Safety and Liaison in the Eastern Cape
15 March 2007
Madam Speaker
Honourable Premier
Honourable Members
Distinguished guests
People of the Eastern Cape
Today we are presenting our policy from a solid foundation in order to
discharge our collective energy for the realisation of the objective of the
Freedom Charter, which will be celebrating its 52 year since that historic
declaration by all our people, who constituted a torchbearer of the evolution
of the South African revolution.
It was on that occasion that a determination of the kind of future was
formulated as concluded in the Freedom Charter that:
"The people of South Africa declared for all our country and the world to know
that;
* South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no
government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of the
people
* our people have been robbed of their birthright to land, liberty and peace by
a form of government founded on injustice and inequality
* our country will never be prosperous or free until all our people live in
brotherhood, enjoying equal rights and opportunities
* only a democratic state, based on the will of all the people, can secure to
all their birthright without distinction of colour, race, sex or belief
* and therefore, we, the people of South Africa, black and white together
equals, countrymen and brothers adopt this Freedom Charter
* and we pledge ourselves to strive together, sparing neither strength nor
courage, until the democratic changes here set out have been won."
Madam Speaker, possibilities of realisation of the Provincial Growth and
Development Plan (PGDP) targets will be determined by promotion of peace and
security and the involvement of all our people in our fight against crime. It
remains our responsibility to create an enabling environment and to encourage
investment into our province.
Since 24 March 2006, a day and time I presented the departmentâs policy in
this House, the following tasks were undertaken by the department:
* A provincial youth conference was convened in June 2006 as a platform to
mobilise young people in the fight against crime.
* An all inclusive march against crime with all our people, both black and
white, was organised in Port Elizabeth Central area in May 2006.
* A youth in music festival was held as part of June 16 celebrations in 2006 in
New Brighton, Port Elizabeth.
* Youth in sport against crime football tournament was held in June 2006 in
Mdantsane.
* Safety of the Elderly Awareness in Willowmore was convened in November
2006
* Boxing Against Crime Project was introduced in February 2007 in Duncan
Village. A quarterly programme will follow in the new financial year.
* A delegation of students from different high schools within the Nelson
Mandela Metro were exposed to inmatesâ experiences at St Albans Correctional
Centre in February 2007
* Imbizo on Safety and Security in Schools in February in Gelvandale.
* Gospel Against Crime in March 2007 in Port Elizabeth Northern Areas.
In an effort to mobilise support from taverns, night clubs and shebeensâ
owners against crime, a workshop will be held on 19 March 2007 in Port
Elizabeth in partnership with the Eastern Cape Liquor Board and South African
Breweries.
This year will see an on-going basis supporting and promoting awareness
programmes on crimes against women and children throughout the year, with
further intensification during the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against
Women and Children.
The democratic stateâs intention is to develop a collaborative security
community, which is founded on common democratic values and observance of human
rights.
Human security remains a building block for the democratic state to ensure
total emancipation of our people as it assists in preventing conflict, reducing
poverty and creating freedom from fear.
Our strategic goal is to secure a condition, where human security is matched
by issues of development, co-operation and peace in line with the vision of the
Provincial Growth and Development Plan of making the Eastern Cape a compelling
place to live, work and invest in.
Our approach to achieving this is to consolidate past experiences and
mobilise a great army of volunteers to defend and build our communities and
develop a society that works together in pursuit of happiness that comes with
freedom.
Madam Speaker
It is 25 kilometres away from this House, a place where the late Mapetla Mohapi
was killed 31 years ago and 10 kilometres from this House lay in cold the body
and remains of the late Comrade Steve Tshwete, who passed away five years ago,
12 kilometres away, the bodies and remains of the late Mr and Mrs Mxenge, who
both died in the hands of apartheid machinery.
Of course Madam Speaker, less than a kilometre away from this House, 42 of
our people were massacred and the main machine gunner was positioned on top of
the roof of this Honourable House, which is today our Peopleâs Assembly.
Eight kilometres away, the remains of the late Steve Bantu Biko will be
marking 30 years since he was killed in 1977. This house would recall that last
year, in commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Student Uprising of 1976,
the Department of Safety and Liaison paid a befitting tribute to this gallant
revolutionary by visiting the cell at Walmer Police Station, which was the last
place he was detained at and subsequently killed by the apartheid police.
Honourable Members, we have since traversed a long and challenging road to
attain many of the objectives for which previous generations struggled like
those very brutal actions of the police that killed Steve Biko and many other
friends and comrades in struggle.
Of course today we are talking of a police service that upholds the
Constitution and embraces human rights and promotes community-police
relations.
This year, we will be celebrating 11 years of Community Police Forums (CPF)
in this province and South Africa as a whole.
