T Mbeki: South African Police Service Radio Communication Centre opening
ceremony

29 October 2007

Minister of Safety and Security, Charles Nqakula
National Commissioner, Jackie Selebi
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Altech, Mr Craig Venter
Esteemed members of our police service
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

I am glad to address you today at this important initiative in our fight
against crime and wish to thank all the partners for their practical commitment
to this task as seen through this Radio Communication Centre. In the past two
weeks our nation has, through the cruel hand of crime, lost an able artist, a
mentor, a role model and a doting father and family man, Lucky Dube.

Once again, on behalf of government, I would like to convey our condolences
to the Dube family and to all other families that have experienced losses of
loved ones to violent crime. The tragic events such as the cold-blooded murder
of Lucky Dube remind all of us of the urgency with which we have to act and
work hard to defeat the criminals.

Today as we launch the South Africa Police Service (SAPS) Radio
Communication Centre for Gauteng, we usher in a new era in crime-fighting
across the nation and vow to increase our efforts towards addressing this
challenge. Similar facilities are about to be opened in KwaZulu-Natal and the
Eastern Cape and soon others will be opened in other parts of the country. I
really would like to use this occasion to make a call to the SAPS, at all
levels, particularly at the local level to do serious introspection about their
work and ask themselves critical questions, such as: are we doing enough to
reduce crime in our areas?

What are we doing about criminals that we know operate in the areas under
our control? Do we pretend we do not know criminals that sell drugs to our
youth when we have sufficient information for us to act? What do we do to
officers that engage in corruption in our presence, such as those who take
bribes and ensure that dockets are lost?

I know of areas where communities report visible progress with regard to the
reduction of crime, because the station commissioners do their work as they
should, lead by example, work hard against corruption in their ranks and work
with communities to fight crime. But I also get reports of police stations
where victims of crime are treated with contempt, where police officers show no
urgency in attending to reports of crime and officers behave as if they are
doing victims of crime a favour when serving them.

Obviously this misconduct must come to an end. We need a renewed sense of
duty among all police-officers. The crime that is affecting our people should
tell all of us that things cannot be treated as normal that extra efforts are
needed at all levels of the police service to deal decisively with crime.
Indeed, there are good plans to ensure that we continue to improve the work of
the criminal justice system. But these plans will come to nothing if, as
individual police officers, we lack enough resolve, commitment and
determination to take the fight to the criminals.

I am told that this technologically advanced facility is on par with similar
systems in many developed nations. Not only does this state-of-the-art
technology promise to address the defects of the previous system, it also
provides previously unheard of features that will improve, among other things,
the intra-provincial co-ordination efforts of SAPS and the constant monitoring
of active officers.

Already this advanced technological measure of fighting crime in our country
is further proof of our determination as a country effectively to uproot crime
from our society. We cannot rest until our communities are free from fear of
attacks, robberies, murder, rape, robbery, women and child abuse as well as
drugs.

I wish to remind the people of Gauteng of the importance of working with the
SAPS to bring about conditions of safety in our society. A facility of this
nature, the 10 111 call centre number, is key in improving the efficacy of the
SAPS.

It is our shared responsibility, not just that of government to bring
criminals to justice. There are instances when criminals are our brothers and
sisters; when they are our neighbours and our friends and relatives; they live
down the road from our homes. All it takes is for moral courage to work
together with the police to take the fight to the criminals. The SAPS is
confident that with this new system, vehicles will be able to respond to calls
faster because the call centre agents are now able to deploy officers who are
closest to the scene of the crime.

I would like to take this opportunity once more to urge community members to
speak and act out against violence against women and children when they witness
it in their communities. This new call centre is being made available for
precisely these kinds of emergencies. May the number 10 111 forever be
synonymous with "help" in the minds of all South Africans?

To the new team who will be staffing this new call centre, traversing
troubled waters and rooting out injustice, I wish you all the best. Yours is a
heavy responsibility. But I trust that you are driven by the joy that comes
from knowing that today you saved a life. The sense of purpose you must have is
unmatched in any other vocation. May you continue to bring light and life into
the lives of the people you assist!

I want to also thank those whose vision and foresight have brought us here
today. I wish you all the success in this new venture, confident that we will
begin to experience the positive impact of this facility in the near future. I
declare this SAPS Radio Communication Centre for Gauteng open.

I thank you.

Issued by: South African Police Service
29 October 2007
Source: South African Police Service (http://www.saps.gov.za)