Speaker,
Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Members of Parliament,
Guests of the National Assembly,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In less than a week’s time, Delegation South Africa will be attending the 57th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UN CSW), and inevitably, our country will receive the most spotlight, unfortunately not so much of a glorified spotlight, if I may say, but sadly a gory one.
The latest obscene and brutal sexual violence perpetrated against women and children in our country has prompted the President to instruct all law enforcement agencies to treat these with the utmost urgency and importance. And, on behalf of the Minister of Police, we pledge Mr President, that the police will have no mercy when dealing with these heinous criminals.
Already, Speaker, the SAPS Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Units (FCS) are proving to be a necessary thorn to these brutal and heartless criminals. With 176 established FCS units in all nine Provinces, we are also beefing up the capacity in these units.
For instance, 200 Forensic Social Workers have been appointed to deal with crimes against children in order to provide expert evidence in court. Since the re-establishment of these FCS units in 2010 by Minister Mthethwa, there were a combined 36 225 years imprisonments and 695 life imprisonments (15 026 year imprisonments and 389 life imprisonments in 2011/12 alone).
The Forensic Science Laboratory provides specialised technical analysis and support to investigators regarding evidence on gender-based violence related cases.
Speaker,
The Department of Police also conduct other operations that include Crime Stop and Missing Persons awareness and information sharing campaigns with communities, schools and churches in an effort to curb this scourge. During the reporting period 1 April 2012 until 31 December 2012 about 385 campaigns were conducted.
Future activities include: hosting talk shows on media to educate the community, joint awareness campaign with NPA and enhancing victim support services provided in the victim-friendly rooms. The Department of Police will support the initiative of re-opening the special courts for sexual offences.
Intrinsically linked to the above progress is the revamp of our recruitment and related training of our newly recruited police students. Not only are police students now trained for two years instead of the previous six months; the Basic Police Development Learning Programme also now include topics of Victim Empowerment, Child Justice, Human Rights, Domestic Violence, and Sexual Offences Act.
Speaker,
We can affirm to the House that all learning areas in the Academy Phase now allow both trainees and trainers to be able to link the academic theories with the tactical training for a better understanding of effective and efficient policing.
We are not stopping there to improve on our policing. We have also realised that our own Police officers have been involved in family killings and suicide cases. Yes, we have programmes of Health and Wellness for our police officers.
But most importantly, as SAPS we realise that, to build an in-house gender equality and to prevent gender-based violence, cannot be only women’s issue, it must be a human issue, which then must also involve men and boys.
That is why we have supported the initiative started by male police officers, the SAPS Men for Change.
Speaker,
The Men for Change is a network within the Department of Police that seeks to understand gender equality, in order to contribute to the discussions on how men can get involved towards building gender equality and dismantling gender-based violence.
The SAPS Men for Change believe in the philosophy that says: you can’t be part of the solution until you understand how you are part of the problem.
This philosophy applies to all of us: Government, civil society, business, community, faith-based organisations, traditional leaders, and indeed police.
It is a fact that Police can never ever fight this kind of crime alone, because it involves a host of other factors and contexts. For instance, there are environments that enable gender-based violence, which will never be easily accessible to police officers to swiftly enact the law against these perpetrators.
COSATU also has reiterated this fact in their memorandum delivered during their Anti-Rape and Abuse Rally. The memorandum said: “We cannot have policemen or police women in every street. We need to watch over each other. We need to take over streets back from the criminal minority”
Speaker,
The vision of “working together we can do more” as manifested by the ANC-led Government in 2009, is surely now being made more visible. The establishment of the National Council Against Gender-Based Violence is a step forward to address gender-based violence and its root causes.
And this is where we are urged by the President to make sure that the newly formed National Council on Gender-Based Violence becomes an effective coordinating structure that will make the campaign of fighting violence against women and children, an everyday campaign.
For, this National Council will have to obligate us as leaders to observe one fundamental aspect: that, to efficiently fight violence against women and children, we need to take a compassionate action and create peace for healthy relationships, peaceful families and empowered communities.
Yes, people might ask: why establish a National Council whilst we already have such progressive policies and legislation in place to fight abuse of women and children?
The answer is simple, Ladies and Gentlemen. The environments I have already mentioned as hindering and humiliating women and children, force us to recognise that, gender-based violence undermines not only the safety, dignity and human rights of the most vulnerable of our society (women, children, the elderly, the disabled). Gender-based violence also undermines the public health, economic stability, and the general welfare of our nation.
Therefore, Speaker, what is of most paramount is an effective collaboration between Police and all structures within the community. For instance, we desperately need a well representation of police components in the Community Police Forums (CPFs). A well structured CPF will definitely include the Cluster Head of Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS); the Cluster Head of Detective Unit, and of course the Station Commander him/herself.
The introduction of the CPF was to help the democratic Government in aligning the values of the police organisation with those of a democratic South Africa; aiming at producing police officers who can interact sensitively with their communities and in a manner that respects local norms and values, above all the human rights of everyone.
In order for community structures such as CPFs, to make a huge difference in the efficiency and effectiveness of the South African Police Service, these community structures must start in earnest to play an active and innovative role in the implementation of Sector Policing.
Speaker,
This ANC-led Government introduced sector policing because it was a policing method targeting small manageable geographical areas within a policing precinct, involving all role players in identifying the particular policing needs in each sector, and addressing the root causes of crime as well as the enabling and contributing factors.
