Building a united front to help and protect communities
House Chairperson
Deputy Minister: Ms Makhotso Magdeline Sotyu;
MECs
Chairperson: Select Committee on Justice and Police;
Honourable Members;
Management and Members of the South African Police Services; Independent Police Investigative Directorate; Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation; the Civilian Secretariat for Police; and the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority.
Esteemed guests
Fellow South Africans,
The Freedom Charter, the lodestar of our liberation struggle and as relevant today as it was 60 years ago at its adoption instructed us, the South African Police Service to be helpers and protectors of the people. Nothing more, nothing less.
The most recent expression of this was when the South African Police Service alongside other law enforcement agencies responded to the call in securing people and property during the xenophobic attacks in various parts of our country. No distinction was made as to who “the people” as referred to in the Freedom Charter were.
It is my fervent wish that our members continue to do what our Constitution requires of them and that all people within our borders embrace and support the work of the police.
It is therefore with a deep sense of regret and sadness that I report that 86 police officers have been killed in this past financial year – 35 on duty and 51 while off duty. This is 12% higher than for the same period last year. If calculated against the ratio of police to population this means more than 25 000 people have been denied protection.
The fact that the majority of these killings happen in a certain province is not the issue, it is that our women and men in blue is under siege of a particular type. It cannot be that in one weekend in March, four police officials we killed while in the service of the people of South Africa.
To put a name to these gallant officers, in KZN, 29-year-old Constable Zethu Cele and a colleague of the Wills Road Police Station were shot while responding to a robbery complaint in Bentley Road in Durban; Constable Rydan Malungana was also fatally shot when he and his crew stopped to search a suspected stolen vehicle in Venus Street in Katlehong. The same weekend, 37 year old Constable Mandla Dlakavu of the Mthatha Stock Theft Unit was found dead next to his house in the Zimbane Village near Mthatha. Our hearts go out to these and all families who have suffered through the loss of their loved ones.
Attacks on police have also increased with 1501 attacks in the past financial year against 1172 attacks in the previous corresponding period.
In response to the killings, SAPS has established a multidisciplinary approach to improving the safety of police officials. We are applying Standing Orders on arresting and restraining arrested persons until they are handed over; visiting cells, restraining measures, transporting persons in custody, routine and other patrols and dealing with mentally ill persons. However, despite all our best efforts, officers are being killed at an alarming rate.
Equally, we are not oblivious or blind to police infractions against citizens that have been reported to IPID, infractions which are being dealt with and continue to be dealt with expeditiously.
We are still committed to the tenets of policing in a democratic context. Some of which are:
- Policing shall be based on community support and participation;
- Police shall be accountable to society and the community it serves through democratically elected institutions;
- Policing shall be subject to public scrutiny and open debate;
- Allegations of police misconduct shall be dealt with by independent complaints and investigations mechanisms;
- The police service shall strive for high performance standards.
We have in the past year revisited these ideals and combined them with the mandate given to us by the National Development Plan (NDP); to develop a framework that is aimed at revisiting our trajectory with a view to keep on transforming.
In this regard, we have focused our efforts on strengthening the police and policing in general in the country through the publication of the White Paper on Safety and Security and the White Paper on Policing.
The White Paper on Policing is aimed at the review of the Act to make it relevant to modern day challenges and operational requirements. It also seeks to align the SAPS act with the provisions of the Constitution.
The White Paper on Safety and Security emphasises an integrated approach to policing and will form the basis for our policy and legislative review process in our quest to create a State where our people are free, safe and able to raise their children in a stable society. In doing so, we are informed by our commitment to the creation of a just society and state, a state that according to Socrates will exhibit four qualities of “wisdom, courage, discipline and justice”.
Our integrated approach to policing emphasises the involvement of our communities in the fight against crime and corruption. This is a responsibility we all share with the police being lead agents in this regard.
I have visited all provinces to listen to management and communities; to assist in resolving issues at community level.
From Ndabayakhe to Malamulele; from Kuruman to Grabouw; from Masoyi to Mqanduli; Polokwane to Marikana to Soweto; our ears have been glued to the ground. We listened and intervened successfully in Kuruman where children were being denied a chance for schooling. We did the same in Malamulele. We were there when we were required in Grabouw.
It is for this reason that we will be placing a much stronger emphasis on the need to review specialised units that are dedicated to fighting specific forms of crime and specialised investigations. We have heard the outcry of communities ravaged by drugs whether in Chatsworth, Hillbrow, Manenberg or Soshanguve.
We have seen the sterling work of a re-established FCS unit. That is why we celebrated Detective Warrant Officer (WO) René Claudean Nel (43) being acknowledged as best national investigating officer where all nine provinces contended at the National FCS Conference. She and countless members have committed to fight rapists and child molesters are deserving of our gratitude and encouragement.
