On behalf of the Ministry of Police, I am here to launch a Provincial Intervention Programme in the Free State, a programme that starts today, 30th November 2011 and runs through until 2nd December 2011. The programme is three-fold:
- Visiting rural Cluster Police Stations.
- Holding public participation engagements with surrounding rural communities.
- Visiting rural-based schools in these communities.
The purpose of this Programme is to make an intervention on challenges that have been reported in the Annual Crime Statistics as officially released by the Minister of Police, on 8th September 2011; and by the report of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Police when it did its oversight visitations at Police stations across the country.
Although there have been an encouraging decrease of crime in overall; however, as the Police, we are still left with a lingering challenge of inconsistent administering, processing and reporting of sexual offences.
So, the intervention on this issue is to make sure that correct procedures are followed at all police stations when cases of all sexual offences are reported. In this instance, Police stations must have effective and efficient functioning Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Units, and to make sure that the Domestic Violence Act and Child Justice Act and their regulations, are implemented correctly.
As the Ministry of Police, we also want to make sure that the overall good work that is done by our police officers in the streets of our communities, is actually complemented by efficiently managed and effective functioning police stations in our communities, especially the rural-based communities.
As Police Leadership, we are therefore, taking cognisance of the oversight reports by Parliament on observed challenges and recommendations thereof, on the following:
- detective capacity, capability and conviction rates
- capacity and functioning of the re-established Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS)
- implementation of Domestic Violence Act and Child Justice Act
- co-operation with Departments of Justice, Health, Social Development, Education, Home Affairs and Corrections
- SAPS 13 Stores and control of firearms
- infrastructure, Resource and Fleet Management
- SAPS members' discipline and wellness.
It must be noted that, this is not an oversight visit, but an intervention programme. Hence, I am being accompanied by four Senior Police officers from Chain Supply Management, Visible Policing, Detective Services, and Personnel Management, who will make sure that they immediately intervene on problems that we will be encountering in the police stations that we will be visiting.
The approach of this Programme is informed by the national call made by our President in his State of the Nation Address, where he announced that the ANC-led Government will have top five priorities: poverty reduction; job creation, education, health, and safety and anti-corruption.
The presence and support of the Mayor of Xhariep, Mr. Ntwanambi and our MEC for Safety and Liaison, Mr Khompela, talk to the above national call by Government. That is also why we are at this school, the Leretlhabetse Primary School, to have conversations and fruitful engagements with our children (Grade 5-7 learners) on issues of child safety, drug abuse, and child molestation.
On any eventualities of immediate need during these conversations, relevant officials from South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), a child psychologist and a social worker, are accompanying us. Again, we re-emphasise our approach as that of intervention and not that of oversight. By being in this school, we also acknowledge that, many of our children, both in rural and urban areas are exposed to:
- bullying
- child molestation
- substance abuse
- school drop-outs
- depression due to poverty and ill-health
- gangsterism
- discrimination (disability, gender, ethnicity, race, etc).
During this 16 Days of activism of no violence against women and children, we want to convey a message of action, that the intervention programme will be a 365 days activism of service delivery, so that our children are no longer slaughtered and butchered in the name of traditional healing, as we have witnessed in these past weeks.
With the assistance of the Provincial Intervention Programme, we as Ministry and Department of Police, are confident that, we will build on the successful conviction of these child rapists, child murderers, and child molesters, who have been found guilty and given the maximum of sentence of life imprisonment. This programme will also achieve our objective as SAPS Leadership to:
- Develop a better relationship between the police and our children at schools and in communities
- Create in all citizens, especially in the rural areas, an understanding of the role the police and all other agencies of the Department of Police (Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), Community Policing Forum (CPF), the Secretariat of Police) play in society
- Inform and equip children and women with the necessary skills to avoid dangerous and threatening situations.
Ladies and Gentlemen, in this regard, we extend an invitation to all of you to attend and report on this three day Provincial Intervention Programme (school visit today; imbizo tomorrow; and the SAPS Provincial Launch of the 16 Days of Activism on no violence against women and children on Friday).
For enquiries, please contact:
Nomsa Hani
Tel: 012 3934469 / 021 4677023
Fax: 012 3934614 / 021 4614174
E-mail: HaniNomsa@saps.org.za
