Executive Council for Public Safety, Security and Liaison, Mr FK Morule at the
Free State Legislature
17 March 2007
Honourable Speaker
Honourable Premier, Beatrice Marshoff
Honourable Members of the Executive Council
Honourable Members of Legislature
Your Lordships Executive Mayors, Mayors and Councillors
Provincial Police Commissioner, Amos Mashigo
Commissioned and Non-Commissioned Members of the Police Service
Chairperson of the Provincial Board, Mr T Matuka
Chairpersons and Members of Area Police Boards and Community Police
Forums
Esteemed guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Honourable Speaker,
Today I stand in front of this House to present the budget of R34,8 million
for the fiscal year 2007/08 for the Department of Public Safety, Security and
Liaison. We dedicate this budget to Comrades Pule Kharinja Mosolo, Joyce Betty
Boom, Tebogo Sejanamane, Sonti Mashiya, Mbulelo Ngono and all other fallen
Heroes of the people who remain buried uncaringly so, in unidentified graves in
the wide and vast parts of this province.
It is their selfless contribution to the liberation of South Africa from the
apartheid crimes that we are today able to table a non-discriminatory budget
that is underpinned by pro-poor intervention in a new democratic State that was
founded on the values of non-racialism, non-sexism, human dignity, the
achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedom. We
also pay tribute to all the police women and men who lost their lives while on
duty to proudly protect democracy and the Free State communities. We salute
them as people of irrepressible sense of duty and loyalty to their communities,
police service, government and their country.
Honourable Speaker,
The budget that we are tabling is chiefly biased towards and is largely
emphatic on a process of mass mobilisation against crime. We choose such an
inclination because it is our firm assertion that partnership between
communities and the police should be strengthened by revamping Community Police
Forums (CPFs). On the 16 February 2007, the Minister of Safety and Security
indicated during media briefing that revamped Community Police Forums will not
only serve as links between the people and the police but also as an effective
instrument to determine, together with the police, the policing priorities of
the areas where they exist.
Furthermore, it is through such agreed-upon priorities that the Community
Police Forums will be able to assess police performance. Furthermore, such an
inclination is proudly premised on an informed understanding that communities
are the central institution for crime prevention; they are the stage on which
all institutions perform. Institutions such as families, schools, labour
unions, government departments, private sector (etc), must all confront the
consequences of community life. We need to be mindful, however, that much of
the successes or failures of these institutions are affected by the community
context in which they operate.
Our ability as an inclusive people and as a nation in unity to reduce and
eradicate crime depends heavily on the extent to which each one of us helps to
restructure community life, much devoid of the myopic party political visioning
which persistently seeks to deny that there is a correlation between poverty,
joblessness, homelessness, inadequate education, gender stereotyping, on the
one hand and certain types of crime, on the other.
Achievements during the 2006/07 Fiscal Year
Honourable Speaker,
The contribution of the Department of Public Safety, Security and Liaison in
the reshaping of community life during the 2006/07 financial year found
expression in the following commitments and achievements:
Community Mobilisation against Crime (2006/07)
We committed government to the ceaseless mobilisation of communities and
institutionalise community policing structures so that they could take a firm
stand against crime victimization during the 2006/07. We are pleased to report
that rural and farming communities continue to interact with government,
including on the delivery of rural safety and security services. For example,
the Rural Safety Summit was held in Bloemfontein in October 2006.
The summit was convened subsequent to reported criminal cases ranging from
serious violent crimes to human rights abuses in the rural areas and along the
cross-border lines between the Free State and Lesotho. The summit was attended
by all primary stakeholders across the three spheres of government, the police
officials from the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho, Free State South African Local
Government Association (SALGA), Community Police Forums, Cosatu, Human Rights
Commission and the Legal Aid Board, agricultural unions (that is, both Free
State Agriculture and National African Farmers' Union (NAFU).
The main purpose of the summit, particularly in keeping with the strategic
objectives of the Free State Provincial Growth and Development Strategy, was to
develop appropriate, sustainable and relevant priorities that could be
incorporated into the envisaged Free State Provincial Rural Safety Strategy
(FSPRSS).
