National Commissioner of Police, General BH Cele
All SAPS Lieutenant Generals and senior managers present
All CPF Provincial Chairpersons present
Representatives from Business, Unions and Civic Organisations present
Community of Thokoza and surrounding areas
Distinguished guests
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
As the police leadership and management, we are humbled to join the community of Thokoza this morning on this important engagement; which comes barely six days following our announcement of the annual crime statistics.
We purposefully refer to this occasion as an engagement precisely because our approach is not to come here and tell you how much we know, rather see you as equal partners in the fight against crime. From the onset when we were tasked by the President of the Republic to lead this ministry, we took a decision that our approach in the fight against crime will be cemented around partnerships.
We view communities as the cornerstone and important role-players in government’s goal of effectively dealing with crime. Due to the shifting nature of crime in South Africa, we believe it is important to constantly re-evaluate our approach to fight crime, especially violent and serious crimes.
Inhloso yethu njengohulumeni kaKhongolose ukuqinisa ubunye phakathi kwabomthetho nemiphakathi yethu. IThokoza enye yezindawo ebalulekile kulomkhankaso ngenxa yomlando wokungabambisani phakathi kwamaphoyisa nomphakathi esikhathini esedlule. Okubalulekile wukuthi umphakathi wakithi kindle uzizwe uphephile emakhaya awe, ezindaweni zokusebenza, ezokungcebeleka, ezitolo, emarenke njalonjalo. Masakhe futhi siqinise amaCPF ngoba ayiyona ndlela ebonakalayo umphakathi obamba ngayo iqhaza ekulweni nobugebengu.
The release of the South African Police Service (SAPS) crime statistics for the period 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011 could not have been equated to an occasion about statistics, numerics and graphs; rather it was a reflection on the path we had traversed in the past twelve months.
The statistics showed, and supported by the positive reaction from various commentators, that we are making progress in some areas, there are instance where we are reaching stability and there are types of crimes which are still a challenge. But we believe a true reflection on whether government is making strides when it comes to reducing crime can best be derived from the citizens.
Our presence this morning is to launch the ‘Operation Duty Calls’ National Festive Season Crime-Fighting campaign for 2010/11. To coincide with this launch, we are officially launching the Tracking Team, a pilot unit which has been operating in Gauteng since May 2011. We believe this unit will become an additional arsenal to compliment our already existing resources with SAPS.
We know that crime affects all of us, young and old, black and white, men and women. That is why we all need to act decisively against criminals who torment our society. What this means is that, all of us as patriots towards South Africa, have a daunting task ahead of us.
Not just the police but all of us as patriotic South Africans in the fight against crime. We are here to reaffirm our commitment in reducing crime across every corner of our country. This is a duty to take action against criminals who harass, steal and kill from the poor as well as the rich.
Amongst the things that the current government will continue to do is to provide police with the requisite resources and equipment to meet their constitutional obligations to the nation. But our starting point, without which we can descend into the mire of authoritarianism, is premised on two considerations.
Firstly, that the battle against crime cannot be separated from the war on want. Secondly, that the deviant activities of a few rotten apples in our midst should not be allowed to tempt us to subtract from the human rights of society, the majority of whom are responsible, law-abiding citizens.
In pursuance of our mission to have a crime-free nation, we should not underestimate the rot that set in within all sections of society under apartheid. In its treatment of citizens, that system encouraged greed and corruption, murder, the proliferation of dangerous weapons in the hands of civilians.
We therefore have a duty to protect and secure the inhabitants of the Republic and their property whilst also upholding and enforcing the law. This also speaks to an equitable distribution of our resources, be they the building of police stations in areas which were previously neglected, for whatever reason. It also speaks to doing things smarter and faster in pursuance of our goal of keeping citizens safe from vicious criminals.
However the acts of criminality including proliferation of firearms, rapes of women and children, house robberies, hijackings and other forms of crimes; stand in direct opposite of an achievement of this goal. We need to ensure that this coming festive season, as we have been doing, that we ensure criminals do not get undeserved bonuses.
We understand that as we plan our operations, these scoundrels will equally devise their evil plans. Let us thwart them before they even commence. Let us crush their missions. We have demonstrated before and we once again make a clarion call to all police officers supported by law-abiding citizens, to make life difficult for criminals.
Our tough stance on crime is further informed by the prevalence of firearms and widespread readiness to use them. This goes together with the availability of military expertise amongst criminals which have drastically changed the nature of crime in our country especially in the past decade.
We want also to focus all our energies in ensuring that we do not only arrest those who are on the wrong side of the law, but mainly secure convictions. In order to do that, we need to re-enforce our detective and investigative arms.
All members of the police from now henceforth will be introduced to basic detective work, whether in the final analysis they end up operating in detectives or not. The success of the SAPS must now be judged according to the number of successful convictions we make.
The harsher sentences imposed upon criminals must be influenced by the kind of detective work conducted by police. We have now begun focusing our attention in addressing this matter without compromising or weakening the tough stance in fighting crime.
Our country’s coastal cities including Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban and many other cities in our country will experience a high number of visitors during this festive season. As we did the previous two years, we aim to continue to intensify our operations even more.
We should not read more and more about increases in crime generally, that is cash-in-transits, armed robberies, house robberies and break-ins, business robberies, substance abuse and abuse of women and children during this period. We want to read more and more about failed heists, arrests of scoundrels and more convictions. The festive season is after all, a joyful period that must be enjoyed by all in our societies.
Police will be mounting these operations countrywide commencing from this national launch today until January 2012. Our main objective is to call upon all South Africans to partner with the police in fighting the scourge of crime. This year’s operations will build upon the previous year’s lessons and successes. We will also increase high visibility patrols at all tourist destinations especially along the coastal cities.
We will never soften our approach on criminals. In this regard we will not just raise awareness about crimes at shopping malls and other public frequented areas during the festive season, but our members will be physically present to deal with any criminal with evil motives.
We will also pay attention to drug abuse, starting here in Gauteng. The drug trade and its associated problems continue to grow in most parts of the world. Global abuse and accessibility of drugs has become increasingly complex, as trafficking routes have become shorter, more diverse and more easily traversed.
The drug trade involves growers, producers, couriers, suppliers, dealers and users and affects all communities, including here in Thokoza. The effects of drug abuse are the disintegration of nations and distort the moral fibre of society thus undermining the rule of law.
It has to be fought with all the power and the means at our disposal. It is one major waste of human endeavor to social progress. The struggle against the threat of criminal activity which causes instability in many societies is the struggle to live in peace and harmony.
We should not under estimate the resolve of these criminals. Criminal gangs will employ every trick in the book to disunite, disorganize, and destabilise our plans as police. It is our task, as individuals and collective to safeguard the firmness and purity of SAPS.
This festive season our approach and operations will be focused around aggravated robberies, including house and business robberies, cash-in-transit, as well as ATM bombings. We also focused on social crime-prevention operations dealing with contact crimes like murder, rape and crimes against women and children.
Government has an obligation to protect women and children. This is an obligation entrusted to the police and we are certain that each and every member of SAPS is committed to. Our crime statistics particularly in relation to rape are telling us that more needs to be done by all of us.
It is within this context that today we reiterate our call to all South Africans to partner with the police in the fight against crime. We hold a firm belief that our men and women in blue will never rest in their goals of ensuring our citizens’ safety.
This is our commitment of ensuring a crime-free 2011 festive season.
Fighting Crime – It Begins With Me.
I thank you!