To honour this achievement, we will be hosting a provincial celebration in
Mthatha in May 2007.
Since the inception of these forums, visible and decisive advances have been
made in building good working relations between the Police and Communities and
further to oversee the Police Service in relation to carrying out its mandate
of service delivery to its Communities.
Madam Speaker, amongst us in this House is the new CPF Provincial Board led
by Mr Ray Maqhutyana. This is the leadership core of the "great army of
volunteers", who selflessly commit themselves to working with the police and
promoting community-police relations in this province.
Government will continue to provide leadership in the fight against crime,
but effective crime fighting depends on partnerships between our law
enforcement agencies and communities.
We, therefore, call upon all citizens to contribute towards making their
communities safer through Community Policing Forums (CPFs). In this way, each
person can help in the construction of a society where human life has equal
worth.
In this yearâs State of the Nation Address, President Thabo Mbeki made a
clarion call on all citizens to promote peace and security and combat the
endemic violence faced by communities with special attention to the various
forms of violence to which women are subject.
Community Policing:
To strengthen our CPFs, we have implemented a uniform election procedure. As I
pronounced last year, an amount of R1 million has been spent on capacitating
and training CPFs in the fight against crime.
This training focused on the roles and responsibilities and the development
of local crime prevention plans.
This year will see further training and capacitation of CPFs in order to
reposition them to respond promptly to the new social crime prevention
strategies.
An amount of R2 million will be set aside to support CPFs and our programme
of extensive mass mobilisation of communities against crime.
As part of our Safety and Security Month Programme, the Department held a
successful CPF Indaba, which was attended by CPF members and police from all
stations in the province.
A solid foundation to both, strengthen our CPFs and culture of democratic
practice was established through democratic elections with a uniform election
procedure. We have managed to consolidate our community police forums in the
Eastern Cape. All 190 police stations were represented in that indaba.
We have collectively agreed to promote moral regeneration and ubuntu to
further restore family and community values. We will continue to assist our
people who have been in conflict with the law, particularly the youth and women
within the context of restorative justice. We will further continue to promote
multi-agency collaboration against crime.
South African Police Service (SAPS) transformation:
Honourable Members, the department continued with its task of transforming the
SAPS by strengthening its civilian oversight function of SAPS to realise the
following:
* enlistment of 810 entry level constables and 55 Public Service Act
Personnel
* 847 Vehicles were purchased for the province at a cost of R99 million
* infrastructure improvement expenditure at police stations amounted to R134
million. This was spent on stations such as the new Motherwell Police Station,
Sterkspruit, Provincial Headquarters, Sulenkama, Graaf-Reinet shooting range,
Bulembu air wing.
Madam Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to invite all
Honourable Members to the official opening of the new SAPS Provincial
Headquarters in Zwelitsha on the 30 of March 2007.
* Capacity building and skills development saw 1 798 police members trained
in various courses like CAS, Domestic Violence, Investigation of Crime, Human
Rights and Policing, Crime Prevention, Victim Empowerment and Advance Crime
Scene Management.
On that note Madam Speaker, afford me the opportunity to introduce to the
house and the Honourable Members our new Provincial Commissioner, Commissioner
Mpumelelo Landu who is with us today.
Honourable Members, the Departmentâs flagship programme of Support to
Policing of Crimes Against Women and Children in the Eastern Cape funded by the
European Union has seen a remarkable progress in implementation. Of the 25
projects currently managed through this programme, 12 have been completed and
13 are in progress.
Some key highlights were:
* the development and adoption of the Provincial Crime Prevention Strategy
(PCPS)
* the development of a "One-Stop Model" for victim empowerment, which was
recently approved by Cabinet
* the upgrading of 27 Community Service Centres to improve service delivery at
station level.
Honourable Members, the levels of crime, particularly contact crimes depict
a 6,3% decrease in comparison with the same period in the preceding year. Over
the last three years there has been a steadily decreasing trend. If the current
trend persists up to 2010 one can probably foresee a decreasing trend of
between 12% and 18% which will be conducive for stabilising high incidents of
contact crimes.
The following crime types depict decreases varying from 4%-16%. These crimes
are murder, common robbery, rape and assault.
I can assure this house that law enforcement agencies will continue to
further reduce these crime levels.
Through effective integrated law enforcement operations the following
successes were achieved:
* 58 571 priority crime arrests
* 86 987 arrests for other crimes
* 427 790 goods confiscated
* 354 965 vehicles searched
* 10 026 298 drugs were confiscated
* 2212 cordon searches.
All these operations resulted in decreasing crime in general.
As we continue to make our society safer, through the regulation of
firearms, we have seen 3 169 firearms confiscated by SAPS and 867 handed in
voluntarily.
In undertaking this task, sometimes the custodians of law enforcement pay
the ultimate price.
