Programme Directors;
Deputy Minister of Police, Ms M Sotyu;
National Commissioner of Police, General BH Cele;
MEC for Community Safety Gauteng, Ms N Mazibuko;
Members of the Executive Council of the Gauteng Legislature;
MEC for Community Safety, Security and Liaison Mpumalanga, Mr V Shongwe;
MEC for Transport, Safety and Liaison Northern Cape, Mr P Mabilo;
Chairperson of the Select Committee in the NCOP, Mr T Mofokeng;
All SAPS Lieutenant Generals, senior officials and staff present;
Secretary of Police, Ms J Irish-Qhobosheane;
Chairperson of the PSIRA Board, Mr T Bopela;
President of POPCRU, Mr Z Cebekhulu;
President of SAPU, Mr M Kwinika;
National Chairperson of the CPF Board, Mr M Mphuti;
All Provincial CPF Chairpersons present;
Representatives from the Chinese Embassy, SHOUT, Primedia, Tracker and Business Against Crime South Africa;
Distinguished guests;
Members of the media;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
We commence today’s event by taking this moment to wish a speedy recovery to the world’s greatest statesman, the father of the nation and a treasured epitome of a prosperous and democratic South Africa that we all enjoy today. On behalf of the entire police family we wish uTata uMadiba a speedy recovery and equally urge all South Africans to keep him in their prayers.
Ladies and gentlemen, members of our family – the South African Police Service (SAPS); the fundamental aim of our government is to build a society where all law-abiding citizens will enjoy dignified and safe lives. However the acts of criminality including proliferation of firearms, rapes of women and children, house robberies, hijackings and other forms of crimes; stand in direct opposite of an achievement of this goal.
We gather this morning at this historic venue, Orlando Stadium under the auspices of the celebration of National Police Day. The day represents a time to reflect on our call to serve in a relaxed mood as well as to get to know each other better.
It also represents a coming together to make introspections to our achievements and recommit ourselves to the pledge of ensuring that people in South Africa are and feel safe. This is the day where the leadership of government and management say to men and women in blue: ‘thank you for what you are doing for our nation and please do more to protect and serve.’
Continuously and daily, police leave their homes with no certainty if they shall return to their families, safe and sound. Yet despite these unpleasant conditions, they still soldier on. It is an undisputable fact that police in South Africa and anywhere else across the globe are often perceived as enemies; by those who seek to break the law.
If that is a tag we have to carry, so be it. In our convictions to root out crime in our society, even if we are referred to as enemies by these heartless criminals, the mere sight of a police officer should signal trauma to these scoundrels, while at the same time signifying hope to those who are crime victims.
South Africans and the world witnessed an incident-free and successful 2010 FIFA World Cup™, thanks to the contributions of our members amongst others. Nobody will dare undermine such contributions. Exactly during the same time last year, the world was standing on a threshold of fear and doubt, whether we will succeed. That contribution went a long way in even dispelling the negative perceptions about crime in South Africa and we must keep it that way.
Our primary focus on our transformation agenda in the SAPS is around human resource development, from recruitment to retirement. We want to also focus all our energies in ensuring that we do not only arrest those who are on the wrong side of the law, but mainly secure convictions. In order to do that, we are re-enforcing our detective and investigative arms. All members of the Force from now henceforth will be introduced to basic detective work, whether in the final analysis they will end up operating in detectives or not.
To be true to reality, we concede that there have been challenges as well as triumphs in this warfare on crime. However the success of the SAPS must now be judged according to the number of successful convictions we make. The harsher sentences imposed upon criminals must be influenced by the kind of detective work conducted by police. Do we believe this can be achieved? Without doubt we do and as a matter of fact, we firmly believe that it can become the benchmark of our policing approach across the organisation.
