T Mhlahlo: Nelson Mandela Bay Operation Coca launch

22 October 2007

"Promoting Safety and Security for All"

Let me first take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude for this
practical collaboration between the provincial government through the
Department of Safety and Liaison, the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro and our law
enforcement agencies in an effort to clean our community.

Our approach derives from the noble principles of co-operative government
and intergovernmental relations as highlighted in the Constitution of South
Africa, which clearly states that all spheres of government and all organs of
state within each sphere must preserve peace, national unity and indivisibility
of the Republic.

It is when we work together as various spheres of government and our social
partners that we can be able to successfully combat crime in our society.
We believe that through effective integrated law enforcement operations, great
achievements can be made in this province.

This approach of integration and co-ordination of our work gives more weight
to our strategies, as we continue to embark on our programme of action to
change the lives of our people for the better. It augurs well with our Battle
Plan Against Crime for Peace, which we launch this year here in Port Elizabeth.
This plan complements the Provincial Crime Prevention Strategy (PCPS) and
encourages a multi-agency collaboration as an imperative in the fight against
crime.

Through this plan, we have set ourselves clear targets, as we would like to
maintain a decreasing crime trend up to 2010 of between 12 percent and 18
percent which will be conducive for stabilising high incidents of contact
crimes, which includes murder, common robbery, rape and assault.

Local crime prevention

Today, we are taking this multi-agency collaboration to another level, where
the local sphere of government plays a central role in crime prevention.

For a long time, this sphere of government has been absent in the crime
combating initiatives, which left a huge gap in our strategies, especially in
dealing with social crime.

I would like to commend the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality for this bold
step and commit the Ministry for Safety, Liaison, Roads and Transport and the
South African Police Services (SAPS) that we will continue to work together in
a quest to win back the streets of this City from the hands of criminals.

Today, we are making a public call for assistance from members of the public
in our search for criminals who have been in our "Most Wanted" list for a long
time. People can give us information through our toll free number 086 001
0111.

The Department of Safety and Liaison has identified 17 municipalities in the
province for the rollout of Community Safety Forums (CSFs) and the Nelson
Mandela Bay is one of them.

These CSFs are vehicles to implement the PCPS at local government level and
ensure that crime prevention is perceived as a service. This intervention will
make a meaningful contribution to strengthening social cohesion and moral
regeneration in the province. That necessitates commitment by municipalities
and communities to ensure that CSFs form an integral part of their Integrated
Development Plans, which would further strengthen co-ordination between the
spheres of government.

2010 Federation International Football Association (Fifa) World Cup

As we prepare for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, we are equally charged with a
responsibility of ensuring that our people and visitors enjoy this historic
moment. If we talk of an African World Cup, we need to attend to issues of
safety and security in our townships today in order to ensure that all parts of
the Eastern Cape province are accessible to all visitors and create a
crime-free environment for all our people.

Discussions are at an advanced stage between the Department of Safety and
Liaison, the Department of Labour and the Security Skills Education Training
Authority (Seta) in an effort to mobilise resources for training of 5 000
community patrol volunteers in preparation for the 2010 Fifa World Cup with a
particular focus on crowd control.

I would like to invite business support for this initiative in order to
sustain the project until 2010 in order to pave way for peace and stability
during the tournament.

In an effort to concretise our strategies, the Department of Safety and
Liaison, will host a Safety and Security Summit for 2010 on 1 to 2 November
2007 at Coega Village, here in Port Elizabeth.

The objectives of the summit are:

* to facilitate processes whereby all relevant stakeholders, in particular
the law enforcement agencies and the Criminal Justice System, develop
appropriate and holistic security plans in an integrated and systematic
manner
* to develop a volunteer strategy for communities to contribute to the safety
and security of the tournament and beyond
* development of an integrated Provincial Safety and Security Plan, which
includes the role of local government.

Traffic law enforcement

This "Operation Coca" further complements our Arrive Alive Campaign, which
is a continuous and tactical programme designed to achieve effective practical
co-operation between the three spheres of government in all ongoing road
traffic and road safety management.

As we prepare for the 2007/08 holiday season, our Arrive Alive Plan will
endeavour to provide a seamless, national enforcement plan that responds to the
demands of prevailing circumstances in an effective way.

The focal areas this year will, amongst other things, be alcohol abuse,
which is one of the areas of focus in this Operation Coca. The Department of
Roads and Transport has purchased a Booze Bus with all the necessary equipment
to prosecute drunken drivers at a cost of R1,7 million. This bus is expected
later next month.

All those, who have been caught driving under the influence of alcohol, will
be reported to the Asset Forfeiture Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority
for consideration of their vehicles to be forfeited to the State.

In conclusion, I would like to once more express my sincere gratitude to the
municipality and our law enforcement agencies for this collaboration and wish
you all the best in this operation.

I would like to further call upon organs of civil society, which include
churches, sport bodies, youth structures, women's organisations, business,
community-based organisation and non governmental organisations to support our
endeavours in this mammoth task of fighting crime in this Metro.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Safety, Liaison, Roads and Transport, Eastern Cape
Provincial Government
22 October 2007