The horrendous crime in areas around the Eastern Cape whereby old people are being sexually molested must have all of us deeply concerned. The dastardly act of a stabbing of a toddler 99 times in Odendaalsrus, Free State, defies comprehension. While we commend the police in arresting and bringing to trial a suspect it pales into significance against the magnitude of the act.
General consensus dictates that putting an end to this scourge will involve a collective effort, lead by the community. So I call upon all community structures, formal and informal to supplement the great efforts by the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences unit.
One the primary contributors to crime is the abuse of liquor we witness day in and day out. Targeted liquor control enforcement operations were conducted provincially during 2014/15 in cooperation with provincial liquor control offices. A total of 462 980 compliance inspections were conducted at licenced liquor premises from 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015.
Furthermore, target driven operations resulted in the closure of 37 979 identified illegal liquor outlets; 37 490 of these outlets were unlicensed/illegal liquor premises; 368 were unregistered/illegal distributors of liquor and 121 were unregistered/illegal macro/micro manufactures of liquor.
SAPS confiscated 1 540 992,583lt of liquor (including 78 766,160lt home brew beer). Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces excelled in policing liquor control environments, to such an extent that the Gauteng province confiscated the highest volume of liquor (553 207,128lt), whereas the Kwa-Zulu Natal Province managed to close down the highest number of illegal liquor traders 18 426.
We have constructed police stations and other facilities across the country. We will continue to make policing visible and redress the apartheid patterns of policing by recognising that different places have experienced massive migration and population growth while others have dwindled. Our resource allocation should take this into context.
The Civilian Secretariat for Police has been established as an independent entity with effect from 1 April 2015 so that it can discharge its duty of oversight over police and induce community activation. CSP contributes towards the NDP, envisaging that people living in South Africa should feel safe at home, at school and at work, and enjoy an active community life free of fear.
The plan promotes tackling the fundamental causes of crime through an integrated approach between state and non-state institutions, with active involvement from civil society.
The Constitutional Court directed that we should enhance the independence of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations. In this regard, we have commenced the establishment of the DPCI as an independent Budget Programme. The new programme will be introduced through the MTEF process in June 2015. A task team has been established with a target for a new programme by 1 April 2016.
House chair
The oversight role played by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) cannot be overemphasised. Its role in conducting investigations and making recommendations on the conduct of the police is being enhanced through the establishment of the National Special Investigation Team (NSIT), which will focus on the investigation of systemic corruption cases at national level.
It remains our commitment that IPID conducts its investigations without fear, favour or prejudice. It is only through such unquestionable professionalism and integrity that our people will have faith in the police and our institutions of oversight such as the IPID and the Secretariat.
Consultative Forum chaired jointly by the Executive Director of IPID and the Secretary of Police as per the legislative requirements has been established to recommend and advise the Minister on issues of policy and legislation.
One of the milestones registered thus far is the National Critical Infrastructure Bill, a piece of legislation that seek to repeal the National Keypoints Act, Act 102 of 1980 which currently is with Cabinet.
We are amending the Firearms Control Act as a way of curbing the prevalence of gun culture and high levels of violence in our society. There are far too many guns circulating in our society. As a result of targeted operations, 5 341 firearms were recovered in 2014/15.
These included 3 382 firearms owned by individuals and institutions, 1 811 that could not be traced back to their owners or were without serial numbers after being used in illicit activities and 148 state-owned firearms. It is commendable that a total number of 5 042 legal firearms were voluntarily surrendered by legal firearm owners to the SAPS during 2014/15. The most recovered firearms were in the Western Cape at 1779 while Gautengers were leaders in voluntarily surrendering their firearms – 3 163 in total.
You would be aware that the Private Security Industry Amendment Bill is in process. The President is currently considering the bill for assent.
The Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority like many other institutions is experiencing financial pressures due to a number of challenges and legal contestations from business. We have however reached a settlement on the new fees that are due to be implemented in the current financial year.
We have witnessed a spike in service delivery and or community protests for service delivery. Police resources were committed to 14 740 incidents of which 12 451 were peaceful and, 2 289 turning violent. These\ protests continue to strain the resources of the SAPS. We are also mindful that citizens have a right to air their grievances; however, the solution to these protests do not lie with the police alone.
We launched the We Are One Humanity programme through the CSP wherein we are going to communities to find solutions to address the issue of xenophobic attacks.
For South Africa to be safe, stable and developmental, it requires that all of us must play a role on issues of policing and ensuring a safe and secure environment, taking into account that the quality of a nation arises from the combined attributes of its citizens. Honourable Members, I ask that you support this Budget.
I thank you
