All Deputy National Commissioners
All Provincial and Divisional Commissioners present
Academics from the tertiary forum
Stakeholders from the CJS cluster
SAPS senior managers
Men and women in blue
Ladies and gentlemen
Thank you very much for joining us here this morning. We meet at a very crucial time for our organisation. We are busy laying a foundation for the future of policing in our country. My firm belief that, in the not too distant future, we will have the kind of police service which this country is yearning for, gives me great courage.
Just before the national elections, I went with the former Minister of Police, Mr Nathi Mthethwa, to address a media briefing at the Diepsloot police station. We were dealing with pre-election community protests. After the media briefing, I sat with the station commander, Colonel Amos Balatsi for some time. We spoke about the area he was policing, the officers under his command and the overall running of the station.
Diepsloot is growing at an extremely fast pace, with current population estimates in excess of 500 000 people. There is an influx of foreign nationals and South Africans from other provinces that come to Gauteng in search of work. You can rent a shack for around R800 per month and almost every yard has a couple of shacks in it. The situation is so bad that some areas cannot be accessed using a vehicle. The roads are bad and, almost daily, you have to replace the tyres of the cars. Tarvens and spaza shops have mushroomed everywhere. There are tensions between different taxi associations which result in sporadic acts of violence. There is a high unemployment rate, and alcohol and drug abuse are the order of the day. The crimes associated with this type of living conditions are murder, attempted murder, assaults, rape, etc...
It was clear from this conversation with Colonel Balatsi that you need more than policing skills to manage in this kind of situation. There are so many issues you have to consider as you are working within a system. There are procurement issues, performance management, discipline and client issues to manage. How do you keep your officers motivated when they are surrounded with difficult situations day in and day out? How do you make sure that your vehicles are out there 24/7? Do you regularly meet with the community? Do you do your regular reports? I'm sure there are many other questions, but what is key for me is - how do we assist our leaders to lead given the circumstances?
We now have a university where officers can obtain a degree in policing. We have a management course aimed specifically at cluster commanders. We have extended our training to two years for new recruits where human rights are a golden thread through our curriculum. We are about to launch our front line service delivery programme where will be paying special attention to the services delivered to our communities. We are in the process of finalising an integrity component and set up disciplinary trial units.
In my discussion with Colonel Balatsi, I realised that he has a very good appreciation of these issues. He struck me as a very committed person of integrity. I was therefore not surprised when I learnt that he refused a bribe of R5 000 from criminals. I'm sure you will all agree that this is the calibre of officers we want and most importantly, the type of leaders who will take the South African Police Service (SAPS) forward. We must make sure that there is no room for corruption within the SAPS at all levels and particularly at leadership level.
I'm saying all these things because for me, we want a police service that is seen by the community as upright, professional, honest and respectful. Not only respectful, but respected.
But this process of professionalising the police will not be complete if we do not demilitarise the service. The days of “skop, skiet en donder” indiscriminately are over. But I'm not advocating that our officers be regarded as doormats. NO NO NO! We must use the appropriate levels of force when the situation calls for it in line with the laws of this country. Any police member who fails to follow the rules must know that they will receive no support and protection from management.
There are some who may agree or disagree with me. That is exactly what this colloquium is about. The point is to find an answer to the questions we have and with those answers, to improve our situation. Our colloquium is based on two broad themes that focus on expanding the role of the police in a changing society. The themes are demilitarisation and policing in a violent society.
We are continuously ingraining the culture of study in this organisation and we aim at participating in more colloquiums of this nature to research, evaluate and review our own endeavours as the SAPS. We have to do this because the people of South Africa deserve and are entitled to live in safety, free from crime and violence, as our Constitution dictates.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are meeting today because of a serious phenomenon in our society - we are living in an extremely violent society. During this year alone, many families in the country lost their loved ones due to shocking acts of violence. These acts have left everyone asking themselves - what is happening to our society? What are we doing wrong? What more can we do? We know we are living in a culture of violence when a three year old child is dragged behind a vehicle while criminals were forcibly hijacking his mother. We live in a sick and sad society where children as young as three months are raped, and those aged two and three years are raped, butchered and mutilated.
Many crimes need to be looked at in detail. I am talking about domestic violence, hate crimes, femicide, crimes against children, violence in schools, as well as gender-based violence.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is no doubt the country needs to reduce violent and sexual attacks against the vulnerable, in particular women, children, the elderly and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.
The National Development Plan (NDP), Chapter 12 clearly states that one of the key points of the NDP is to demilitarise the police. South African law enforcement officials must become professional, trustworthy and respected.
Policemen and policewomen should be selected and trained to be impartial and responsive. They must be responsive to communities’ needs, they must be competent and they must inspire confidence in the people of South Africa. The NDP also proposed linking the SAPS’s Code of Conduct and a code of professional police practice to promotion and disciplinary regulations.
The SAPS should attract competent, skilled professionals through a two-track system. We are making progress in this regard as we have already implemented the new recruitment strategy. It is interesting to note that demilitarisation at times is seen merely as a changing of ranks, whereas emphasis should be put on modern ways of addressing crime in a democratic state.
We have a responsibility to take firm steps and decisions to guide our attempts in line with the NDP. The establishment of the SAPS Paarl University will play a pivotal role in professionalising the SAPS. This establishment has enabled us to forge partnerships with the academic fraternity and will go a long way in fostering a culture of education and training among the men and women in blue.
The community based recruitment and selection of policemen and policewomen in line with the NDP, aims at attracting “SAPS” material, police officers that will conform with human rights and will uphold and protect the Constitutional mandate of the SAPS whilst protecting and serving our citizens.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am positive that the researchers and intellectuals in our midst will be able to deal with the challenges we are facing, fully and without fear, so that one day we will look back at our efforts and say we made the much needed, positive change to policing in our country and we heeded the call for a safe and free South Africa.
According to the green paper on policing, it is evident that future decisions aimed at streamlining organisational structures and processes must be subject to a thorough needs analysis and environmental scan. Equally, any restructuring of the SAPS must also be guided by the principles of the Constitution and must be aligned with other legislative requirements. Like all international police bodies, the SAPS must be able to adapt to the changing policing environment and be allowed to grow and expand.
Ladies and gentlemen, let us take this opportunity to embrace our broad themes in depth and carefully. We owe this to the people and the well being of our State.
Thank you.