During the 2006/07 period, 14 SAPS members were killed, eight of them while
they were on duty. We pay tribute to these members for their selfless efforts
to serve and protect our communities.
SAPS restructuring
Madam Speaker, I pronounced during my last Policy Speech that SAPS would be
disbanding its police area offices in favour of strengthening service delivery
at local police station level. I am glad to report that this process was
completed during February 2007.
This restructuring process will see the clustering of police stations in the
province into 28 clusters, which will further increase resources of both
personnel and vehicles at station level.
Departmental Staffing Plans
To ensure effective oversight of the SAPS, the department has seen a growth of
personnel from 47% to 90% over the last financial year. This growth included
all posts filled at district level as per the organogram. The department is
still engaged in negotiations with institutions of higher learning to develop a
departmental specific training course focusing on monitoring and oversight and
crime prevention.
Recognising the importance of information technology and information
management to effective governance, the department has now established a
Departmental Government Information Technology Office (DGITO). The DGITO unit
will strengthen the oversight mandate of the department over SAPS
through:
* connectivity of district offices
* upgrading of the departmental website
* development of an electronic Complaints Management System
* optimal utilisation of the Geographic Information System.
To meet its growth requirements the department has reviewed its organogram.
The coming year will see the upgrading of district manager posts from Assistant
Director to Deputy Director and the appointment of another General Manager.
Honourable Members, the department recognises the Performance Management and
Development System (PMDS) as a valuable mechanism to monitor performance and I
can assure this house that by the beginning of the financial year all staff
would have signed PMDS contracts.
On that note Madam Speaker, allow me to introduce the new Head of
Department, Mr Bashir Hoosain, who has a task to drive the above programme.
Crime Prevention:
Madam Speaker, our commitment to making the Eastern Cape a compelling place to
work, live and invest in, is still a priority as we strengthen our efforts to
bring about peace and stability in the province.
Our PCPS remains our guiding document for multi-agency collaboration against
crime.
To achieve this, we will continue to:
* strengthen the partnership between government, business, the private security
industry, civil society and communities in combating crime
* mobilise communities in social crime prevention
* engage the Criminal Justice System to expedite cases
* promote integration of law enforcement agencies during operations
* strengthen our oversight role over SAPS.
This coming year, we will continue to implement an "extensive mass
mobilisation" programme together with our law enforcement agenciesâ partners
with the aim of:
* reduction of contact crimes
* increased visibility of SAPS through operations
* capacitation and training of CPFs so that they are equipped to carry out
their mandate and be engaged in sustainable crime prevention programmes
targeting youth and women.
In an attempt to make 2007 a "Year of Massive Mobilisation Against Crime"
and pave the way for a crime free 2010 FIFA World Cup, the issues of Safety and
Security must be high on our agenda.
The Department of Safety and Liaison will engage the Department of Labour
and the relevant Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) to train
community patrol volunteers.
In consultation with CPFs, municipalities identified for 2010 FIFA World Cup
and the Eastern Cape Youth Commission; the Department will mobilise the youth
to participate in this initiative.
In an effort to concretise our strategies, the department will host a Safety
and Security Summit for 2010 in September 2007, which will serve as a launching
pad for our offensive against crime in the province.
On that note Madam Speaker, I would like to introduce one my special guests
in this house, Mr Linda Mti, who has been tasked to head Safety and Security
for the World Cup. We will work together to ensure that the Eastern Cape
presents a crime-free tournament.
Realising the value of education in our society and the obligation of the
department to ensure Safety and Security in schools, we will be implementing
the Safer Schools Strategy in partnership with the Department of Education as
outlined by the Premier in her State of the Province Address.
To realise this, the two departments will host a Summit on Safety and
Security in Schools, in June 2007. The targeted areas will amongst others
include the Nelson Mandela Metro, Buffalo City and King Sabata Dalindyebo.
Great strides have already been taken with the implementation of the
Provincial Crime Prevention Strategy which was adopted by the Executive Council
in 2005 and launched in October 2006.
To monitor the effective implementation of the strategy a multi-agency
provincial steering committee has been established.
As part of realising the key focus areas of the PCPS the department has
embarked on the following crime prevention and awareness programmes mobilising
youth, woman and children against crime.
This year will see us on an ongoing basis supporting and promoting awareness
programs on crimes against women & children throughout the year, with
further intensification during the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against
Women and Children.
In strengthening working relationships with local government and ensuring
that it fulfils its Safety and Security role, the department will be supporting
and assisting identified municipalities with the rollout of Community Safety
Forums (CSFs), particularly the Nelson Mandela Bay, Buffalo City and King
Sabata Dalindyebo, which have been earmarked for 2010 World Cup.
