Programme Director, Ms Gerry Rantseli-Elsdon
Minister of Transport, Mr Sibusiso Ndebele
All Members of Executive Councils present
Councillor Rehana Moosajee (representing Johannesburg mayor)
Chief Executive of 2010 FIFA World Cup Local Organising Committee, Dr Danny Jordaan
Group Chief Executive of Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), Mr Lucky Montana
Representatives of the heads of departments present
Distinguished guests
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
We are excited to join you today at the launch of the October Transport Month. We believe, transport just like police, are issues that affect all of us and therefore it is imperative that we join hands together to achieve success. Appropriately, this year’s theme: ‘SAFETY in all Modes of Transport: Systems Readiness for 2010, Sisonke Asiphephe’ speaks to our objectives of ensuring safety of our citizens, as part of service delivery mandate.
We are here to echo our support to this important campaign, especially as we believe it is key to communicating our country’s transportation readiness ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Minister, I am certain you will agree that proper transportation and policing systems are critical for the success of this great showpiece. Without effective transportation, police cannot do their jobs to the best of their abilities. Equally, our citizens need to feel safe as they commute from one point to another, whether in their private cars or through using public transport.
When government made a call to business, communities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society to join hands with us in developing various strategic approaches in fighting and curbing crime, we did so cognisant that without partnerships, crime cannot be eradicated. The challenges we face require us to be innovative in dealing with the issue of crime. As we apply our innovation and strategic thinking, we do so by taking into consideration various inputs from all stakeholders. The Ministry of Police has therefore begun a process of looking at new ways of doing things.
The old approaches and techniques may have worked in the past, but we began to ask ourselves whether they are yielding the desired results. Are there not more effective things we could be doing in our day-to-day operations? Are there any new approaches we can implement to ensure we curb crime? Are we not able to collaborate and replicate some of our best practices in areas where we still experience challenges? The idea of a police mobile coach was conceived out of this kind of thinking. The aim of designing the coach was to facilitate the arrest and charging of criminals on board, instead of waiting until the train reaches the next station on long distance route.
We are currently looking at plans to build extra mobile police stations to be used by the National Mobile Train unit (NMTU) on the Transnet freight rail of goods trains as well as the Shosholoza Meyl trains. The project is further testimony of the effectiveness of partnerships in the fight against crime. Government has declared war against crime. We continue to work with various stakeholders to ensure we reduce crime in our country. In this case we need to applaud the Ministry of Transport, Transnet as well as our members in working together to develop this unit. This mobile police station with facilities such as charge office, cells, trauma room and other facilities will help us in cornering criminals who prey on innocent commuters.
Minister, the concept of the South African Rail Police was first piloted in the Western Cape five years ago. The pilot started with the building of five facilities at Cape Town station, Bellville, Retreat and Philippi. The provincial command was contracted at Cape Town station. We have already noted success in this regard. The pilot worked very well and crime was reduced by about 38 percent in the first two years. Currently the South African Police Service (SAPS) has deployed a total of 2 456 constables countrywide within the rail industry. When the project is completed a total of 5 000 police officials would have been deployed within the rail corridors. In addition about 550 constables and officials have now been deployed in the Western Cape alone.
We need to reiterate that government’s continued investment in the infrastructure programmes within the transport sector cannot be held ransom by criminals who terrorise our commuters. We will not allow that. We want to create an environment where our commuters travel without hindrance or fear. We need to create a peaceful, safe and secure South Africa. We can only achieve this through partnerships and innovative approaches such as the mobile police coach.
This is our commitment to the citizens; a commitment to keep our commuters safe from criminals. We are excited to be part of this year’s October Transport Month and further call upon all South African to rally behind the campaign.
I thank you.
Issued by: South African Police Service
30 September 2009
Source: South African Police Service (http://www.saps.gov.za/)
