that the police clamp down on non-adherence to license conditions by traders and further ensure that liquor outlets of those transgressing license conditions are closed down.
In partnership with the SAB on the Responsible Trader Programme liquor traders in our five districts have been trained in responsible trading. This entails awareness about the harm caused by alcohol abuse and the role the trader can play in driving a reduction of alcohol abuse in their respective communities.
With the escalation of crime in and around Thohoyandou, the department partnered with ABSA, Thulamela Chamber of Business and Industry and the local municipality in the signing of the Thulamela Community Pledge against Crime. The pledge enjoins signatories to support the police in their fight against crime and to work hand in hand to fight crime against businesses and communities. The new financial year will see us take the initiative to other parts of the province.
Another smart partnership is with Eskom to deal with theft and vandalism of electricity infrastructure which has placed the province’s energy supply under severe stress. As we all know, Eskom is encountering challenges in its endeavours to ensure reliability of supply in the province. These challenges have the potential of affecting the economic growth plans of the province and need to be addressed with urgency.
The challenges Eskom is encountering manifest themselves in the following ways:
- Illegal connections
- Cable theft
- Transformer theft
- Public Safety
- Energy Efficiency
- Borehole support infrastructure
There are parts of the province that are prone to theft and vandalism like Bela-Bela where there are an increased number of reported transformer theft cases.
Eskom in the province has lost approximately R8.5 million on cable and transformer theft to date, an estimated loss of R5.5 million as a result of illegal connections on an annual basis. Illegal connections are killing members of our community almost every day. The sad reality is that our innocent children become victims of an illegal act performed by adults.
What kind of society have we become that kills our innocent children?
Communities should work closely with the Police and Eskom in rooting out illegal power users. Let us all get our Power back from Izinyoka. As for the police, they will continue working with Eskom in identifying and arresting perpetrators. We count on our communities in campaigns like these.
Acknowledgements
Honourable Speaker
The department of Safety, Security and Liaison is not an island, sufficient unto itself. We thrive and succeed in the discharge of our constitutional mandate from the collaboration with other stakeholders, institutions and individuals, without them and their contributions, our work would have been much the poorer. This is in keeping with the credo of our democratic government: Working together we can do more.
First on the honours list has to be the South African Police Service under the stewardship of the provincial commissioner, Lieutenant-General TS Mpembe are men and women who ensure our safety and the security of our property in the province. It is because of them that Limpopo remains the safest province in the republic.
As we celebrate the men and women of SAPS, let us also remember those who sacrificed their lives so that you and I can be safe and our property secure. The killing of the police nationally has reached alarming levels. So alarming are the killings that late last year the national Minister of Police Mr Nathi Mthethwa convened a National Summit on Police Killings to find ways and means to rid the country of this emerging monster that is threatening the country’s safety and security.
Though not as alarming in the province as it is nationally, the killing of the police should be a matter of grave concern to us as the people of Limpopo. One police life lost, is one police life too many. In April 2012 the province is holding its own summit on police killings.
Members of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster deserve an honourable mention. Together with them we have made a much greater impact in making Limpopo a safe haven for its citizens and visitors to our province. We remain indebted and grateful to members of the cluster for the invaluable contributions in the fight against crime and corruption. The cluster approach gives us an integrated approach to crime fighting and prevention which maximises impact than if each member were to go their separate and different ways.
The Legislature Portfolio Committee on Safety, Security and Liaison – you are always at hand to ensure that the department remains equal to its Constitutional mandate.
Our acknowledgement also goes to the Acting Head of Department Ms Nchabeng Nelly Tsebe, the Executive Management and the staff complement of the Office of the MEC and the department. You are the reason why Limpopo is the safest province and will remain the safest. I thank you for your tireless and selfless contributions.
There are also our civil society partners in the war against crime who also need to be given an honourable mention, faith-based organisations, traditional leaders, business, labour, traditional healers, they are too many to mention them all here. Let us continue the good fight against crime and corruption.
To the people of Limpopo in general, the fight against crime starts with me, you and everybody in this province of beauty and peace. Let us continue to make the fight against crime everybody’s business.
Thanks are also due to the former MEC Mr George Phadagi for having had steered the ship until my appointment. You have laid a solid foundation which will remain a permanent monument to your contribution in our fight against crime. It is now for me to receive the baton and continue the battle in the good fight against crime.
Lastly and most importantly I thank the African National Congress for trusting me with the mandate of one of its five priority areas, the fight against crime and corruption. The ANC that turned 100 years this year has never disappointed the people of South Africa during these hundred years, neither will we disappoint in the execution of our mandate.
Immediately after being sworn-in as a member of the Executive Council one media agency told me that I was entering a male dominated environment of safety and security. I guess I was supposed to be scared, because I am a woman and therefore have no business in this apparently male environment. This narrow and chauvinistic statement brought to mind the profound closing words of Premier Cassel Mathale when he delivered the State of the Province Address:
"Our forefathers fought very hard for us to be masters of our destiny. We must wake up every morning encouraged by the fact that we descend from great heroes and heroines of our struggle in the person of Kings, Magoshi, Tihosi, Sekhukhune, Makgoba, Maleboho, Nghunghunyani, Mokopane, Makhado and many others who fought bitterly for us never to be intimidated in the quest to reach our shared goals."
With ancestors like these, who and what can we fear!
Tabling: Budget vote 10 for 2012/13 and Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) estimates
Honourable Speaker
I take this opportunity to table before this august house for appropriation, Budget Vote 10 for the department of Safety, Security and Liaison. The budget should be read concurrently with the accompanying Annual Performance Plan and the Strategic Plan. Through these plans and the support of the people of Limpopo, we look toward to retaining our status as the safest province in the country.
Working together we can do more to defeat crime and corruption.
Break the silence against crime.
I thank you.
Ke a leboga.
Inkomu.
Ndi a livhuwa.
Baie Dankie.
