MEC Joyce Mashamba: Progress report on Limpopo Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster

Statement progress report on Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster presented by the Chairperson of the cluster MEC Happy Joyce Mashamba

Head of Department of Safety, Security and Liaison,
SAPS Provincial Commissioner and Management,
Provincial Head of the Department of Justice,
Provincial Head of the Department of Correctional Services,
Provincial Head of the South African National Defence Force,
Provincial Head of the Department of Home Affairs,
Provincial Head of the State Security Agency,
Representatives of the Department of Roads and Transport,
Ladies and gentlemen of the media.

Good morning,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the briefing on the successes and challenges in the implementation of the Programme of Action of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster.

The Progress Report will take into account the following:

• 20 Year Review
• 2014/2015 Projects
• Current challenges
• Safety and Security Month

The year of united action to move South Africa forward kicked off with President Jacob Zuma delivering the State of the Nation Address which in part outlines the direction of the democratic government. This Briefing will therefore take its cue from the 2014 SoNA.

Background

The democratic government established clusters to foster an integrated approach to governance that is aimed at improving government planning, decision making and service delivery. The main objective is to ensure proper coordination of all government programmes at national and provincial levels.

The main functions of clusters are to ensure alignment of government-wide priorities, facilitate and monitor the implementation of priority programmes, and provide a consultative platform on cross-cutting priorities and matters deserving the attention of the Executive Council.

The clusters have a political and administrative level.

The Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster is constituted as follows:

• Department of Safety, Security and Liaison
• South African Police Service
• Department of Justice and Constitutional Development
• Department of Home Affairs
• Correctional Services
• South African National Defence Force
• State Security Agency
• Department of Roads and Transport

The Mandate of the JCPS Cluster is to ensure that all the people of Limpopo are safe and feel safe.

Civilian oversight on South African Police Service (SAPS)

Whereas there was no oversight on the Police pre-1994 democratic breakthrough, the Department of Safety, Security and Liaison has in the past 20 years of freedom and democracy monitored and evaluated the police stations in the province:

• The number of police stations monitored and evaluated in compliance with Section 206(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa has increased from 0 in 1994 to all 97 Police Stations to date.
• The period under review also saw the extension of the monitoring and evaluation of the SAPS to include compliance with the Domestic Violence Act.
• Civilian oversight has further been extended to SAPS specialised units, garages and heads of SAPS components at the SAPS Provincial Headquarters.
• Currently the Department has extended its monitoring and evaluation to the SAPS implementation of the recommendations from the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, Auditor General, Parliament and the Provincial Legislature.

Crime prevention initiatives

In the past 20 years of Freedom and Democracy the Department of Safety, Security and Liaison initiated the following crime prevention initiatives:

• Developed a Provincial Crime Prevention Strategy.
• The Provincial Crime Prevention Strategy has created a multi-agency and coherent approach to crime prevention by focusing on the following areas: Rural Safety, Social Fabric Crime, Trans-Border and Organised Crime, Community Policing, Situational Crime Prevention and improving the Functioning of the Criminal Justice System.

Building community police relations

From the state when the relations between the police and communities were highly adversarial pre-1994 democratic breakthrough, the Department of Safety, Security and Liaison:

• Builds and promotes good community police relations.
• Engages communities and police in joint crime prevention initiatives.
• Established Community Police Forums in all 97 Police Stations in the province.
• Established Community Safety Forums in all 33 Municipalities in the Province.
• Currently the Department of Safety, Security and Liaison together with SAPS will during the 2014/2015 financial year roll out street and village committees to take the fight against crime to lowest common denominator in communities.

SAPS profile

The Profile of the South African Police Service is as follows:

• Limpopo province is 123 000 square kilometers.
• The province is 89% rural and 11% semi-urban.
• 5, 4 million of the population depends mainly on agriculture for a living.
• Limpopo shares boundaries with three countries: Zimbabwe, Botswana and Mozambique.
• There are eight ports (8) of entry, inclusive of Polokwane Gateway International Airport.
• Ninety seven (97) Police Stations and 42 satellite Police Stations are responsible for the safety of the people of the province.
• The total number of functional members is 11 323.
• The total number of Public Service Personnel is 2 618.
• Total strength is 13 941.
• Police Population Ration is 1:477.

SAPS structural arrangements

There are:

• 42 Satellite Police Stations.
• 97 Police Stations
• 16 Cluster Commanders
• 16 Provincial Components and 20 National Components (DPCI and Internal Audit).
• 7 Directorates (DPCIs).

Gender-based crime investigation

One of the most challenging crime categories since 1994 is gender-based crime which manifests itself in rape, domestic violence and sexual offences. A Special Investigation Unit was established in the previous dispensation, it is the Child Protection Unit. The Child Protection Unit didn’t cover all aspects which included Family Violence, Child and Sexual Offences.

