Programme Director,
Acting Executive Director, Ms Koekie Mbeki,
Senior Management of the IPID,
All other stakeholders present here,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning
In less than six months, our Constitutional democracy will be 20 years old. This is no small achievement for a country with our past. A past which deprived the citizens of this country of the freedoms that humans are have as a birth right.
These include but are not limited to the freedom of movement, freedom of association, freedom to elect its own public representatives and many others which are set out in the Bill of Rights. The police were a useful tool for the apartheid government used for the oppression of the African majority by the White minority.
As you know, we fought the oppressive system until we won hence we have a democratic government in place. Within this spirit, we co-celebrate this milestone with the South African Police Service’s own centenary celebrations this year.
Therefore, we have a lot to celebrate. Our Constitution is unequalled the world over. Our institutions that support our constitutional democracy are held in high esteem even in the so called first world countries.
We have the Human Rights Commission, the Competition Commission, the Public Protector, ICASA, the Auditor-General, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate and many others. Is there a country in which government and its institutions are held accountable to the extent that it happens in South Africa? Ours is a very transparent democracy in which everyone is held accountable.
Yet we need to continue to be brutally honest, credible and effective when we implement these wonderful instruments of our democracy. At the moment, our country is besieged with evil criminals who are bent to destroy the future of this great nation by raping, abusing, violating and murdering our children.
IPID has a crucial role in ensuring that, police stations that are not executing their constitutional mandate of preventing and combating crime against our most vulnerable groups, are swiftly brought to book.
This brings me to the IPID and why we are here today. Our government is committed to the Constitution and the values it espouses.That is why we have spearheaded the development and the passing of the IPID Act to ensure that you have a clear mandate and that recommendations made by the IPID are not ignored as was the case in the past.
The IPID Act places stringent obligations on the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Military Police Service (MPS). These obligations relate to the reporting of matters that must be investigated by the IPID and the implementation of disciplinary recommendations.
We noted in your Annual Report for 2012/13 that the number of cases received increased from 4 923 to 6 728 which is a 37% increase. We noted that there were 146 rapes by police officers whether on or off duty.
There were 4131 cases of assault report to the IPID during the period covered by the annual report. This represents a 218% compared to the same period in 2011/12. While mentioned numbers are of concern to us, we noted that deaths as a result of police action decreased by 12%, from 488 to 431.
There were 125 arrests, and 54 convictions in the courts and 84 cases in disciplinary hearings held by the police. These numbers indicate that we are doing something right as the bad elements were removed from the police service.
We must never lose sight of the fact that the core mandate of the directorate contributes towards the realization of outcome 3 as adopted by Cabinet in January 2010, namely that: All people in South Africa are and feel safe and secure.
The IPID’s strong management and skilled investigators will contribute towards the realization of this outcome and the IPID strategic outcome oriented goals identified for 2014-2019 strategic planning period.
The work of IPID takes place within an environment of increased incidents of public protests. These incidents lead to an increase in the SAPS/MPS involvement in crowd control and management which in most cases result in unintended consequences.
Given the recent events of public protests, it is clear that these actions significantly influence the overall picture of deaths as a result of police action, complaints relating to the discharge of official firearms by police officers and complaints of torture or assault against police officers in the execution of their duties.
These developments are likely to increase demand on the IPID to conduct its investigations and complete them in a short timeframe.
As we move towards the elections next year, I want to caution you to do your work impartially and without prejudice. Avoid getting involved in politics. Do not allow to be used by anyone to further political ends. You are not politicians – be professionals and the citizens of this country will respect you for that.
As the Ministry, we would like to see the capacity of provincial offices being increased to fully implement the mandate of the IPID and to administer the new reporting processes.
We want to see more women in the senior management echelon of the IPID. We want to see more people with disabilities as managers in this organisation. Also, we want to see you meet your targets especially in the operations.
We will not expect only that you plan but also that you implement the plans that you set out during this engagement.
I wish you success with your Lekgotla.
I thank you all.
