The Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa today welcomed Cabinet’s approval of the report on the Study on the Violent Nature of Crime in South Africa, as this will pave way for a public comment in the coming weeks. The study, which was commissioned by Cabinet in 2007, seeks to answer the fundamental question on why crime in South Africa tends to be violent in nature.
The minister noted that there had been some concerns from certain sections of society into the delay in making this report public. He pointed out that in order to come to a broader yet forward-guiding approach in answering this critical question, the ministry adopted a broader consultative process. “We first had to study this report’s findings and recommendations carefully. The next step was to ensure we share it within the cluster (the justice, crime prevention and security cluster) then to Cabinet. This after all, is our preferred approach when dealing with any proposal, research or input from various stakeholders so that we do not narrow our findings to one specific school-of-thought,” he stated.
He said for government dealing with crime, particularly violent crime requires an integrated approach, participation as well as soliciting various ideas and qualitative research methodologies. Contrary to some skeptics in society, it has never and will never be this Ministry’s intention to hide the report. “South Africans will have an opportunity to study each letter, comma, numerical figure and page of this report. As we have been publicly and consistently saying, we had neither reason nor intention to hide this report anyway.”
Following today’s Cabinet approval for tabling the study in Parliament, the ministry will now spearhead a consultative process with all partners in the fight against crime, particularly law-abiding South Africans. On 9 November 2010, we shall be presenting and engaging with the Portfolio Committee on Police with a view to interrogate the findings. The ministry remains optimistic that post this engagement with the committee; the study will be released for public comment.
Minister Mthethwa concluded by emphasising that, without pre-empting the findings, if indeed the study provides conclusive evidence of various factors that cause crime to be violent, government shall relook some of the current legislative and operational frameworks which may assist in reducing violent crime.
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