The primary objectives of the Summit were to:
* explore the significance of Community Police Forums (CPFs) in the
identification, implementation, evaluation and review of crime prevention needs
and priorities in the rural communities
* examine the role of local government in the promotion of an integrated and
municipality-wide crime prevention and community safety approach
* probe into the equitable accessibility of the criminal justice services to
the rural and farming communities in general.
The summit placed poverty eradication at the centre of our efforts to
achieve sustainable development and to reduce criminality in the province,
especially in the rural settings. To that extent, the summit was unanimous that
poorer communities were seldom seen as the predominant victims of crime; yet
the poor formed not only the majority of victims, but also had fewer resources
with which to cushion the costs and effects of crime.
Without an equitable, responsive, effective and efficient focus on crime
prevention designed specifically for the rural poor and farming communities,
the interests of those who bear the burden of crime will continue to be
ignored, particularly the vulnerable such as women, children, differently-able
persons and the elderly. Additionally, during the 16 Days of Activism on Crime
against Women and Children, we interacted extensively with communities in the
province. For example, an interfaith prayer meeting was held and fully attended
in Bohlokong in the Thabo Mofutsanyane district municipality.
Words of intolerance were directed at those who sought to reverse progress
already registered in the emancipation of women and those who often found it
easy and convenient to violate the rights of boy- and girl-children in the
province. Additionally, we organised a successful Men's March in Mangaung to
decry as un-fatherly and unmanly any act of abuse against women and
children.
Honourable Speaker,
The month of February has been set aside by government as the �Safety and
Security Month�. February is commonly known as a month during which communities
reflect on and rekindle their campaigns against crime in an attempt to reclaim
their streets, school premises, shopping malls, public spaces from the
criminals.
On 14 and 15 February 2007, we convened a Provincial Community Mobilisation
Conference and central to the reflections were critical issues that had the
potential impact on the equitable, responsive, effective and efficient delivery
of local community safety services, such as:
* the future role of Community Police Forums, including their oversight and
accountability functions and responsibilities
* the intergovernmental interaction with between and among Community Police
Forums, Municipalities, Ward Committees and Ward Councillors
* the oversight and accountability roles of the mayors and the implementation
responsibilities of municipal managers
* the establishment of local and district Intergovernmental Community Safety
Forums,
* the integrated community mobilisation strategies by which both crime and
poverty can be reduced and eradicated at local and district levels.
The conference noted, among other things, that the abuse of alcohol and
substance contributed immensely to crime and victimisation. To that extent, it
was emphasised that the issuing of liquor licences and the operation of both
licensed and unlicensed taverns and pubs should receive effective
management.
We hope that the Honourable Member, Mr Neo Masithela has sufficient
resources to purchase the decibel (or a unit of measurement expressing the
intensity of sound) by which noise pollution can be measured in order to enable
swift enforcement of applicable regulatory mechanisms. The conference resolved,
among other thongs, that there was a compelling need to measure our collective
progress on crime reduction strategies within the first three months,
particularly with focus on contact crimes, such as rape, murder, attempted
murder, assault with intent to do bodily harm, common assault. The conference
further identified the need to intensify public awareness campaigns to
popularise all the Toll-Free Numbers; to promote social crime prevention and
combating of crime.
Honourable Speaker,
In February 2007, we held interfaith mass prayer meetings in Kutlwanong (in
the Matjhabeng Local Municipality), Phuthaditjhaba (Maluti-a-Phofung Local
Municipality) and Bloemfontein (Mangaung local municipality) to appeal for
heavenly intervention for freedom from the scourge of crime.
Our voluntary submission to interfaith prayer meetings was informed by the
realisation that the challenge of curbing crime was not just a matter of public
policy; it is also a test of commitment on the part of the community of faith
because the fundamental starting point for all faith-based organisations is the
defence of the sanctity of human life and dignity of both victims and
offenders.
Furthermore, we interacted with communities in Bethulie (Xhariep District),
Koppies (Fezile Dabi) and Reitz (Thabo Mofutsanyane) during the 2007 February
Safety and Security Month. During all those extra governmental road-shows, we
realised that our audiences were more non-racial than before; they were
appreciative of government's endeavours to reduce crime in their localities;
and most importantly they were much willing to accept their civic duty and
personal responsibility for tackling crime.
