Madam Speaker
Honourable Members
Introduction
Allow me, right at the outset, Madam Speaker, to convey deep appreciation to all those South Africans and nationals from other countries for standing up against the barbaric attacks that were launched against some members of our communities across South Africa recently. An important message was conveyed, therefore, that what happened, whatever sparked it off, is abhorred by the great majority of our people.
The criminals who led the attack exploited genuine concerns of our people around weaknesses in government's service delivery programme. Some commentators have used those delivery problems to justify the attacks. It is, of course, wrong to suggest that if you don't have, kill those who have and get what you want. If anyone were to adopt a tactic like that our country would be plunged into an orgy of killing and mayhem. There are many countries on the African Continent where deprivation, underdevelopment and squalor define them and if the poor in those countries were allowed to kill the rich Africa would be destroyed.
It is also wrong to define poor people as barbarians. We can't advance arguments that say poor people have a propensity to spill blood to get food, houses and health and other services. There are many people who grew up under conditions of extreme poverty who did not resort to crime to ward off those depressing circumstances. I know that some petty crimes and some social crimes have a direct connection to poverty but, poor people are not inherently blood-thirsty.
Interventions
By morning yesterday, the security services had arrested 1 436 suspects who are alleged to have been involved, across the country, in incidents of violent and serious assaults, looting and arson. Cases of murder have been opened, relating to the 59 people who were killed. The biggest number of the murders was recorded in Gauteng, where 53 people were killed. The other murders were committed in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), affecting two people, and in the Western Cape, where four victims were recorded.
Special courts have been established by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to deal with those cases. Some of the suspects have been released for one reason or another, within the context of our law.
We asked President Mbeki on 20 May, to allow us to deploy some units of the South African Defence Force (SANDF) to help the police in cordon and search operations. The permit that the President granted will expire this Saturday. We are doing an assessment to determine whether there is a need for the extension of the deployment of the army. But, we must always approach the deployment of the army in situations that require policing with the greatest sense of circumspection.
At the height of the problem, thousands of people were displaced. Those affected were, in the majority of cases, foreign nationals, but the flare-up also affected some South Africans. Security services records indicate that eleven South Africans were killed.
All told, 37 429 displaced people sought refuge at various police stations in the country. Some of the Gauteng stations gave refuge, in the end, to 19 453 while in the Western Cape 14 144 affected people presented themselves to various police stations.
Of course, it will take time for us to know the exact figure of people who were displaced by the so-called xenophobic attacks in our country. The reason we don't have those figures now is that some of the affected foreign nationals left for their countries in the face of the attacks. Some went through the legal exit points because they are documented foreign nationals.
The true face of our nation was seen in the remarkable empathy that was accorded the affected people. South Africans stood up to protect not only them from the senseless attacks but also defended our democracy.
In recent times, some of the communities from which the people were displaced have been helping the affected people to go back to their homes and be reintegrated. Peace-loving people, across our population, brought the displaced people food parcels, items of clothing and blankets. Doctors without Borders (MSF) and other medical practitioners sprung into action and attended to the sick. Civil society organisations mobilised support for the displaced people and were central to the reintegration process that saw many affected people going back to their homes.
At this point, Madam Speaker, I must raise as an example of the resolution of South Africans to defeat all types of chauvinism, including xenophobia, by reference to the experience of the community of Masiphumelele, in the Western Cape. Representatives of various stakeholders in the community met on Saturday, 24 May, to discuss the plight of the nationals from mother countries who have settled in the community, including Somalis who own businesses in the area.
A declaration was signed at the end of the meeting which, among other things, called to those who had fled their homes out of fear to return.
To deal with the fear that there might be further attacks on the foreign nationals, the declaration went on to say:
"In order to provide security to our fellow Africans against the thugs (who attacked them), police must be more visible……. We should also provide security as community members and any threat against our fellow Africans is a threat against us."
The representatives of the community said they would also help the police to find the goods that had been looted from some businesses.
An operation to find and return stolen goods to their owners is in place across the country. Members of the various communities are involved side-by-side with the law enforcement agencies not only to find stolen property but also to search for the perpetrators of the violence that characterised the animosity we saw.
Other interventions
Helpful interventions came from many quarters. Business, the churches and people's organisations from all levels, local to national, came forward and helped. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Red Cross and Oxfam also came forward and nailed their colours to the mast using as the vehicle for their intervention the vast experience they have in dealing with the problem we faced.
