C Nqakula: Parliamentary media briefing, February 2006

9 February 2006

Introduction

Our cluster has two sets of priorities – those that are ongoing from our
10-year strategic plan and those that will be carried out this year. These
priorities will be a further contribution to what the President has depicted as
a growing public confidence in government’s capacity to lead in the creation of
a united, non-racial, non-sexist, South Africa, steeped in the greatest tenets
of democracy and opportunity and prosperity for all. In the previous year,
significant successes were scored in the creation of a just, safer and more
secure environment for all including the reduction of key categories of crimes
and the strengthening of the criminal justice system. This paved the way
towards our ultimate goal – to create conditions for peace and stability in our
country.

We continue to be seized on the three priorities of better crime prevention
and public safety, the strengthening of the criminal justice system and
improvement of our national security.

Special Tasks and Priorities
There are a number of special tasks we have to attend to arising from the
President’s State of the Nation Address last Friday.

President Machel
The death on 19 October 1986, of Mozambique’s President Samora Machel who died,
together with 24 others, in a plane crash at Mbuzini in Mpumalanga was among
special tasks that the President placed on the agenda of the peace and security
organs of our country.

He raised the death of President Machel when he was talking about
anniversaries we will commemorate this year, particularly those that he said
would serve “to emphasise the bonds that tie us to the rest of the world”. And
talking about President Machel he said he died a violent death “in a plane
crash that still requires a satisfactory explanation.”

Quite clearly, the President, our Commander-in-Chief, was asking for a
reopening of the investigation of that death. Our law enforcement agencies are
going to develop a strategy to deal with the matter. The investigation will be
reopened and will include co-operation with the law enforcement agencies of
Mozambique.

We will deploy the best available resources, human and material, to deal
with the matter. We owe it to the people of Mozambique who assisted our
liberatory forces to topple apartheid and install the democratic dispensation
that we have.

Outstanding Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Matters
The President also referred to issues relating to the TRC’s report that was
tabled in Parliament on 15 April 2003. At that session the President had made
it clear that outstanding matters from the TRC process would not necessitate
another amnesty process and that there would be no general amnesty.

What would happen, therefore, would be a process that the President spelt
out as follows:

“The National Directorate of Public Prosecutions, working with our
intelligence agencies, will leave its doors open for those who are prepared to
divulge information at their disposal and to co-operate in unearthing the truth
for them to enter into arrangements that are standard in the normal execution
of justice and which are accommodated in our legislation.”

What this means is that, anybody who has information about gross violations
of human rights over the period that was covered by the TRC, would have to
submit that information to the law enforcement agencies en route to the courts
to tell their story.

Victims of human rights violations would be accorded space to participate in
those court processes.

The President wants our cluster to finalise all outstanding reparations to
victims of human rights violations; deal with perpetrators who did not get
amnesty and find all persons who went missing as victims of human rights
violations.

We will expedite our work to bring to a close all outstanding matters from
the TRC process and finally help bring closure to the chapter in our history
when there was bloodletting, torture and other instances of human rights
violations.

Justice and Constitutional Development is the lead department on this
question, working closely with Intelligence and Safety and Security.

Local Government Elections

Our cluster has finalised plans for securing the forthcoming Local
Government election, to be held on 1 March 2006. Cabinet has endorsed our
proposals for the deployment of personnel and material resources needed for the
election.

Our intelligence services have been doing a scan over some time to do a
prognosis for the election to facilitate the deployment of resources. We can
report, therefore, that our security services are ready to provide all
necessary protection to the voters, Electoral Commission (IEC) human and
material resources and the voting stations. They will create, therefore, the
necessary conditions for a free and fair election.

The security services will apply the law stringently in the creation of
conditions of peace and security relevant to the election. In the
circumstances, they will create an atmosphere for safety and security before,
during and after the election.

A committee has been established nationally that is comprised of the IEC,
South African Police Service (SAPS), South African National Defence Force
(SANDF), National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee (NICOC), National
Intelligence Agency (NIA), Department of Home Affairs, Department of Provincial
and Local Government and the Demarcation Board. A security strategy has been
articulated to cover all 18 971 voting stations.

Crime Prevention & Public Safety

Capacity
The past three years saw a marked increase in the number of appointments of
various members of the peace and security cluster. The NIA trained a total of
300 Security Managers in the various departments. More people are being
identified for training as Security Managers as part of our ongoing
programme.

The Security Managers are responsible for information security in the
various departments. A Security Managers Forum meets on a bi-monthly basis.

The JCPS has established a Human Resource Study Task Team to investigate the
“knock-on effect” on the other Departments in the cluster given the rise in the
numbers of the police who join the SAPS and the increased rate of arrests of
criminals. As a consequence of better investigations more cases go to our
courts and more sentenced offenders go to our correctional detention
centres.

