the occasion of the celebration of National Police Day, Durban
27 January 2009
Greetings
It is a great privilege and honour for me to address you on this important
occasion to celebrate the advances we continue to make in the effort to achieve
the safety and security of all the people of our land.
Last week our country received the shocking news of the brutal killing of
Inkosi uZondi, a descendant of one of the bravest and greatest leaders who
fought against colonial occupation, uBhambatha KaMancinza. This heinous crime
perpetrated against one of our country's eminent citizens and leaders can only
serve to strengthen our resolve to defeat crime.
We would like to convey our deepest sympathies to the family, friends and
relatives of iNkosi uZondi, as well as the people of uMsinga, KwaZulu-Natal and
South Africa as a whole.
Since 1994, we have as a people, joined hands in the national effort to
realise in practice, democracy, non-racialism, non-sexism, unity and the goal
of a better life for all.
Working together as a people, we set ourselves the tasks of:
* Healing the divisions of the past and establishing a society based on
democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights.
* Laying the foundations for a democratic society in which government is based
on the will of the people and every citizen is equally protected by law;
* Improving the quality of life of all citizens and freeing the potential of
each person.
* Building a united and democratic South Africa able to take its rightful place
as a sovereign state in the family of nations.
As we set out to realise these noble goals, we were not under any illusion
that their achievement would be easy. We knew that the road ahead would be
arduous and long. We knew that along the way, there would be storms, zigzags
and tumbles. We knew that there would be times when the faint hearted would
lose hope, and would scream that we had gone off course.
We however, had absolute faith in our collective strength and believed that
working together, no challenge would be insurmountable. We knew that steadily
but surely, we will realise the goal of a better life for all.
Looking back today, there is no doubt that despite the remaining challenges,
our country and its people continue to score successes and, it indeed fills us
with a great sense of pleasure and satisfaction that, the South African Police
Service (SAPS) has and continues to be a reliable and effective contributor to
our nation's collective achievements.
Right from the birth of our country's democracy, the SAPS has been there to
ensure the smooth hosting of major events. Among others, we have played host
and welcomed into our shores, the Commonwealth Heads of State, the Rugby World
Cup, the Africa Cup of Nations, the African Games, the World Summit on
Sustainable Development and, the Cricket World Cup.
In all of these, the SAPS have been there and have performed in a
commendable manner. When our country holds national elections earlier this
year, when it hosts the FIFA Confederation Cup, when the 2010 FIFA World Cup is
held next year and, when our country holds local government elections in 2010,
our country knows that the SAPS, as we have done in the past, will be there to
make a contribution in the effort aimed at enabling South Africa to take its
rightful place as a sovereign state in the family of nations.
When our various political parties contest the upcoming elections to renew
their democratic mandate, they know that the SAPS will be among the committed
contributors to help our country to deepen the establishment of a society based
on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights.
We commend and salute the SAPS on the work it has done to help our country
to shape itself into a nation united in action in pursuit of the goal of a
better life for all.
Today as we celebrate the successes of the South African Police Services'
crime prevention and combating programmes, we are convinced that, despite the
weaknesses that occasionally make our travel rough and slippery, the
overwhelming weight of evidence indicates that we do so standing on a higher
pedestal.
As we commemorate and salute the lives of those of our members who paid the
ultimate price as they worked to ensure the safety and security of every South
African, we are certain that their selfless contribution has bequeathed on us a
better police service and a better country.
The highly commendable efforts of our previous ministers, including our
current Deputy Minister Ms Susan Shabangu, as well as the efforts of past and
present top SAPS leadership, are highly appreciated, and without their untiring
efforts, zeal and energy, we certainly would not be where we are today.
We pay tribute to the unsung heroes, the millions of South Africans who in
various ways and on daily basis assist the police to perform effectively their
crime-fighting responsibilities. They give practical expression and life to the
view that the creation of peace and stability in our land must, while led by
the police, however be co-owned by broader society.
In the fight against crime, we must deepen and promote partnerships with
communities.
Many organisations and institutions continue to contribute and provide
support in various ways to our law enforcement agencies. Among these are to be
found big and small businesses and organisations including Prime Media,
Business Against Crime, the SABC, Community Policing Forums, non-governmental
organisations, religious groupings, chiefs and izinduna.