Government handled the matter in a three-pronged programme that sought, in the first place, to deal with the security situation; help mobilise for the welfare of the displaced and interact with citizens in the affected areas to create conditions conducive to better relations within those communities. Cabinet members from national as well as the provincial governments were deployed on the ground to co-ordinate the response to the situation.
There is relative calm in all the areas that were affected by the violence. In some instances, a pall of uneasiness and suspicion still hangs in the air. We are monitoring the situation to be able to respond quickly should there be signs of a possible eruption anywhere in the country.
Community Policing Forums
The Community Policing Forums (CPFs) were among the structures that made invaluable interventions when the attacks on foreign nationals happened. In all instances where the CPFs are working well with both the communities and the police, no violence occurred. The communities they serve became the first level to give warning signals, and the necessary interventions were made to quell the fire.
The National Community Policing Consultative Forum (NCPCF) regularly interacts with the police and the Secretariat for Safety and Security which serves as a platform for consultation and the sharing of experiences between structures of the CPFs at the local and provincial levels. The structure co-ordinates the work of all CPFs, and gives relevant guidance, especially in areas where the level of development of the local CPFs is low.
The Secretariat is doing an audit currently, of the CPFs in the country to determine their level of development and functionality and how those that are weak can be assisted to improve.
As indicated before to the Honourable Members of the House, we want to restructure the CPFs so that they can co-ordinate the relationship between the communities and the police. That is already happening in many cases. Next year, we would like to table in Parliament, a draft amendment to the South African Police Service Act to become the Safety and Security Act so that, among other things, the necessary is done, in an integrated way, to give the CPFs more clout in crime prevention and combating.
The CPFs will be key to the creation of an environment for safety and security everywhere in the country and, that being so and working with the communities, will assist in identifying people in the areas of their jurisdiction who will become reservists who will work together with the police as a force multiplier, and others who will volunteer time and resources to deal with crime and deliver succour to victims of crime through counselling and other measures to alleviate their pain.
Secretariat
The secretariat monitors and evaluates the work of the police, especially in respect of the service's crime prevention and combating work. They continue, therefore, systematically to evaluate policy compliance in relation to service delivery. The monitoring includes matters relating to the capacity, training and level of investigation of the police. The rural safety and border security plans of the police are going to be areas of focus for monitoring by the secretariat in the current financial year.
Private security industry
The secretariat is designing measures to monitor the private security industry to be able to advise the Minister for Safety and Security on developments that may tarnish the industry. There are indications, already, that the conditions of service of workers in the industry leave much to be desired. There is information, also, that recruitment practices in the industry are erratic and expose the industry to possible infiltration by criminals.
Flowing from challenges posed by recruitment weaknesses, the industry is discussing with the Ministry for Safety and Security and the police, the necessity to subject the industry to security vetting, in terms of the recruitment processes as well as the vetting of the service providers. Indeed, service providers are vetted but there is no continuous evaluation and vetting beyond the initial process.
The matter of reinforced vehicles to ferry money across the country is a matter that is being discussed with captains of industry. There will be an improvement next year, which will fortify the vehicles against easy attack by the criminals involved in cash-in-transit robberies.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) and the police is being negotiated. The MOU aims to introduce a workable co-operation framework for firearms control so that there is proper monitoring of the issuing, possession, use and disposal of firearms within the industry.
We are going to strengthen the legislative and regulatory framework with respect to the industry. The secretariat working with other stakeholders, is preparing for the amendment of the Private Security Industry Regulatory Act.
Finally, I want to inform Parliament that the Executive Director of the Regulatory Authority has been suspended by the council pending an investigation arising from serious allegations levelled against him. I will not address that matter here and now, given its sensitivity, and will await the outcome of the investigation.
Independent Complaints Directorate
A new effort is underway to fill the post of the Executive Director, which has been vacant for a long time. Given our experience in the past, we need to appoint someone who will be equal to the task at hand in every respect and want to proceed, therefore, quite carefully and deliberately towards the finalisation of the matter.
We have increased the budget of the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) by more than 21 percent, from R80,8 million for the last financial year to R98,4 for the current one. The budget last time was used to appoint more staff members to deal with the entity's financial management. The budget was also used to establish two satellite offices in Mthatha, in the Eastern Cape, and in Richards Bay, KZN.
The current budget, among other things, will be used to establish an Asset Management Unit in response to some of the observations of the Auditor-General. The ICD, in the current period, will also establish satellite offices in North West, Free State, Northern Cape and Limpopo.