Honourable Speaker,
We emphasised community mobilisation during the 2006/07 financial year
because we believed that it was politically mischievous to advance demands that
sought to romanticise crime reduction and eradication as the sole
responsibility of government. Such unschooled political thinking is either
arrogant or ignorant to the provisions of our national crime prevention
strategy which, as early as 1996, emphasised a multi-agency and multi-party
approach to crime prevention and introduced the principle of the
dis-aggregation of the causes of crime.
The South African national crime prevention strategy provides as
follows:
"The problem of rising crime levels has become something of a �political
football.� The tendency of political parties to use the issue as a vote catcher
has resulted in the generation of single-factor causes and solutions to crime
and violence. It is important to recognize that there is no single cause of
crime in South Africa. At the same time, different types of crime have
different root causes, and hence require different approaches to
prevention."
Municipalities in crime prevention (2006/07)
Honourable Speaker,
We further committed government to the strengthening of institutional
structures and intergovernmental relations on matters of crime prevention and
community safety at local government level. As a provincial government, we are
constitutionally enjoined to support municipalities in order to enable them to
fulfil their executive obligations. Cognisant of such legislative imperative,
the Department of Public Safety, Security and Liaison felt it proper to
mobilise community participation in the delivery of local safety services
through their representative governance structures, such as local and district
municipalities.
Resultantly, on 18 November 2006 Moqhaka Local Municipality was the first
municipality in the province to launch its Community Safety Forum (CSF). The
launch of the Moqhaka Community Safety Forum should therefore be seen as
expressive of the penetrating will of the local communities of Moqhaka to
impact significantly on crime and the fear thereof; to deal with alcohol and
drug abuse; to eradicate sexual assaults and other forms of gender-based abuse
including domestic violence; to focus on school violence and general
lawlessness in the area.
Transformation of the Police Service
We said government would continue to monitor the total transformation of the
police by focusing on police conduct towards the detainees and the public;
quality police service delivery; and effective and efficient police management
and leadership. Insofar as police conduct is concerned, the department
monitored police adherence to the provisions of the Bill of Rights as enshrined
in our national Constitution insofar as the treatment of the detainees is
concerned.
Monitoring of detainee treatment was conducted through announce and
unannounced visits to various police stations in the province. Particular focus
was on the exercise hours allowed to each detainee; access to medical
attention; the hygienic condition of police holding cells; meals and
nutritional value of food to detainees and transportation of the detainees from
the police holding cells to the courts of law.
The last financial year (2006/07) saw an increased number of detained
unregistered foreign nationals within the Mangaung municipal area. An improved
working relationship between the Police Service and the local office of the
Department of Home Affairs will expedite the deportation of unregistered
foreign nationals who happen to be detained within the Bloemfontein area.
Honourable Speaker,
A total of 380 public complaints were received and investigated by the
Department during the 2006/07 financial year. This represented an increase as
compared to 2005/06. The said increase can be attributed to the transfer of the
investigation responsibility of all service delivery complaints from the
Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) to the department effectively from the
1 August 2006.
The majority of those public complaints involved poor police service
delivery, particularly lack of feedback to victims of crime in respect of
criminal cases reported and investigation. The rest of the complaints pertained
to poor police investigation.
However, we will remember that on 16 February 2007, the Minister of Safety
and Security highlighted the need for capacity building across the Criminal
Justice System "so that the degree of effectiveness is raised in investigations
and prosecutions."
Areas such as poor police investigation have been attributed to poor police
station management and the absence of effective systems of command and control
that ultimately prompted the need to strengthen the police stations. However, I
shall deal with the strengthening of police stations later in my speech.
Honourable Speaker,
Regarding quality police service delivery, we committed the department to
the facilitation of the signing of the Free State Provincial Police Service
Charter between the police and the Free State communities. Unfortunately, the
Free State Provincial Police Service Charter was not signed during the 2006/07
financial year. We felt it would be most prudent to await the finalisation of
the Free State Provincial Service Charter to serve as a guideline for the Free
State Provincial Police Service Charter.