To deal with that type of a problem the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)
will employ more personnel in addition to the 2 187 prosecutors and 196 senior
public prosecutors that it has who deal with criminal cases in the lower
courts. This should be understood in the context that the NPA handled last year
approximately a million cases.

The expansion of the work of the NPA presupposes the building of new courts
by the Department of Justice and the employment of more magistrates and
administrative support staff. This year 25 district courts will be opened and
15 regional court magistrates will be appointed.

Over the next three years 890 additional prosecutors posts will have to be
created which will allow for the deployment of at least two prosecutors per
court.

The complements of the departments of Correctional Services and Safety and
Security were also increased last year. Correctional Services recruited an
additional 3 000 members while SAPS raised their numbers to 152 236. The
projection was that the personnel figures by the end of last year would be 148
970 and it was hoped that those numbers would increase to 156 060 this year,
158 000 by 2007 and 165 850 by the end of March 2008. Current indications are
that those targets will be met.

Police Reservist System
The police have redefined the system of police reservists among other things to
consolidate SAPS’ sector policing programme. The new system provides for four
categories of reservists, namely, Functional Policing, Support Services,
Specialised Functional Policing (pilots, divers, social workers) and rural and
urban sector policing

The main thrust of the revised system is to create a part-time professional
police service. The police reservists are being recruited from the communities
where they live. The system also provides for the call-up and payment of
reservists, based on the identified policing needs at provincial, area or
station level. The reservists will be paid only when they are called up and
according to their ranks.

Reduction of Firearms

The search for and confiscation of illegal firearms continues to inform our
project to reduce by seven and 10% the levels of serious and violent
crimes.

Since 11 July 2004 when the Firearms Control Act was implemented in its
entirety we have collected 144 639 firearms some of which were illegal (47 550)
while others were handed over to the police as part of the firearms
amnesty
(33 823) or were handed in voluntarily (63 266). We also collected 2 726 155
rounds of ammunition. A total of 151 769 firearms was destroyed. That number
included redundant and obsolete firearms.

A process of consultation was initiated last year with stakeholders in the
firearms industry to discuss some of the challenges that have arisen in the
implementation of the Firearms Control Act. The interactions are going to
continue in the search for answers to some of the problems.

Last year’s consultations helped in the effort to bring amendments to the
act with an amendment bill in the pipeline to serve before Cabinet soon.

Meanwhile an operational centre and a national firearms call centre were
established last year to deal with enquiries from the general public and
stakeholders in the industry.

Applications for the accreditation of various associations and organisations
have been coming thick and fast. The SAPS has finalised 884 accreditations of
11 sports shooting organisations, two hunting associations, nine collectors
associations, 192 outfitters and professional hunters, 305 training providers
and 241 shooting ranges.

More than 18 000 competency certificates have been issued.

Social Crime Prevention Measures
The SAPS conducted 30 education workshops last year focusing on violence
against women and children.

Meanwhile, the Department of Social Development has completed its task of
formulating a new National Drug Master Plan. The relevant document will be
submitted for approval soon to Cabinet. The Master Plan will inform
government’s response to the matter of drug and substance abuse which is one of
the biggest generators of social crime.

We have pegged our rehabilitation interventions at our correctional
facilities on the JCPS social crime prevention programme to deal, among other
things, with re-offending to break the cycle of crime in a profound way. 
From October 2005 to date six training sessions were held for Correctional
Centres of Excellence across the country on the offender rehabilitation path
outlined in the White Paper on Corrections. 

The programme seeks to entrench the new approach to corrections that, in a
systematic way handles the management of offenders from admission through
various needs-based rehabilitation and corrections programmes to social
reintegration.  The programme of building a new ethos in the delivery of
correctional services will be intensified in 2006.

Security

5.1 Capacity of Intelligence
The priority concern of the Intelligence Services is to safeguard our
constitutional democracy and ensure our sovereignty. Building capacity of the
Intelligence Services to play a greater role in supporting law enforcement
agencies to combat threats such as corruption, organised crime (drugs and
vehicle-related crime) and international terrorism are some of the ongoing
priorities for the Intelligence Services.

The priority to develop greater capacity is underpinned by a cross-cutting
programme to inculcate the value of respect for the rule of law and deepen the
understanding by members of the Intelligence Community the Constitutional
rights of citizens.

Legislation and Regulations
The Minister for Intelligence Services recently initiated a Review of
Intelligence legislation, internal regulations and operating procedures. Thus
far, the Review Committee has identified areas requiring attention with a view
to tightening the framework within which the Intelligence Services operate.

