Programme Director
Premier of the Free State, Mr. Ace Magashule
Acting MEC for Police, Roads & Transport, Mr. Zwane
All Senior National, Provincial and Local Government Deployees present here
National Commissioner of Police, General Riah Phiyega
Provincial Commissioner, Lt General Sithole
All Religious and Civil Society Leadership present here
All Government Employees and Police Officers
Youth
Ladies and Gentlemen
Crime reduction and prevention have always been key elements of the ANC-led Government’s plan to build healthier and more inclusive communities with an enhanced quality of life and a stronger developmental state.
From the beginning of post-apartheid, this Government had always believed that the presence of crime could severely impair the quality of life for individuals, families, and communities. Indeed, it was extra noticed that our youth were the most at risk to experience high levels of risk factors (poor quality family dynamics and low attachment to school).
Our first democratic elected President, the Father of the Nation, Mr. Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela, laid bare the landscape that was before us as a nation and as first democratic elected Government led by the ANC.
Madiba had this to say, when he attended a Launch of the National Crime Prevention Campaign, way back in April 1999:
“One of the great tragedies of apartheid was its neglect of the majority of our children. It hindered the development of their potential to contribute to the community and the nation and many were pushed to the margins of society. And yet our youth are our future.
By combining education and crime prevention, by working in our schools and amongst young people who are unemployed or in prison, the campaign will indeed bring the light of hope to help break the darkness that feeds the ranks of criminals.
We are long past blaming all our difficulties on our past. But it is at our peril that we ignore the roots of South Africa’s high levels of crime in the apartheid era. It left us with a justice system pervaded with lawlessness and criminality. It corroded the moral fabric of our society. It’s legacy of poverty will take years to eradicate” (Nelson Mandela, 19th April 1999, Johannesburg)
It is vividly clear then that, from the onset, the ANC-led Government realised that to effectively prevent crime, one of the critical things to do, was to solve the ongoing gaps in between the advantaged and the disadvantaged in our societal mix.
Indeed, all our departmental initiatives and programmes to combat and prevent crime point to this direction of humanising crime combating and prevention. And this approach is not far-fetched from the founding policy document of the ruling party, entitled: “Ready to Govern”.
The policy of peace and stability was founded on one basic principle: a national security that acknowledges political, economical, social and environmental dimensions. The policy document thus resolved:
“Underdevelopment, poverty, lack of democratic participation and the abuse of human rights are regarded as grave threats to the security of the people”.
As the Ministry of Police, we have also aligned our priority theme and programme with this sentiment. We have aptly themed this financial year 2013/2014: “The Year of the Police Station: Improving Frontline Services”.
By improving frontline services we emphasise not only on how many police stations we will be building this year. Also, we are now re-committing ourselves to a more widely held belief that, to create a safe environment, means to involve a number of role players, as law enforcement alone cannot ensure and assure a society that, it is indeed, and does feel safe.
True to our resolve to an integrated approach to prevent crime, the Minister of Police and the Minister of Basic Education signed a Protocol Implementation Agreement in April 2011, to partner for the promotion of safer schools and to prevent the involvement of young people in crime.
Already, out of 25 474 schools, 16416 have been verified and confirmed by both Basic Education and SAPS officials as linked to police stations with functional Safe School Committees since the protocol came into effect.
The two Ministers, Minister of Police and Minister for Basic Education have since delegated their respective Deputy Ministers to formally launch this Protocol. I am happy to announce that this protocol will officially be launched on 6th August 2013 at Sakhisizwe Secondary School in Orange Farm.
The launch will sensitise parents and to inform schools, media and all other parties with a vested interest in school safety to know about the programmes. It will also highlight the responsibility of both SAPS and Basic Education in promoting an environment that is conducive to learning and teaching.
This launch will serve as credible follow-up to the community engagements that the Ministry of Police have been doing during the Youth Month 2013, under the theme of: “Working Together for Youth Development and Drug Free South Africa”.
Just less than two weeks ago, I held engagements with the youth of Meloding, near Virginia, where we emphasised as Ministry of Police, that South Africa’s escalating rates of drugs abuse and gang activity amongst the youth, is not just a criminal issue.
It is fundamentally a social one that has to be amended or remedied through the socio-economic development programmes for our youth. Indeed, a mere imprisonment of youth drug abusers and gangsters does little to mend or regenerate our youth.
This emphasis has been necessary, because it is proven that, factors such as dysfunctional family life, bad school experience, pressurised peer relationship, and demanding community expectations, are risk factors that tend to lead people to commit crime.
And, as Government, we have recognised that crime combating and prevention is highly complex, and requires decisive and collective national effort.
With this inter-sectoral approach, we are then also encouraging the Police not to rely too solely on tactics that are heavily dependent on personnel, but must also rely on tactics that engage and require others in our community and other sectors to reduce crime.
To prove this point of involving every sector on issues of crime prevention, the Ministry of Police has also made sure that, the South African Police Service win the bid with the full backing of our Government, to host the 51st International Association of Women Police (IAWP) Conference to be held on 22nd – 26th September 2013 in Durban, a first of its kind for Africa.
At the 50th IAWP Conference last year, I led the SAPS delegation to sign the MoU for this Conference. Under the leadership of our National Commissioner of Police, General Riah Phiyega, conference preparations are in advance stages.
Since becoming a member of IAWP in 2010, the SAPS have been actively taking part in IAWP programmes of uniting and raising the profile of Women in Criminal Justice and International Police Agencies.
As the Ministry of Police, we therefore pledge that we will also feed to the intention of the Strategy to be flexible and adaptable so that Government can respond to feedback from our own stakeholders and partners in enhancing an effective strategy to prevent crime.
We want our actions and investments to reflect the people’s experience, knowledge and ideas. We must be able to track the effectiveness of this strategy through a number of measures: including how it can be used as a best practice and bench-mark for the other 8 provinces, and how it can change the provincial crime rate, enhance intelligence based policing and reduce severity of crime.
It is hoped then that this strategy will be a document of best practices, ensuring that, approaches to crime and victimisation, are evidence-based and coordinated to make the most of valued public resources, and are focused on achieving real outcomes of crime prevention.
I thank you all.