These CSFs are vehicles to implement the PCPS at local government level and
realise what the Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa, Mrs Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka, said that crime prevention "must be seen as a service".
We call upon all municipalities in the Eastern Cape to ensure that CSFs form
an integral part of their Integrated Development Plans, which would further
strengthen co-ordination between the spheres of government.
Our approach derives from the principles of co-operative government and
intergovernmental relations as highlighted in the Constitution of South Africa,
which clearly state that all spheres of government and all organs of state
within each sphere, must preserve the peace, national unity and indivisibility
of the Republic.
Honourable Members, the above interventions and activities will make a
meaningful contribution to strengthening social cohesion and moral regeneration
in the province.
Monitoring and Civilian Oversight:
Madam Speaker, as we move to strengthen our oversight function of SAPS in the
fight against crime, this year will see continued improvements in SAPS service
delivery to our communities through:
* enlistment of an estimated 1800 entry level constables and 200 public service
act personnel
* the purchase of approximately 850 vehicles valued at R110 million
* infrastructure improvements of SAPS police stations by an amount of R67,5
million focusing on Mdantsane NU1, Debe Nek, Cradock, Buffalo Flats, Mpisi,
Hlababomvu and Elliot.
As part of monitoring the effectiveness of the police service and its
transformation programme, this year will see the department focusing on:
* implementation of a monitoring tool at 40 police stations
* continue to oversee transformation in SAPS by focusing on equity, discipline,
resource allocation, training, and procurement practices
* promoting and mobilising communities against crime to improve the moral fibre
of our society
* enhancing the New Partnership for Africa's Development programme by promoting
good relationships with our neighbouring countries to jointly reduce crime in
Africa (e.g. Cross Border challenges with Lesotho)
* participating in the national task team of the department of safety and
security to review the Police Act
We will continue to improve the co-ordination of the Criminal Justice System
through fostering closer working relationship between the Eastern Cape
Development Committee and the provincial government through the Social Needs
Cluster.
We will finalise the decentralisation of the structure to local level and
align the committeeâs work with other community structures, including CPFs.
The committeeâs focus this year will be on child justice with more emphasis
on accelerating cases involving women and children within the criminal justice
system.
We will further adopt a procedure for a fast-tracked court system, which we
will use in tourism strategies as well as 2010.
As we prepare to make 2010 FIFA World a crime-free event, a community court
has been established in the Nelson Mandela Metro, which will be followed by
another one in Ngangelizwe in Mthatha and Mdantsane in Buffalo City.
A database of reparations and a rehabilitation programme of the Truth and
Reconciliation Council is being updated for the province by a joint task team
comprising the Departments of Justice and Constitutional Development, Social
Development and Safety and Liaison.
Correctional Services:
Honourable Members would recall that the Honourable Minister of Correctional
Services, Mr Ngconde Balfour, gave a mandate to oversee the operations of the
Department of Correctional Services in the Eastern Cape.
Visible and decisive advances have been made by this department in ensuring
that our correctional centres, indeed, become "Places of New Beginnings"
through:
* The reclassification of the Middledrift Correctional Centre from a Maximum
Security to a Medium Security Centre. The main aim was to ensure sufficient
labour for the agricultural project, which entails a 20 million piggery and
layer project.
* Centralisation of female offenders to two Centres of Excellence in East
London Medium C and Queenstown, as well as Port Elizabeth Correctional Centre.
This has resulted in a distinct drop in sentencing of female offenders, which
has resulted in some of our centres not being optimally utilised for
rehabilitation.
* Various partnerships with non-governmental organisations (NGOs), amongst
others focusing on alcohol and drug programmes to the youth at some of the
Centres of Excellence.
* Vezekhule Youth Project aimed at rehabilitation as a centre of youth
activities
* On-going HIV-Aids prevention and treatment programmes, which resulted in the
accreditation of the St Albans Correctional Centre as an Anti-Retroviral
Site.
As part of on-going transformation of correctional services, a multi-agency
collaboration with various stakeholders, including other government
departments, NGOs, community-based structures and faith-based organisations, is
encouraged.
Conclusion:
Madam Speaker and Honourable Members, work has begun to improve the safety and
security of our people. We will ensure that our programmes to strengthen our
offensive against crime are implemented.
To achieve this, effective organisation, mobilisation and leadership of the
mass of law enforcement, intelligence, correctional officers and functionaries
of the justice system, will be monitored.
The overwhelming majority of these public servants have proven over and over
again in actual practice that they are prepared to put their lives on the line
and to sacrifice, even the little quality time they could have with their
families, in defence of our freedom and security.
Madam Speaker, allow me to present our programme of action, which is
embraced by all relevant stakeholders to strengthen our partnership in the
fight against crime.
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Safety and Liaison, Eastern Cape Provincial
Government
15 March 2007