Honourable Speaker,
In terms of police management and leadership, the 2006/07 financial year
witnessed the strengthening of the police station in terms of management and
leadership capacity. An evaluation of various police stations was conducted and
it was revealed that there was a need for better management and performance.
Furthermore, it became apparent that senior and experienced personnel and
specialised skills were concentrated at provincial and area levels and there
was a duplication of functions between the Area and station levels.
Following the said evaluation, government commenced police redeployment in
August 2006. Criteria for selecting police stations for the deployment of the
police were:
* latest crime weights
* focus on high levels of contact crime
* focus on overflow stations
* identification of police stations where the ability of management was
weak
* high crime police stations with severe resource shortages
* performance of stations (in terms of the Performance Chart described
below).
The evaluation findings therefore necessitated the redeployment of
Area-level personnel to local stations and the promotion of experienced
detectives in a way that kept them doing functional police work rather than
shifting them into administrative and managerial positions.
Moves to dissolve the Area-level of policing shifted more resources to the
frontline against crime and that invariably allows more crimes to be
investigated more fully. This strategy is also complemented by tightening the
command and control capacity of the police, with new hi-tech Information
Communication Technology (ICT) system or the Station Performance Chart that
allow senior management in the Provincial Head Quarters to track activities at
every police station in the province in real time.
Perhaps I need to introduce the Performance Chart by explaining what it is
and how it operates. The Performance Chart is a measurement tool developed by
government to rigorously measure the performance of police stations. It
basically talks to issues like crime prevention and combating, including
response times to reported crimes; effective utilization of human and material
resources; better use of technology; and service delivery to the satisfaction
of the communities, including trust and confidence building.
The management system will help set national performance standards and
targets, assess performance against those national standards, identify
non-performing stations and introduce remedial measures and having done the
assessment to reward good performance.
I am pleased to announce that the reports that we received indicated that
the strengthening of the police stations in the Free State progressed
outstandingly well under the management and administrative stewardship of the
Provincial Police Commissioner, Amos Mashigo, particularly in terms of police
resources, expertise, police performance and morale.
Public Values and Public Education
Honourable Speaker,
We took cognisant of the threat that could be posed to democracy,
accountability, transparency, responsive governance and sound public
administration by a less informed, passive and complaisant community.
Hence we committed the department to the promotion of communication with the
public on matters of community safety and crime prevention. During the past
financial year the department communicated with communities in different
municipalities in the province including Manyatseng (Ladybrand), Meqheleng
(Ficksburg), Luckoff, Ratanang (Jacobsdal), Namahadi (Frankfurt), Mafahlaneng
(Tweeling), Bultfontein, Ikgomotseng (Soutpan), Qibing (Wepener), Mautse
(Rosendal), to mention just a few.
Altogether, no single community in the province was left untouched by our
comprehensive public education strategy. Topical issues covered included the
empowerment of the public on legal and human rights and the dissemination of
information on government's crime prevention policies and strategies.
Honourable Speaker,
I need to finalise the 2006/07 financial report by mentioning that the
combined effect put together by all stakeholders including government,
business, students, organised labour traditional leaders and healers,
faith-based organisations and all other primary stakeholders in the Free State
certainly assisted in the reduction of crime in the Free State.
Our Premier, in the 2007 State of the Province Address, already indicated
that "overall the last year, we have witnessed a significant decrease of about
8% in all incidents of contact crime, which includes murder, rape, assault and
common robbery."
The national strategy to fight crime continues to be based mainly on the
reduction of serious and violent crimes by between 7% and 10% annually.
Obviously, as the Free State we managed to remain within the said acceptable
national target. Our combined efforts and strong resolve coupled with continued
mobilisation of communities will result in far better statistics in the
financial year ahead.
2007/08 financial year commitments
Honourable Speaker,
We would like to submit that for the 2007/08 financial year, the strategic
priorities of the Department of Public Safety, Security and Liaison will not
change. The main focus will be to ensure that we consolidate the gains that we
registered in many communities in the province. However, it is our main intent
to make considerable and significant changes in those strategic areas where we
stand to adversely impact on crime. The department will therefore focus on the
following strategic areas: investment-friendly province, community mobilisation
and social crime prevention.