To demonstrate this, we have noted with pride the recent sentencing of the ‘sugar cane serial killer’ in KwaZulu-Natal. As complex as the case was, our detective team managed to pull together all the puzzles and in the end, this scoundrel received the harshest sentence. We once again commend the entire team and call upon for more of such distinctive investigations irrespective of whoever is involved.
In the past we have promoted good intelligence operatives into managerial and office-bound positions. We have done the same with good detectives or forensic experts. While such promotions are commendable, unintentionally they ‘crippled’ our units on the ground as we took away people who have a hands-on approach and put them in front of laptops. We are now relooking at ways on how we can still reward our detectives, forensics and other specialised units, to ensure they progress upwardly without weakening these divisions.
We shall continue the work of transforming the police force to ensure that it becomes a true servant and protector of all law-abiding citizens. Our programme over the next few years consists of ensuring a transformed and service delivery orientated Force that is able to deal a decisive blow to criminal elements who seek to undermine and disrupt our democracy.
The recent discovery of arms caches across the country were not random occurrences or pure coincidences. These successes were achieved through coordinated efforts. We plan properly. We execute those plans with precision and smartness. We are succeeding because we have the resolve and support of the communities.
The successful hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, the recent festive season Operation Duty Calls police operations, the discovery of various arms caches to mention but a few, have all demonstrated that we have the capacity to make a significant impact on crime. We must now utilise that experience and the infrastructure as part of our general approach in the fight against crime. Now more than ever, we are working tirelessly to make life difficult for criminals in our midst.
Certain sections within SAPS remain untransformed in terms of race and gender. We have now begun focusing our attention in addressing this matter without compromising or weakening the tough stance in fighting crime. Transformation must therefore speak to the type of police force we want to create: a police force that is steeped in the values enshrined in our Constitution and inspires the confidence of the ordinary person on the street.
That is why part of command and control must address how we are managing our members. Officers must be disciplined. Management must be accountable. Gone are the days of passing the buck when things go wrong yet claim easy victories where there are successes.
Lieutenant generals and their senior management need to ensure that local stations are run effectively and service delivery is improved. Effective command and control must speak to the four Cs, command, control, co-ordination and communication. I have now instructed General Cele to strengthen our communications across this organisation and ensure that there is coherence in our messaging.
Failure to effectively communicate has often led to perceptions that crime was spiralling out of control when in fact there has been considerable progress in our efforts to thwart this scourge. More importantly, this is about how the police conduct themselves when dealing with the public, whether at crime scenes or police stations.
For us to win this war, we must and have prioritised training of our members. We are now revising how and what is involved in training. This new way of thinking must speak to both the content and the manner in which we train. Training cannot be just about churning out numbers but must be ongoing and relevant. Recently there have been a number of reports about our forensics capacity and problems related to this. We are well aware that we cannot strengthen our detective services without also addressing our forensic capacity.
Our tough stance on crime is further informed by the prevalence of firearms and widespread readiness to use them. This goes together with the availability of military expertise amongst criminals which have drastically changed the nature of crime in our country especially in the past decade.
A key focus for government is addressing the proliferation of firearms. We have begun in earnest in identifying loopholes within the Central Firearm Registry and are now working towards improvement measures.
Over the past two years, this leadership and management has demonstrated not in words but seeable actions that we hate corruption. We have also demonstrated that we shall punish corruption by any of our members, irrespective of gender or rank. There will be a process to look at how we address criminality within the police. Part of this process will require finding ways of dealing with police who have been convicted of serious offenses.
The process is now focused on instituting disciplinary procedures and close weaknesses that have allowed criminality to creep in. We are now firmly rooting out criminality within the police. Even the most economically-flourishing organisations fall on leadership if corruption exists at the top; because it will have an impact through our structures.
As the police leadership and management, supported by millions of law-abiding South Africans, we remain steadfast that we are going to win the battle against crime. We have the will, we have the capacity, we have the strength and we have a clear vision.
SAPS Members, My Family. Together Pushing Back the Frontiers of Evil.
I thank you.