This is to ensure effective crime prevention to reduce the levels of prioritised crimes within the community and improve community safety. The above definition of the sector policing is a clear and unambiguous acknowledgement that there is an inevitable or a “natural” police limitation in curbing crime.
This limitation is not because the police are incompetent; or that there are not enough funds for crime-busting resources. The truth is that, most of crimes committed in South Africa, are crimes arising out of factors over which the police have little or no control of whatsoever.
Factors which stimulate crime, as I had earlier mentioned, such as poverty, unemployment; gender-inequality, and decline in the standards of morality or moral fibre, have nothing to do with the core mandate of police per se.
But increasingly the police are called to curb down violent service delivery protests; labour strikes; and indeed domestic violence including molestation of children.
The reality is that, police officers today, face a society in which parents fail to raise and nurture their children appropriately as law-abiding citizens; in which some schools fail to educate children to prepare their expertise and gear them to attain life skills, to name just a few examples.
Speaker, today, we are saying all sectors of community, such as family, school, religion, traditional sectors, and peers must be effectively represented in the National Council on Gender-Base Violence and in all other working structures such as CPFs to curb this scourge.
The important role that these informal instruments and structures of social control play, in maintaining the fabric of society intact, which are represented by traditional institution of ethical values, needs to be recognised, and they must not be allowed to crumble down.
This can be achieved, if only the established instruments such as the National Council Against Gender-Based Violence can acknowledge that communities are comprised of many different people each with his or her own skills, views and innovative ideas that can make a huge difference in Sector Policing.
Sector Policing can only be effective if instruments such as National Council Against Gender-Based Violence and CPFs can help police to adapt the policing and operations as according to sector dynamics.
And, these dynamics can only be known by local people who come from families and faith-based organisations.
Therefore, as a country, we need a multi-year and multi-layered strategy to effectively respond and prevent gender-based violence.
Speaker,
In this instance, we commend the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development for establishing the Thuthuzela Care Centres, where different Departments such as Police, Health and Social Development are collaboratively providing necessary service, such as counselling, safety and justice to the most of our vulnerable groups: women, children, the elderly and the disabled.
Coupled with the establishment of these care centres, is the necessity to review our policy, legislation and strategies, to ensure that our Government’s priority: all people living in South Africa are and do feel safe, is continuously being realised fully.
For example, the White Paper for Safety and Security is soon going to be tabled here in Parliament to begin public hearings. This policy review is to make sure that our strategies and programmes properly articulate the safety needs of our people. In this instance, the SAPS Programme of building police stations in rural areas must be aligned with the SAPS Rural Safety Strategy.
Speaker,
To successfully build police stations in these areas we need not only a coordinated strategy between SAPS, Public Works, and other stakeholders.
We also need to address with other Government Departments inhibiting, factors such as: Environmental design of rural environments, suburbs and informal settlements (no street lights; unclear identification of residences; road conditions, etc.).
As collaborating Government Departments, we thus must find a broader notion of safety and security: that is not only defined in policing terms; but a security of women and children that is defined in human terms, as I have indicated.
Speaker,
What we mean by this notion of “human” is that, Government, civil society, faith based organisations, and all other stakeholders, have to quickly consolidate all silo and scattered efforts to address gender-based violence from various stakeholders, into one concrete and visible vision, mission and impactful outcome for the whole nation.
And, gratefully, we have been told that South Africa will no longer celebrate 16 Days of Activism, but 365 Days of Activism, just as our President has directed!
This is indeed a perfect start to a consolidated effort. For, if good, law-abiding citizens and residents of this country keep their mouths closed to injustice for the rest of the 349 days, then they are not only allowing the gender-based violence to continue, but they are also enabling it and making it easier for the heinous perpetrators to continue the scourge.
Yes, Speaker, the National Council Against Gender-Based Violence’s mandate will not be a substitute for current progressive legislation that addresses abuse of women and children. But, this Council must affirm, endorse and re-enforce the implementation of these laws by making sure that all stakeholders, especially, the survivors of violence themselves, are fully engaged to transform the abusive environments.
The transformative laws enacted by Government, the honest advocacy of all civil society for these laws, and the willingness of victims to voice up their stories on gender-based violence, are connecting processes between Government and the people it serves, connecting in a way that no speech by a politician or a project by a single NGO can connect.
Speaker, as mentioned already, the police are trying very hard to reduce the rate of this crime against women and children, by strengthening the FCS Units, re-skilling the Detectives for higher conviction rates and harsher sentences; and indeed, discouraging victims to drop charges against perpetrators.
Although the registration of the sexual offenders reside under the custody of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, the SAPS is utilising the register for new investigations and vetting purposes.
Ultimately though, the best agents of change to stop sexual and gender-based violence are the families, the communities, the citizens, and the survivors themselves. And, the National Council Against Gender-Based Violence needs to quickly develop ways to fully engage these critical stakeholders, to work together with Government against gender-based violence.
As the Ministry of Police, we reiterate that we support fully this initiative of the National Council Against Gender-Based Violence, and we pledge our active participation as one of the stakeholders to combat and prevent all types of violence against women and children.
Gone are the days where violence against women and children will be treated as private, with deafening silence and thus as a lesser offense in the eyes of the Law. As police we are pledging that with the existence of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Units across the country, victims will never again suffer in silence.
Never again will our vulnerable groups live in fear in their own homes. With the establishment of the National Council Against Gender-Based Violence, with the reviews of our policy and legislation, and with the re-skilling and training of police officers to implement the Domestic Violence Act, Government will make sure that the victims of abuse will never feel that they have no way to get out of the abuse and violence.
I thank you all.
