Deputy Minister for Safety and Security, Susan Shabangu, MP, National
Assembly
22 May 2007
Madam Speaker
Honourable members of the extended Parliamentary Committee
Introduction
Social contact crimes
All over the world there are many instances where people who are usually
found in or are affected by the same social environment visit injury upon one
another. Partners in love relationships assault one another, mostly behind the
closed doors of the homes they share. Some fathers, uncles and brothers rape
their daughters, nieces and sisters.
Some drinking partners at various bars, taverns and shebeens pick up
arguments which graduate into cases of serious discord and assaults. The result
is usually death.
In the South African Police Service (SAPS) annual report for 2005/06 we
reported that the Crime Information Analysis Centre of the police analysed 9
623 dockets where they looked at among other things murder, rape and serious
and violent assault.
The survey revealed that murder victims in 81,5% cases knew who the killer
was. In 61,9% cases they knew the killer because they were relatives, friends
or acquaintances of the victim.
In the rape cases the victims knew the perpetrators in 75,9% cases. In 59,9%
instances the rapists were relatives, friends and acquaintances of the victims,
while those who seriously assaulted the victims were known to them in 89,1% of
cases and in 71,5% the attackers were relatives, friends and acquaintances of
the victims.
The overall average was 80% of serious and violent crime that happens
between people who know one another because they are relatives, friends or
acquaintances and will be found mostly in the same social milieu.
Most social crimes like the ones referred to in the survey are difficult to
prevent as they happen away from the public. The police in those circumstances
come in later when they investigate.
We should remember, therefore, what President Thabo Mbeki said in his State
of the Nation Address (SONA) this year, "Measures required to improve social
cohesion cannot be undertaken by government alone. We must, as South Africans,
speak together of freedom from want and from moral decay, and work to attain
the happiness that comes with it."
"I am certain that we shall all agree that working together to achieve the
happiness that comes with freedom applies equally to the challenge of dealing
with crime. Promoting peace and security will involve all people. It will build
on and expand the national drive for peace and combat the endemic violence
faced by communities with special attention to the various forms of violence to
which women are subjected."
It is a fact that the government and the SAPS will not be able to turn the
tide against crime if they work alone.
Criminologists, sociologists and other social scientists agree that socially
determined contact crime such as sexual offences (including rape), assault
[both grievous bodily harm (GBH) and common], murders and attempted murders
cannot be combated by means of conventional policing alone.
An integrated approach to combating these crimes should be followed. Police
agencies, other relevant government departments (e.g. justice, correctional
services, social development, housing, local authorities, etc),
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) especially those active in the religious
and cultural spheres and most importantly the communities themselves have to
work in a co-ordinated and systematic fashion to address the problem.
On our part we want to call on all people to participate in our campaign to
work Against Crime Together otherwise known as ACT in order to ensure that our
democratic right to safety and security is upheld in South Africa. They should
become police reservists supporting their local Community Policing Forum (CPF)
reporting criminal activity or the perpetrators of crime to the SAPS or by, for
example, simply saying no to receiving any proceeds from crime such as buying
stolen goods.
Levels of contact crime are further impacted upon by the generators of and
conditions conducive to crime such as urbanisation, unemployment and poverty,
growing material needs and the increasing abuse of alcohol and drugs.
Substance abuse
The levels of violence in crime are often associated with the aggressive
behaviour of people who are especially under the influence of drugs and
alcohol.
Drugs are expensive. Addicts, especially young unemployed people, resort to
crime to be able to feed the addiction. They steal goods from shops, homes and
vehicles to sell off for money to buy the drugs. Some render themselves open to
sexual exploitation to get some income to satisfy their craving.
Drugs are also a commodity involved in many organised crime transactions.
There are at least some indications that drugs are linked to e.g. carjacking,
the plunder of our marine resources especially abalone along the coast between
Cape Town and Port Elizabeth and theft of precious metals, gem stones and gold
dust.
Prevention
Social crime prevention is the focal point for the creation of a crime free
environment in law enforcement and policing. Of vital importance is the
understanding of the nature and causes of social crime.
Child protection
To protect our children we must reintroduce the primacy in our homes of
moral judgment and the promotion of social values that must rebuild our
dysfunctional families that expose children to violence and crime through
domestic violence, child abuse and other forms of assault on the spiritual base
of the children.
The following programmes were initiated to facilitate safety nets for
children and prevent their involvement in crime.
The children living in streets project in the Western Cape also facilitates
the eventual reintegration of homeless children into their families. An Indoor
Skills and Development Centre was also established in Woodstock to provide
these homeless children with skills.
During the last financial year capacity building sessions were conducted for
SAPS members in the various provinces to build networks of service
providers.
The pilot project should provide lessons for sound practices for the better
management of children living in streets.
The experience gained from the Woodstock Centre has been a good building
block for us to expand to other provinces.
The SAPS therefore will continue to participate in exercises to develop and
implement awareness campaigns that make communities, parents and other care
givers to pay attention to the security of children.
SAPS are playing a key role in the reduction of commercial sexual
exploitation of children in Tshwane was developed and consultations with other
role players have been conducted for implementation in the course of the year.
Other role players include the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Department
of Social Development and Street Kids Alliance. The latter is a coalition of
NGOs working in the shelter, child welfare societies and other related
environments within the sector.
Other projects
The SAPS is involved in other projects with various stakeholders that are
designed to keep children away from crime.
More youth co-ordinators have been appointed by SAPS
To raise children's and young people's awareness of crime generators that
can ensnare them.
A joint action plan between the national Department of Education and SAPS
aimed at improving safety at schools is being developed. This should address
not only the security control and infra-structural challenges of schools but
also the management of challenges such as bullying, carrying and use of
dangerous weapons, gangs, substance abuse and other criminal actions. The
programme will be implemented fully this year.
We welcome and support the proposed legislation on random searches and
seizures in schools.
Gender-based violence and victim empowerment
The SAPS participated in the development of the national programme of action
for 365 days of no-violence against women and children. This includes all
activities taken by police for the prevention, management, service provision on
rape, domestic violence, child abuse and victim empowerment. In the past year,
improved involvement of men in gender based violence awareness rising has been
evident. Partnerships have been strengthened with traditional leaders, men as
partners, religious community and others impacting on value development for
preventative purposes. Civil society in the form of NGOs working in the sector
is a large aspect of the partnership.
Other programmes in the SAPS include Women's Network, Operation Basadi and
Operation Sondlo.
Employee assistance services
The mental and social health of members of the SAPS enjoys special attention
by the Ministry and the police. The operational demands of policing and the
traumatic experiences that are an upshot in many instances of the operational
conditions under which the police serve, require a lot of empathy and
sensitivity towards the members.
The environment we create for the workers must always, therefore, respond
sensitively and humanely to the special circumstances of each employee.
The employee assistance service was established to respond to the traumas of
policing.
The employee assistance service is a dynamic, multi disciplinary
co-ordinated and integrated tool for the improvement of the mental and social
functioning and work performance of employees in an affirming and
non-discriminatory approach.
It does the following:
1. offer support to all employees who encounter personal, emotional,
psychological or behavioural concerns that detrimentally affect their work
attendance and or job performance
2. promote timeous intervention and support to employees
3. promote healthy work relationships.
Employee assistance service's programmes inter alia include the following,
'a more intensified approach has been adopted to promote the well-being of
employees, especially with regard to trauma debriefing and suicide
prevention.'
Issued by: Secretariat for Safety and Security
22 May 2007
