Programme director
The Executive Mayor of Matlosana Local Municipality, Councillor Mike Kgauwe
Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) National Representative
Members of the outgoing POPCRU Provincial Executive Committee
Representatives of structures from the revolutionary alliance and the mass democratic alliance led by the African National Congress
Representatives of the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC)’s and the Regional Executive Committee (REC)’s of the ANC, SACP, Cosatu, SANCO in the North West province
Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Mbombo, Acting Head of Department Mr Bailey Mahlokoleng
Distinguished guests
Esteemed delegates
Ladies and gentlemen
Members of the media
Comrades
During our struggle for liberation, all of us in the revolutionary alliance and the mass democratic movement knew that securing peace, reducing crime and providing justice, given particularly our difficult, divided, violent past, would be a crucial part of advancing and deepening our national democratic transformation.
None of us though could have predicted just how fundamental, indispensable, to the entire transformation, the criminal justice system would become 17 years into our democracy. In fact, an effective criminal justice system has become as material as employment, housing, water, and electricity. Clearly, no momentous advance of our national democratic transformation is sustainable without a major improvement in our criminal justice system and without the involvement of POPCRU.
As I walked into this hall, I looked around for the blue, brown and Khakhi uniforms that I am accustomed to see at parades and when I did not see them in this historic gathering, I thought that I was lost.
It was only the revolutionary songs and the red of the working class that reassured me that we have a public sector cadreship with a class-consciousness that we can count on to accelerate the transformation of the criminal justice system.
I do not know whether the choice of this venue, The Key Villa, was informed by the fact that you as you advance towards your 22nd anniversary. From where I stand, you do not deserve a babysitter, you deserve the key. Your maturity as a progressive force of the left has earned our total trust as a partner. Though you were jeered at, stretched to the limit and most times unappreciated, you have held the torch high up and served our communities with pride, honour, and dignity despite difficulties and challenges that you experience on a daily basis.
Though you are in most instances unfairly painted with the same brush with the few who have disgraced the dignified uniforms you wear through their deviant conduct, you have absorbed the ridicule.
Unfavourable working conditions, limited resources that at times put your lives at risk and lack of support from communities have not deterred you from standing between criminals and our communities. Though heartless criminals shot at you and claimed the lives of your colleagues and comrades, you sang “lesang magwala a cheche, achechele morago, go ye rona ba pelo tse thata ko pele.”
You have bled, shed tears as you buried martyrs from among your own ranks, but never gave up. As disciplined cadres, you supported leadership in your organisations and were loyal to the constitution and your oaths of office even when others failed to live up to high levels of professionalism and integrity that was expected from them.
To this end, we call upon you to support transformation of the criminal justice system in order to rid it of corruption, racism, sexism, nepotism and favouritism. If there are still those in your organisations who are still practicing these, they should know that there is no place for them in the public service.
We count on your support towards ensuring a 50-50 representation of women in senior and middle management in our organisations as this is not negotiable but should be accelerated. The days when women were regarded as add-ons, tea-girls, typists are over. They should occupy meaningful positions of responsibility and authority in the police, traffic, and correctional services.
Comrades, I should appeal to our women leaders that after they have reached the top, they should not kick the ladder or carry it along with them to the top but should mentor and support others for they rise to their levels.
It is commendable as a union you are encouraging your members to participate in revitalised fitness programmes to reduce stress levels and improve fitness. We are of the strong view that skills development, training and professional development are equally important for members to remain motivated for productivity and career progression.
In our fast changing world, criminals are becoming sophisticated therefore the criminal justice system cannot afford to remain behind when it comes to information communication technology because fighting crime requires us to be smarter and always a step ahead of criminals. We should be prepared to learn, to go the extra-mile and to adapt our strategies to the challenges we are facing in order to save our communities.
The casualties we have suffered in the war against crime should tell every member that the stakes are high in this war which we cannot afford to lose because of ill-discipline and absenteeism which impacts on planning and reduces our force capacity.
Every one of our members should appreciate that every vehicle, equipment and firearm issued to them are part of the arsenal in the war against crime and lawlessness and should at all times be accounted for, not be abused or lost into the hands of the heartless criminals.
The battle lines are drawn and our members are either on the side of the law or with the criminals. We cannot run with the hares and hunt with the hounds. An officer who befriends criminals and or offenders in prison betrays his oath of office and is a danger to all of us. An officer who overlooks an offence for a bribe is a leech who will bleed all of us to death to satisfy their greed.
Integrity and excellence in the execution of duties should be the hallmark of every officer and all POPCRU members. We therefore call on members to be intolerant to the ill-disciplined to expose the corrupt and those who compromise safety of others by drinking on duty.
