Gauteng MEC for Community Safety Ms Faith Mazibuko,
Correctional Services Commissioner Mr Tom Mayane,
SAPS Education Trustee renowned musician Ms Yvonne Mhinga Primedia Group CEO, Mr Kuben Pillay,
Head of Crime Line, Mr Yusuf Abramjee,
All other dignitaries from the Primedia Group,
Lieutenant Generals Lamoer, Petros, Moonoo and Makgale of SAPS,
Chairperson of the Gauteng Community Policing Board, Mr Andy Mashaile and all other CPF representatives,
The CEO’s of various partners in the fight against crime – Advocate Simi Pillay-Van Graan, Dr David Mabunda, Ms Kalyani Pillay.
Honoured guests,
Good evening. As the head of one of the founding partners of Crime Line, it gives me great joy to be able to share in this event which celebrates the 6th anniversary of its existence.
As we have heard during the video message of our country’s President, the Honourable Mr Jacob Zuma, “together we can do more to achieve a South Africa where citizens can feel safe”.
Since the formation of the South African Police Service in 1995, we have been wholly committed to establishing and sustaining partnerships in order to develop a network of support in the fight against crime.
In fact, forming partnerships with the community and the business sector is an integral part of “community policing”. This is the cornerstone of our policing philosophy. Making residents feel safer and improving their quality of life is deeply embedded in community policing and is also a priority of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster.
This is not going to be an easy task, ladies and gentlemen. We have our work cut out for us but we continue resolutely to combat crime. The challenges that we are facing cannot be resolved over night, but as a collective and together with our stakeholders, I have no doubt whatsoever that we will succeed. To do this, we must always remember that someone, somewhere, somehow, knows something about crime in their area.
I have recently celebrated my first year in office as the National Commissioner of the South African Police Service. And, yes, it is indeed something to celebrate as this is a wonderful, dynamic organisation with tens of thousands of brave, dedicated women and men who are willing to even sacrifice their own lives in order to serve and protect. I have, over the last 14 months, taken the time to make a thorough assessment of the state of the South African Police Service.
I have already engaged with various stakeholders and I intend to increase this type of engagement going forward. This interaction is taking place with a view to finding a way for us, to move forward as a collective and make further significant inroads into reducing crime levels. We must make our service offering more professional, accessible and further improve our relationship with our clients, the people of South Africa.
From the very outset, I have vowed to make every endeavour – to move mountains if necessary – to instil a sense of integrity into this organisation and to establish its reputation as a professional, capable, efficient and transparent institution. Believe me, I know full well that in achieving these targets, I have to start by ensuring that our men and women in the blue uniform have clean records, impeccable work ethic and that their lifestyles are beyond reproach.
On the 28th of July 2013 the Minister of Police, Mr Mthethwa, announced that an audit revealed that 1 448 of our members were found to have criminal convictions but are still serving in the police.
Responses to the announcement were certainly mixed some complementary some contemptuous. I believe that this announcement should have been welcomed as it is a clear indication that the Department of Police intends to deal with this issue in a transparent and accountable manner.
Dealing with the challenge demands understanding and what I shall call “courage calculation”, a method of making success while avoiding rash unproductive interventions. Courage Calculation should be laced with setting clear goals for your intended action as well as firming up the importance of achieving them. It demands of us weighing risks and benefits, it requires proper timing for action.
Our commitment as SAPS should be to win the war; in the process we shall loose some battles. What should drive us are organisational and societal interests, bolstered by our quest as members of right and good standing.
Flaws in the system have been picked up; we are revealing such to the people to whom we are most accountable, the public of South Africa. We assure the citizens of our willingness to deal with the challenge both decisively and within the framework of the Labour Laws and other laws of this country.
In accordance with our prescripts, a Boards of Fitness will be conducted during which each of those members will be required to make representations as to why they should be considered fit to continue to serve as members of the SAPS. This will unfortunately be a lengthy process and we ask our communities to bear with us. We will, however, continue to manage the process sensitively and cautiously.
Programme Director, most of the speakers today, including me, will reflect on the importance of partnerships and participation.
I am sure that when Crime Line was launched six years ago, many critics and sceptics were of the opinion that it would be a fly-by-night project which would fizzle out after a few months or, at the most, a year. But instead, and with true grit and brave leadership on the part of all role players, the partnership which started out as being between the Primedia Group and the South African Police Service only, has thrived and flourished.
Today Crime Line is a “brand” associated with an uncompromising stance against criminal activity and corruption, which is trusted in the communities and endorsed by the highest authority in the country. As the Crime Stop environment, which falls within the SAPS, is the mechanism through which Crime Line tip-offs are relayed to operational police units, a close and symbiotic relationship has been forged between the two structures and their personnel. This is because we believe that someone, somewhere, somehow, knows something about crime in their area.