Investment-friendly province
Although there are those who prefer to hold differently, there is a
correlation between poverty and crime, and the President emphasised it in the
2007 State of the Nation Address.
This Department will continue to forge meaningful partnership with
individual and organisations that support and add to economic growth and
development that will ultimately ensure, by design, a reduction in crime in the
province.
Crime levels in the Free State have not necessarily adversely affected
economic growth and the business sector strongly endorses the measures that
this government has put in place to deal with crime. As a result thereof, signs
of business confidence keep revealing themselves. For example, Business against
Crime launched its provincial office in Bloemfontein in February 2007.
Whilst it is true that there is no scientific evidence to suggest that crime is
the main reason for lack of investment and economic growth, we still maintain
that one incident of crime is but too many.
It is with our collaborative endeavour with business that we can begin to
build our physical environment in such a way that crime targets become hard for
the criminal to have access to.
Furthermore, the department will convene the Labour against Crime Summit in
the next financial year to share ideas and strategies on crime prevention and
community safety.
Community Mobilisation and Social Crime Prevention
As I have indicated in my opening remarks, the budget we are tabling today
is chiefly biased towards mass mobilisation. The call to mobilise our masses is
basically in full recognition that crime takes place at the local level and,
almost inevitably, the people will know who is involved in crime. Actively
engaged communities are usually able to provide the police with vital
information about crime in their midst. They are also able to identify patterns
of criminal behaviour and the geographic physical features conducive to these
patterns.
The said mobilisation should be understood in the context of
community-police partnership which must be strengthened by revamping Community
Police Forums with respect to social crime prevention, especially serious and
violent crimes. Government intends broadening the role of Community Police
Forums to encompass the justice and correctional services systems in a move
that will allow for a more holistic contribution to be made in the fight
against crime by members of the public.
Anecdotal allegations were made in the past, for instance, that Community
Police Forums were not fully effective due to the fact that levels of their
training were low. Where training did take place, such capacitating did not
correspond with the statutory mandate of the Community Police Forums which
was:
* to establish and maintain a partnership between the community and the
Police Service
* to promote communication between the Police Service and the community
* to promote cooperation between the Police Service and the community in
fulfilling the needs of the community regarding local safety and security
service delivery
* to improve the rendering of police services to the community at national,
provincial and local levels
* to improve transparency in the Police Service and accountability of the
Police Service to the community
* to promote joint problem identification and problem-solving by the Police
Service and the community.
It is precisely because of the envisaged changes that today we commit the
Department of Public Safety, Security and Liaison to the training of Community
Police Forums throughout the province in order to optimise their effectiveness
especially in terms of their broadened role. Furthermore, revamped Community
Police Forums will be expected to play a significant role in the identification
and implementation of local social crime prevention projects and programmes
such as:
* The School-based Crime Prevention, particularly the roll-out of the Tiisa
Thuto Safer School Project to 76 schools in the province.
* Youth Crime Prevention Programme.
* The employment of Victim Empowerment Workers (VEWs) to provide support
services mainly to victims of domestic violence at our Victim Support Rooms
located at all our Priority Police Stations in the province.
* The establishment of Community Action Teams to campaign against alcohol and
substance abuse.
* The reduction of property related crimes.
* The development and implementation of the Free State Provincial Rural Safety
Strategy.
* The implementation of the Free State Provincial Anti-Rape Strategy.
* The improvement of the overall functioning of the criminal justice system to
case cycle times and conviction rates.
* The monitoring of police service delivery by looking at improvement on issues
such as customer care at police stations, optimum usage of resources,
maintenance of standards, police visibility, compliance with national standards
on domestic violence, docket management, public complaints and determining of
local policing priorities with the police.
Furthermore, government intends to recruit massively as it mobilises vast
sections of the population in the battle against crime and will augment the
Community Safety Forums with a revised reservist system. Legislation and
regulations would soon be created to provide more resources to Community Safety
Forums.
Co-ordination of the Criminal Justice System
During his State of the Nation Address, the President of South Africa
remarked as follows:
"What is required is more effective organisation, mobilisation and
leadership of the mass of law enforcement, intelligence and corrections
officers and functionaries of the justice system." As the provincial Justice,
Crime Prevention and Social Justice (JCPS) cluster, we need to ensure the
implementation of the co-ordination strategy within the entire province,
including operationalising it at local level where most of the problems exists.