The ICD has increased its effort to publicise its work through outreach campaigns of various kinds, which will see in the current period the creation of conditions for better communication with the communities by means of a toll-free telephone service.
Policing matters
Resource allocation
Over the past three financial years, the allocated budget for policing has increased by 38 percent. Expenditure for other material resources in the policing environment such as buildings, machinery and equipment, has also seen significant increases.
Expenditure on police work, as indicated in the Estimates of National Expenditure (ENE) will increase strongly, rising from R36,4 billion in the 2007/08 financial year, to R49,4 billion in the 2010/11 financial year indicating, therefore, a 35,9 percent increase over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period.
The increase in the allocation, in the main, reflects the employment of large numbers of additional police officers, as well as a marked improvement in their conditions of service, on the back of the 2007 Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) resolution.
Expenditure on capital assets is expected to grow by nine comma eight percent over the MTEF period, reaching two comma seven billion rand in the 2010/11 financial year. Expenditure on buildings and other infrastructure will grow by 15,4 percent. A sum of one billion rand has been allocated for the purchase of more vehicles for the police. Policing priorities will include preparations for the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup.
Part of the plans, going forward, include the construction of a new police headquarters, which will also house several divisions of the police to allow for better command and control. The move will also be cost effective given the high rental that is paid for the current premises.
Enlistment Programme
In the next Medium Term Expenditure cycle, additional personnel will be recruited across the entire policing spectrum, especially with respect to local policing, railway policing, detectives, and ports of entry. By the end of March 2011, the South African Police Service will have 201 300 members. The current personnel strength from the end of the last financial year is 173 241.
Recruitment goes hand-in-glove with training. This year an amount of R947 million will be spent for training programmes, including basic training. The modern global policing trend demands that all levels of management should acquire essential skills, knowledge, specific attributes and ability which will satisfy all operational demands.
A specific programme for all station commissioners, styled the Station Management Learning Programme, has become one of the key programmes of the South African Police Service. It aims to prepare all station commissioners for the challenging work at police stations, especially following the restructuring exercise whose principal aim is to allocate appropriate resources, human and material, at the local police station.
By September this year, all station commissioners will have been trained in all the necessary modules. Others who will undergo the different levels of training are 120 senior officers who will be trained for executive development, while 540 officers will receive training for middle management. The Internal Administration Efficiency course will be given to 1 014 officers and 175 branch commanders will be trained in effective crime investigation management. Members in the crime intelligence, detectives and forensic science laboratory will also receive additional training.
During the current financial year, 11 360 learners will enter Basic Training at police institutions across the country.
Crime combating
Police work across the country continues to drive the levels of crime down. Soon, another report on the crime trends in South Africa will be published, which will show the extent of the downward trend.
Of course, more work needs to be done given that, despite the downward trend in crime levels, the levels of violent crime are still unacceptably high. The police must do more to create the environment of safety and security that is defined in their mandate.
We are going to be discussing in due course, here in Parliament, and at other levels of human endeavour in our country, bills that seek to define new ways of dealing with organised crime. The vehicle we want to create is the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation which will be comprised of the best experience from the Directorate of Special Operations and the police's Organised Crime Unit and Commercial Branch.
That matter is not for today's discussion but is an important matter to be discussed by all of us as we all strive to find the best measures to deal with organised crime.
With a view to increasing the number of prosecutions, the National Prosecuting Service (NPS) has appointed dedicated organised crime prosecutors to provide guidance and assistance to organised crime detectives in their investigation of organised crime.
New technology
State of the art technology has been procured for deployment against crime. Technology in place includes the Geographical Information System (GIS), which is being further upgraded to produce satellite images that will assist with crime prevention activities, especially in rural areas where no physical addresses exist.
The process of identifying criminals has been enhanced by the usage of the Mobile Connectivity Device. The Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) has been enhanced to accommodate palm printing. More than a million palm prints have been inserted into the database.
Conclusion
We want, once more, to make a call to all our law abiding citizens that they should be involved in the various elements of crime prevention and combating in our country, to create an environment conducive to the building of peace and stability. South Africans can register as reservists or offer their time, energy and expertise as volunteers in some elements of our work to make our country safe and secure for all who live in it.
There must not be any respite for criminals. No space should be left open for them to operate. Working together with all South Africans we must flush out criminals from our communities and get them arrested, prosecuted and sentenced so that they can be kept away from law abiding citizens and be placed in the various correctional services facilities.
Issued by: Secretariat for Safety and Security
4 June 2008