Unannounced site visits conducted at various workstations have shown remarkable improvement in service delivery particularly at night and during weekends.
We hope that the introduction of the 24 hour seven day rotation shifts for traffic law enforcement as from 1 October 2011 will bolster our crime prevention effort, reduce the carnage and combat lawlessness across roads in our province.
We wish to assure our traffic officers that the consultation processes, which began towards implementation, will be continued and that as a union you will be taken on board to resolve any disputes and unintended consequences.
I have instructed management to ensure that blue lights for patrol vehicles are procured to improve visibility on our roads, budget is sourced for more vehicles to be purchased, and vehicles are branded and that additional traffic officers are employed to add to our numbers so that shifts are not strenuous to our members.
Due to understaffing, we have come to realise that standard overtime will be unavoidable for a while. We hope that you will support us during implementation while we lobby treasury for more funds to employ more traffic officers as part of our contribution and national effort to create sustainable employment opportunities.
Though the incline might appear to be steep, no obstacles are insurmountable, Working together, we can do more to conquer our Mount Everests because no mountain, no matter how high cannot be conquered. Working together, we can do more to for safer roads and communities for a better life for all.
We have in us the power and the revolutionary will to change anything and everything and will hold management accountable for their commitment to find creative ways to process applications for transfers without compromising service delivery requirements. My directive in this regard is loud and clear, Make things happen and work towards empowering and conducive work environments.
We know that only the defeat of poverty and underdevelopment can ensure the defeat of crime. It is within the very same nature of capitalist system to breed conditions of criminality, corruption, and immorality. The time has come for all of us blue collars, bourgeoisies, intellectuals, working class, traditionalist, realists, careerists to play a much more active role in the fight against crime.
We cannot and must not sit and idle with such a massive organisational power and network when heartless gangs and individuals who cause so much twinge and bedlam threaten society. As a province, we are also outraged in combating the police killings that are happening on daily basis. Criminals feel the pressure that we are exerting on them, and now they have resorted to reduce our men and women in dignified blue.
Together with the ministry of Police, we are having on-going chapters on how to mobilise community support for the “hands of our police campaign”. We have also decided to make police killings a priority because this is a national crisis. These killings continue to undermine the human capital investment the country has built over many years of toiling, which cannot be replaced overnight. Many skills in this vicious act of killing these workers are lost. Now together with POPCRU, as government we must lobby all community-based organisations, faith based organisations, and governmental bodies to embrace these imperatives of restoring the dignity of the life of our people.
The impulsive response to crime is also a problem we are experiencing as government. That has to stop. We need to study the crime patterns and trends so that our response is decisive and effective. We must not deal with crime harshly. As a point of departure, the criminal justice system needs to be transformed such that the coordination is not only on top with ministers; it also filters down to the magistrates, constable, and warders on the ground.
We also need to enhance the witness protection programme. Our communities do not have confidence that they would be protected thus resulting in them not coming forward with relevant information. It is very important to beef up this important component such that the integrated effort of fighting crime becomes a reality. However, out of all these issues, which I am raising, there is a moral dilemma. You may have a highly trained, sophisticated, and technologically advanced and numerically bolster police service, if there are still hungry people out there, the fight against crime becomes a futile exercise.
In the same breath, we cannot win this war where corruption is so rife in public service in general and in the police, justice and the correctional services in general. We together with POPCRU should condemn such actions by those who collude with criminal world in all strongest sense. Those amongst us who are part of this criminal society will be exposed and crushed, just watch. It is just a friendly reminder.
I cannot begin to separate police and the Correctional services unit, who I strongly believe they are surely but steadily sailing to the right direction because with them the ship nearly sank in front of their own eyes. Over the years, this department has been dragged through protracted courts and commissions.
We will support the current leadership for correctional services in the implementation of white paper on corrections provision and establishes rehabilitation at its centres.
The outcome of this historic congress gives us the opportunity to further the balance of forces in favour of all our people. The reality is that, our people are impatient with the slow pace of service delivery.
Comrades I am humbled by your invitation to this gathering, this is my maiden speech to a POPCRU assembly, and such maiden speeches are associated with a baptism of fire, but I must say your welcoming gesture made me at ease.
I remain committed to a revolutionary partnership, an open door policy for engagement on how we should accelerate transformation within the criminal justice system, promote equality and deepen democratic accountable policing.
Mahikeng is the provincial capital of the North West and relocation of the SAPS Provincial Headquarters to Mahikeng is what we are pursuing without compromise.
VIVA POPCRU VIVA!!! VIVA ANC VIVA!!! VIVA THE REVOLUTIONARY ALLIANCE VIVA!!! VIVA SACP VIVA!! VIVA COSATU VIVA!!! AMANDLA!!!
Ke a leboga.