This Unit was disbanded with investigators re-deployed to police stations to deal with the scourge of family violence, child and sexual offences. Later in 2010 the Unit was re-established with adequate capacity at levels up to Cluster Commanders.

For the period of 2012 to 2013 the Unit’s performance and achievement were as follows:

• Years of imprisonment: 2 207 years.
• Life imprisonment: 67.
• Number of years suspended: 232 years and 6 months imprisonment.
• Fines: R50 400.
• Victim Friendly Facilities: 82.
• Designated Police Officers (Victim Empowerment Places).

Specific legislation that include Domestic Violence Act, Child Justice Act, Children’s Act and Sexual Offences Act have files that carry all needed documents, registers, Acts, Regulations, Standing Orders, National Instructions and Stakeholder lists to guide SAPS in dealing with these crimes.

SAPS challenges

• The main challenge faced by SAPS is that most departments do not implement their safety and security mandate. Most stakeholders do not understand the multi-agency approach to safety and tend to think that it is the responsibility of the police alone to ensure the safety of the people of the province.
• The discrepancy between sentencing and the severity of offences. For example, the illegal liquor outlets operators who are arrested for non-compliance to license conditions but continue to offend because of petty fines.
• The Provincial Liquor Bill has not been enacted. This means the Province has to use the Liquor Act from the old regimes.
• Non-compliance with legislation, policies, and procedures which defeats the objectives of community policing initiatives.
• Inadequate community support to SAPS in their efforts to fight crime is a setback.
• The poor resourcing of community policing structures which defeats the objectives of community policing initiatives.
• Inadequate resources for Victim Empowerment facilities at police stations.

Future plans

• The department will continue to fulfill its oversight function over SAPS.
• In collaboration with other role players the Department will ensure the strengthening and functionality of community safety structures (CPFs, CSFs and Street Committees).
• Facilitate and implement public education campaigns.
• Ensure community mobilisation in the fight against crime.
• Host a Safety and Security Summit to review the Provincial Crime Strategy and ensure its implementation.
• Promote good relations between the police and the communities.
• Assess the effectiveness of visible policing.
• Constitute the Provincial Secretariat for Police.
• Conduct research on the root causes of crime and criminality.
• Conduct focused interventions on erupting crimes.

Milestones in dispensing justice

The following critical pieces of legislation were enacted to improve the lives of the most vulnerable:

• Maintenance Act, 99 of 1998.
• Domestic Violence Act, 116 of 1998.
• The Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act, 7 of 2013.

The following pieces of legislation were enacted to give effect to the rights enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa:

• Promotion of Access to Information, Act 2 of 2000.
• Promotion of Administrative Justice, Act 3 of 2000.
• Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination, Act 4 of 2000.

Access to Justice

The following measures were adopted to ensure access to justice:

• Re-demarcation of magisterial boundaries project to re-align boundaries to government service delivery boundaries.
• The project of re-alignment has done away with access based on race or ethnicity.
• The Department of Justice introduced the Integrated Case Management System to improve the management of records and turn-around times in the delivery of justice services.
• In order to bring services closer to the people, the following measures were introduced:
  
  • Upgrading of branch/periodical courts into fully-fledged courts. The benefits of this project are felt by the communities of Northam which was a periodical court of Thabazimbi and Tiyani which was a branch of Watervaal in Elim. Prior to the introduction of these measures, these communities had to travel distances of +/- 50kms to access services in the following areas: civil justice, family law, protection orders and Small Claims Courts. These services are not offered in Branch and Periodical Courts whose main business is the adjudication of criminal matters.
  • The Limpopo Division of the High Court has been established.
  • The Court will be situated in Polokwane which is the capital of the Province and significantly the seat of the Provincial Government as well.
  • The Court will be operational from the 2015/2016 Financial Year.

Vulnerable groups

The Department of Justice improved the delivery of services in Maintenance in the following respects:

• Improved waiting/queuing time: people are now served within two hours of having arrived at court for maintenance matters. This time has further improved to 15-20 minutes waiting time. Our premier site in this regard is Thohoyandou.
• Decentralisation of the payment of maintenance from National Office to Courts. When payment is effected, immediately the money is deposited into the courts’ account. Previously beneficiaries waited for a week or two for the money to be deposited into their accounts.

Justice challenges

Some of the challenges confronting the dispensing of justice services are the following:

• Budgetary constraints to implement the Maintenance Act fully. We do not have maintenance officers in all courts; insufficient numbers of Maintenance Prosecutors cause delays in finalizing matters.
• Insufficient budget to maintain court infrastructure.
• Insufficient court rooms resulting in postponement of cases and backlogs.
• These challenges have been aggravated by the burning of the Polokwane Magistrate Court in 2012.
• Delay in the finalization of the re-demarcation of magisterial districts project.