Furthermore, we have to develop an integrated communication strategy for the
provincial Criminal Justice System cluster to assist in improving and managing
communication between all departments and the public.
Moral Regeneration and Public Values and Education
The mobilisation of our masses, the capacitating of municipalities to deal
with crime, the strengthening of police stations, the optimisation of police
performance, the improvement of police conduct, and the strengthening and
co-ordination of the Criminal Justice System must be supported by the creation
of an environment that allows the RDP of the Soul to take place.
The prevailing moral climate within our communities, their attitudes towards
crime and their willingness to take individual and collective responsibility
for crime are critical in reducing tolerance and hence social crime levels.
What contributes to the social fabric crime of today is largely alcohol and
substance abuse where respect of life and property seems to have been lost over
the years.
Therefore, as part of a broad strategy of Moral Regeneration, we commit the
department to the development of a focused, needs-based public education
programme which aims to alter public attitudes and responses to crime and to
activities which support crime.
Furthermore, we commit the Department to the enhancement of crime awareness
in order to strengthen the development of strong community values and to
promote public awareness of victim empowerment of sectors prone to gender-based
violent crimes and victimisation.
Challenges
Honourable Speaker,
One of the key challenges not facing this department alone but the entire
nation is that whilst we motivate and capacitate members of the Police Service,
we are faced with individuals who conveniently choose to bad-mouth even good
policing exhibited by members of the Police Service on a daily basis. That
often leads to people having wrong perception about the Police Service, the
exaggeration and sensationalisation of crime levels and consequently the
undermining of South Africa's capability to hold the 2010 FIFA Soccer World
Cup.
As the provincial government in partnership with the masses of our
communities, we will continue to ensure that quality service delivery is not
compromised because of our strong belief that communities, residents, citizens,
tourists, 2010 soccer spectators, etc. deserve better treatment and must be
provided with such services irrespective of challenges.
Conclusion
Honourable Speaker,
It would really be improper of me to conclude my speech by not
acknowledging, just as the Premier observed in the 2007 State of the Province
Address that "crime is one of our greatest concerns."
Let me thank the Premier for her support to the department; all MECs for
their inputs and the entire criminal justice system. To the Chairpersons of the
JCPS cluster and the Portfolio Committee for Agriculture, Safety and Security,
Bo Rre Tate Makgoe le Pat Matosa respectively, I thank you for your unbiased
contribution to the building of a South Africa that is safe for its entire
people. May I also thank the Chairperson of the Provincial Police Board, Mr T.
Matuka; all provincial and Area Board members as well as other Community Police
Forum (CPF) members and every member of the community who joined the crusade of
fighting crime as volunteers or as police reservists.
Without the positive contribution from members of various Community Police
Forums and a number of non-governmental organisation (NGOs), faith-based
organisation (FBO), traditional leaders and healers, crime in our province
would be high.
To the business sector, agricultural unions and trade unions, thank you for
your participation and involvement in various crime prevention programmes and
projects in the province. To the Provincial Police Commissioner, senior police
management and all members of the Police Service; the Provincial Commissioner
for Correctional Services, Mr Modise and his team; Public Prosecutions
Directorate and the ICD Regional Head, Mr Kgamanyane and his team, thank you
for your commitment.
Let me again congratulate all those police members who recently received
prize awards for outstanding work performance; Mme Magobi R Mathibe (from
Matjhabeng Local Municipality) who received an award for being the Best
Community Police Forum (CPF) member in the province and our Free State Police
Soccer Team out-performed other police teams at the national soccer
tournament.
To members of the media, thank you for profiling and reporting about
successes and our shortcomings, our interaction has improved considerably and
must be sustained. I also wish to thank staff in my office and the entire
department. To members of my family, thank you for providing warmly support and
for your understanding.
Let us reclaim our streets from the criminals and keep the ideals of the
Freedom Charter alive and directional.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Public Safety, Security and Liaison, Free State
Provincial Government
17 March 2007
Source: Free State Provincial Government (http://www.fs.gov.za)