This partnership tide is gaining momentum and it remains the most ominous
indication to criminals signalling that the days of their parasitic activities
are indeed numbered. Our collective efforts continue to bear fruits. Operation
festive season has largely been a success. We are on course to achieve
governmentâs objective of reducing serious and violent crime by seven to ten
percent. In this regard, some stations have achieved better than the targeted
reductions whilst others have not. We need to compare experiences, learn from
each other as we continually evolve best practices.
In 2008 the SAPS recovered just over 15 000 firearms. In the same year, 12
650 firearms were reported lost or stolen. During day-to-day operations 118 514
firearms were destroyed. In 2009 the SAPS aim to recover 85% of all lost or
stolen firearms, thereby addressing the proliferation of firearms in South
Africa.
Our commitment to fighting organised crime is unwavering. In this regard,
initiatives between the National Prosecuting Service and the SAPS Organised
Crime component have resulted in eighty two (82) organised crime groups facing
prosecution in terms of the prevention of Organised Crime Act.
To date fifty five (55) cases have been prosecuted, and convictions secured
in thirty (30) of the cases whilst twenty five (25) are still pending trial. A
further twenty seven (27) cases are in the process of going for trial. In 2008,
one hundred and thirty two (132) organised crime Projects were investigated
resulting in the arrest of four hundred and seventy (470) syndicate members.
Outside of the Organised Crime Project Investigation process a total of 4005
suspects were arrested during 2008 and 768 convictions were achieved.
The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act came
into effect on 16 December 2007 and has allowed the SAPS to address crimes such
as the grooming of a child for sexual exploitation. The definition of rape now
also includes the sexual exploitation of boys or men without their consent. The
use of objects during non-consenting sexual acts has also been criminalised. As
a results of these amendments offenders who previously could escape justice,
are now being brought to book. Detectives continue to be placed on Specialised
Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Detective Learning
Programmes.
We continue with the effort to place specialised capacity at police stations
to ensure access by victims of family, child and sexual related crimes to
expert services. In an effort to progressively improve the capacity of the SAPS
to perform its functions, the number of employees will increase from
approximately 165 000 members to 193 000 by the end of 2009/10. This will be
complemented by the expansion of the vehicle fleet, equipment supplies,
technological infrastructure, and reservists.
We must mention that we have taken note of some of the challenges relating
to reservists. We shall, as a matter of urgency, engage with all the relevant
stakeholders to ensure an amicable resolution of the issues. We would like to
encourage the public to interact with the police through its police website.
Through the website, the public can liaise directly with all police stations to
enquire about progress made in the investigation of cases, provide information
on crimes committed, criminal activity, wanted suspects, missing persons,
corrupt activities, and poor service delivery. This can be done anonymously by
visiting the website (http://www.saps.org.za).
Let us ACT - Against Crime Together - and report information in regard to
crime, for example, drug trafficking, the illegal possession of firearms and
stolen goods, violence against women and children, rape and sexual offences and
the reporting of persons suspected of being involved in criminal activity. This
can be done anonymously to the SAPS Crime Stop Line 08600 10111 or saps
website, http://www.saps.gov.za or Crime
Line 3221.
Despite the successes we continue to score, ahead of us still lie numerous
challenges. A combination of issues whose contents are cross-cutting, including
effective monitoring and management of our borderlines, cross-border organized
crime, the presence in the country of unregistered foreign nationals, the
absence of extradition agreements with certain countries and others, all
combine to make the work of the police even more complex and challenging.
Furthermore, in our country it has by now been widely acknowledged that a
significant part of violent and serious crimes occur among acquaintances. This
makes it unlikely that our programmes and operations, including intelligence
operations, would have been targeted to families, relatives, friends and
acquaintances.
In this context, many among our critics across the political, broader
societal and media spectra fail to appreciate these complexities. The nature of
these and other complexities strengthen the validity of the call to all of
society to recognise that the roots of crime run much deeper into the social
fabric of societies such that the fight against crime should, while led by the
police, be truly regarded as the task of all the people.
We would like to express our pride in our police service. We convey our
thanks to the National Commissioner, Deputy National Commissioners, Provincial
Commissioners, the members, women and men in uniform, reservists and CPFs, we
salute you all and thank you for the service you provide to our country and its
people.
I thank you.
Issued by: Ministry of Safety and Security
27 January 2009