2014/15 projects

The following projects are earmarked for the 2014/2015 financial year:

• Proclamation of new magisterial boundaries for Limpopo.
• Extension of the number of re-established Sexual Offences Courts.
• Extension of sites for the Turnaround Strategy in the delivery of Maintenance services. Currently Thohoyandou magistrate is the site were the project was rolled out.
• Roll out of the direct payment system for maintenance – i.e. from the respondent’s account without involvement of the Department of Justice as a third part.
• Introduction of Court Based Mediation Service for Lower Courts (civil matters).
• Promulgation of the Legal Practice Bill.

Correctional Services

Establishment of emergency support teams (ESTs)

• The Emergency Support Teams (ESTs) were established by the Department of Correctional Service to stabilize unrest/hostile situations whenever they occur in correctional centres. The purpose of these teams is to contain the situation until the SAPS tactical response teams arrive to take over the situation and normalize it.
• ESTs are also deployed to escort/guard high profile offenders whenever they leave correctional centres.
• Polokwane Area has a joint EST that consists of 25 officials from Polokwane and Modimolle Correctional Centres.
• These members come from a tight selection process before receiving specialist training.

Security cluster

• The establishment of the Security Cluster has enhanced cooperation and coordination among sister departments.
• The Department of Justice is helping in reducing overcrowding in our centres by means of Case Flow Management.
• Over the past years the Department of Correctional Service and SAPS built a strong relationship to assist each other from time to time to conduct special search operations in correctional centres and SAPS holding cells.

Victim offender dialogue

• The Victim-Offender Dialogues aim to strengthen the current rehabilitation and reintegration programmes of the Department of Correctional Services by placing the victim at the centre of the correction process.
• The philosophy of the Victim-Offender Dialogues is informed by a constitution obligation that an offender is a citizen, a human being who has strayed from his or her path and must be assisted by the correction system to rehabilitate and return to the path of good citizenship.

Family days at correctional centres

• In order to restore family relations and support, the Department of Correctional Services introduced family days at correctional centres. Offenders are afforded the opportunity to receive visits from their families and time to interact while enjoying home cooked meals.
• Offenders are granted concessions of temporary leave from the correctional centre over weekends in order to maintain and develop family reunion/reconciliation. The offender is released from the correctional centre on Friday under set conditions and must return to the correctional centre on Sunday. During the weekend monitoring is conducted by the office of Community Corrections.
• Offenders can apply for compassionate leave for the attendance of funerals and/or serious sickness. Such a concession must preferably take place within normal working hours as far as possible and for the necessary period of time on the same day. This concession is only granted when it concerns a direct family member (father, mother, child, spouse, brother, sister, grandfather and grandmother.
• All these privileges when not there in the past.

Correctional Services projects for 2014/15

• Reduce overcrowding in correctional centres to 120%, presently overcrowding is at 219.07%.
• Increase the percentage of offenders who complete correctional programmes to 60%.
• Increase the percentage of eligible offenders with work opportunities to 45%, presently 25% of eligible offenders are working.
• Increase victim participation in parole hearings to 8%, victim participation currently stands at 5.23%.
• Increase the number of family days to two per quarter, presently we have one family day per quarter.

Safety and security month

The month of February is our annual Safety and Security month during which we escalate the fight against crime and preventative measures. Among the activities we will embark upon are the following:

• Anti-Drug and Substance Abuse in Schools.
• Family Re-Organisation Programme with Religious Groups.
• Training: Illegal Mining.
• Provincial Youth Crime Prevention Summit
• Re-launch: Operation Isondlo on Child Maintenance.
• Crime Awareness Programmes.

Violent protests

Lately we have observed incidents of violent and disruptive conducts during demonstrations and other forms of protest in the province. These protests have on the main interfered with the rights of other citizens and have caused damage to public facilities and in some instances, private property. In other instances lives have been lost. All these occurrences are investigated and justice will be served.

In the province when we talk of violent protests we talk notably of Malamulele, Kutama, Relela-Kubjana and recently industrial unrest in Northam.

The Constitution guarantees everyone’s right to peaceful and legal demonstration or protest. While we respect and uphold this right, we will not hesitate to act against individuals or groups whose conduct undermines the rights of others or destroy property.

Everything is being done to ensure better crowd management to further remove possibilities of fatalities and injuries during unrest or protest situations. From the side of the police, a mandatory Basic Crowd Management training is being offered to all new intakes in the police. These efforts will be reinforced by a dedicated detective team and legal officers to advise and assist the Public Order Policing Units, as well as enhanced capacity within Crime Intelligence Units.

Conclusion

There is a dire need for all social partners to join hands and intensify the fight against crime. The department will continue to do its part within the context of the multi-agency approach to fighting crime. In this regard, we call upon all stakeholders inclusive of the media, religious institutions, academia, traditional leaders, traditional healers, NGO’s and state departments to join us in our fight against crime and corruption.

Working together we can help move South Africa forward.

I thank you!