The Committee’s work also covers recommendations to incorporate the
envisaged replacement of the Minimum Information and Security Standards (MISS)
with the National Information Security Regulations (NISR). The NISR derives its
legitimacy from the National Strategic Intelligence Act and will address the
specific deficiencies experienced over the years with the MISS.

Office for Interception
The Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of
Communication-related Information Act 70 of 2002 were implemented last year. In
line with this the Office for Interception Centres is being established.

Consultation with law enforcement agencies is underway and it is expected
that the Office will be functional by July this year.

Oversight and control of this Centre resides with the Minister for
Intelligence Services, the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence and the
Inspector General. The Office will provide a service to all law enforcement
agencies thus alleviating duplication, pooling resources and limiting abuse of
this instrument.

International Intelligence Review
The International Intelligence Review Agencies Conference will be hosted in
South Africa in October 2006. The decision to host the event in South Africa is
an indication of the important role played by our country in developing more
effective oversight and control over Intelligence Services.

Border Control and Security
The Department of Home Affairs has noted that the movement of travellers has
contributed to the increase in congestion at Border Posts during certain
periods. Given this reality and the need to continue to provide the requisite
public service the Department has deployed enough immigration officials to
assist travellers to handle all their requirements with regards to their
passports.

The Border Control Co-ordinating Committee (BCOCC) of the JCPS Cluster also
intervenes whenever it is necessary to do so and the pedestrian congestion
inside the ports of entry is addressed through an effective queue management
and management of access control of persons entering and leaving the port of
entry.

With the recent launch of the National Immigration Branch (NIB) of Home
Affairs, government seeks to create a credible immigration regime, which is
effective, efficient, professional and friendlier in the facilitation of
movement of goods, services and people into and out of the Republic.

Refugee Backlog
One of the main challenges facing the Department of Home Affairs relates to the
backlog of applications for asylum – presently at around 105 021. The existence
of such a large backlog has a detrimental effect on those who are genuinely in
need of protection as without refugee status and an identity document they find
local integration difficult. It also places a heavy burden on the state in that
the existence of the backlog in turn encourages abuse of the system.

A project designed to accurately determine the extent of the backlog and to
make a significant impact in reducing the backlog will be implemented shortly.
The Backlog Project will operate in four centres – Johannesburg, Cape Town,
Port Elizabeth and Durban. This project, which will run for an initial period
of six months, will operate in addition to the existing Refugee Reception
Centres, which will continue to handle new applications for asylum. The
Department of Home Affairs has also taken note of the judgements of the Cape
Town and Pretoria High courts respectively, in which the Department has been
required to make dramatic improvements to ensure that asylum seekers have
access to the asylum determination process. The Backlog Project is one of the
means by which the Department intends responding to the concerns raised by the
courts.

Fraud and Corruption
The fight against corruption continues to sit high up our ladder of priorities.
Corruption in al its forms, whether it manifests itself as bribery,
embezzlement, fraud, extortion, abuse of power, conflict of interest, insider
trading, abuse of privileged information, favouritism or nepotism, tends to
undermine sustainable development and leads to a loss of confidence in public
institutions.

The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development piloted a Bill in
Parliament last year called the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities
Bill. The Bill became part of our legal instruments towards the end of the year
and has been used in the fight against corruption.

Hundreds of officials from all state organs were investigated and the guilty
arrested or dismissed in accordance with the gravity of the cases they were
facing and millions of rands were recovered in some instances from a range of
services including the medical aid scheme, social grants, procurement and the
recruitment of staff.

The President is studying currently the Report of the Jali Commission on
fraud and corruption at the Correctional Services facilities. At an appropriate
time the findings will be made public, including implementation strategies is
response to the recommendations.

Home Affairs convened last year the National Counter-Corruption Workshop in
order to promote good governance and draw from the expertise and resources as
well as know-how of other agencies.

Lindela Repatriation Centre
Home Affairs appointed last year a Committee of Inquiry to conduct an
investigation into the circumstances surrounding deaths at the Lindela
Repatriation Centre.

The Committee made recommendations to the Minister with regard to the
implementation of systems and protocols to deal with illegal foreigners
awaiting deportation.

The recommendations included matters such as the spread of some diseases,
overcrowding, and deaths. The Department has responded positively to the
recommendation and has started a programme to provide adequate infrastructure
and human resources at Lindela.

Since the Committee’s report and the implementation of its recommendations
there has been a significant reduction in the numbers of illnesses and
fatalities. The accelerated programme of deportations has been a big
contributor to the improved conditions. As we speak, the number of persons at
the facility has been reduced to below 2 000 for the past number of months.

The Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the Service Provider has been
significantly reviewed and aligned to the Committee’s recommendations. A joint
facility management committee has been established as part of the SLA to ensure
that all matters relating to the facility are attended to promptly. The
department monitors the situation.

Criminal Justice System
Service Charter for Victims of Crime
Some important elements of the Service Charter for Victims of Crime are in
place and working well. They include the following:

• Toll-free lines that have been installed in all provinces;
• Training of victim assistance staff who will assume duty at service delivery
points by 2007/08, and
• A set of complaints mechanisms

Legislation
The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill is serving before Cabinet and will be
submitted to Parliament to start the necessary consultation and hearings at
that level. It is crucial that the Bill be finalised for enactment this year as
it will be one of the most important pieces in our arsenal against the sexual
abuse of women and children, especial the girl child.

The other important bills that should see the light of day this year as part
of our legislative framework are being discussed at various levels, including
by the Justice Portfolio Committee. They are the Constitution 14th Amendment
Bill and the Superior Courts Bill that deal with the transformation of the
judiciary. There is also the Judicial Service Commission Amendment Bill that is
intended to provide a framework for handling complaints against judges.

Justice Services for All
In this regard, highlights are that we will -
* Finalise the re-demarcation process and provision of Service Points in areas
of need by 2007/08, and
* Finalise the establishment of High Courts for Mpumalanga and Limpopo over the
next few years

Awaiting Trial Detainees (ATDs)
 
The Management of ATDs, including children in conflict with the law, will be
placed under the spotlight of the cluster with the aim of finding sustainable
solutions to challenges associated with the incarceration of this category of
inmates. 

Following the implementation of special remission of sentence in 2005,
numbers of sentenced offenders declined to about 110 000, while the number of
Awaiting Trial Detainees stood at 44 000.

A cluster task team led by the Department of Correctional Services has been
assigned to review the management of ATDs that constitute over 28% of the
current offender population in our centres.  The team is expected to
consider a range of mechanisms, including best practice, of managing the
incarceration of the alleged offenders, levels of threat against society,
alternative accommodation and human resources requirements.
 
Regarding children awaiting trial in detention centres of Correctional
Services, the Cluster has undertaken to intensify the great work done in 2005
of reducing by over 65% (from 1700 to 1100) the number of children in
detention.  Developments in this regard will be periodically assessed by
the JCPS and its partners in government, including the Department of Social
Development. The Department of Finances has made funds available for the
construction of places of safety by Social Development and the utilisation of
provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act to manage the ADT population in
centres that will be developed for that purpose.

Interface

Small Arms Proliferation
A Southern African Development Co-operation work session was held in Pretoria
to consider better measures to address the proliferation of firearms in the
Southern African Developing Community (SADC) Region. The matter continues to be
of great concern on the African Continent and the SADC region wants to play a
crucial role to stop it in terms of standing SADC and United Nations (UN)
protocols and conventions.

The matter is one of the top priorities of the Southern African Regional
Police Chiefs Co-operation Organisation (SARPCCO).

Penal Reforms
The international community has recognised another leader from our Cluster. The
Commissioner of Correctional Services, Linda Mti, was elected last year Deputy
President for Africa at the Conference of International Corrections and Prisons
Association (ICPA) in Edinburgh, Scotland. 

Commissioner Mti was nominated by the Seventh Conference of Eastern and
Southern African Prisons and Correctional Services Association (CESCA) that was
held in Kenya last year. CESCA is expected to adopt a constitution that will
broaden the organisation to cover all African states in and effort to devise a
programme to drive transformation of prisons on the Continent.

Other South Africans from our Cluster who have been given leadership
positions include Anan Pillay from SAPS who was appointed by the African Union
to command the civilian police component of the African Union Mission in Sudan
(AMIS). His tour of duty in Darfur (Sudan), however, will end this month
whereupon the AU will look for a replacement.

The SAPS National Commissioner, Jackie Selebi, was elected president of
Interpol, while Dennis Dlomo from the South African Secret Service (SASS) was
appointed Executive Secretary of the Committee of Intelligence and Security
Services of Africa (CISSA) which is a subcommittee of the African Union.

South Africa will host a conference that will usher in the first Pan African
Prisons and Correctional Services organisation later this year.

Other Tasks

The SANDF will continue to do peacekeeping duties on the continent, in
countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); Burundi; Darfur;
Ethiopia and Eritrea, and Cote d’Ivoire.

The police are also involved in the DRC, Darfur and Cote d’Ivoire, while
Home Affairs is part of the government initiative to help the DRC to conduct
their election on 29 April this year as a key element to peace in that
country.

Issued by: Ministry of Safety and Security
9 February 2006