This has resulted in Lieutenant General Moonoo, head of SAPS Detective Service, Col Lamprecht of Crime Stop and Mr Yusuf Abramjee, head of Crime Line, being elected to the executive of Crime Stoppers International.
All three gentlemen are directors and Yusuf has the additional responsibility of being the Vice President of this world-renowned movement. This is a wonderful achievement, not only for Crime Line and the SAPS, but also for law enforcement in this country as a whole as it has led to our international ties being strengthened and broadened.
I am also very proud that South Africa will continue on its path of being world recognised leaders in hosting international events, with the Crime Stoppers World Conference being hosted in Cape Town next year.
In just a few weeks, SAPS shall be welcoming to the shores of this beautiful country over 1000 women police from over 100 countries globally who shall be attending the 51st conference of the International Association Of Women Police in Durban. It is for the very first time that this conference is hosted in the continent Africa. This is further testimony to recognition of SA as a significant role player in the fight against crime.
The SAPS will give all our support and expertise to ensure that both conferences are all-round success.
Distinguished guests, as we strive together towards the vision of a safe, stable and peaceful South Africa, it is my driving passion to significantly improve service delivery on the part of members of the SAPS to our communities.
As you get to know me better, you will realise that I am not afraid to reveal our flaws, or to share with our citizens what I intend doing to remedy the situation. I would like to see the SAPS not only participating openly in public dialogues about policing, but also starting those dialogues and getting people talking to us, instead of about us.
The next two years will be dedicated to improving frontline service delivery, especially at those places which form the heart of policing, the police stations. The management team which supports me is inclusive of all cluster and station commanders throughout the nation.
I met with all 1500 of them in January this year and, together with Minister Nathi Mthethwa, got their support in ensuring that law enforcement services in South Africa will be delivered by:
- Promoting and maintaining high standards of professional ethics;
- Providing services impartially, fairly, equitably and without bias;
- Utilising resources efficiently and effectively;
- Responding to people’s needs – the citizens are encouraged to participate in policy –making
- Rendering an accountable, transparent and development-oriented public administration.
As law enforcers we must respect, protect, promote and fulfil what the Bill of Rights articulates. We should, public servants and citizens alike, also recognise that the discussion on rights is intertwined with the issue of responsibilities.
There are responsibilities and obligations inherent in the concept of human rights. “The relationship between rights and responsibilities needs to be understood. Most rights are qualified and, in practical terms, depend on the responsibility of everyone in society to respect one another’s freedoms.”
Just as police officers and other officials in the criminal justice system have responsibilities which are set out in law, so too do citizens have the responsibility to contribute towards creating and maintaining public safety.
When citizens respect and abide with the laws of the country, policing shall for certain be enabled and shall be positioned to be at its best. This shall resemble true partnership between community and police. There are many ways in which communities and individuals can contribute to the prevention and detection of crime, one of those ways is by being active in their local Community Policing Forum
I’m sure you will agree with me that somewhere, somehow, someone knows something about crime in their area. That is why CPF’s exist in all policing areas and were formed during the development of the community policing system in South Africa.
Many CPF’s are very active and play a vital role in providing that essential link between the police management at a station and the community they serve. Especially, in the war we are continuing to rage against drug peddlers and drug syndicates.
Community members have an obligation to provide information to the authorities to enable us to arrest those evil-doers and thus keep our children and loved ones out of their clutches. Crime Line and Crime Stop are ideal mechanisms to use for those who wish to remain anonymous but who want to still be instrumental in cleaning up their neighbourhoods.
The wonderful achievements of Drug Watch - another partnership between Crime Line, the SAPS, the Metro Police, CPF’S and the community – must be commended. Having achieved significant successes in the Western Cape and now in Gauteng, the Drug Watch initiative yet again proves that “together we can do more”.
That is because, someone, somewhere, somehow, knows something about crime in their area. While it is important to keep on arresting the street-corner-drug-dealer, we all acknowledge that what is imperative is to apprehend and incarcerate the kingpins.
Dealing in drugs is the most dynamic and lucrative organised criminal activity in South Africa with the most popular drugs currently being cocaine, heroin, mandrax, designer drugs and cannabis. Drug trafficking organisations are employing well- orchestrated marketing strategies to make drugs more affordable and thereby to maximise profits.
Ladies and gentlemen, we achieved these successes largely due to the fact that someone, somewhere, somehow, knows something about crime in their area. When we work together, we achieve more. I would love to share more of our many successes and initiatives with you, but time is not on our side. As I said previously, with the assistance of our newly appointed head of communication in the SAPS and his team, we intend to write our own narratives and hope that the South African media houses will support us in this endeavour.
Although we are up to it, our task in this regard is not an easy one. August Vollmer – a US Police Chief who later became a Professor of Police Administration- once said:
“The policemen are denounced by public, criticized by preachers, ridiculed in movies, berated by newspapers and unsupported by prosecuting officers and judges. He is shunned by respectable, hated by criminals, deceived by everyone, kicked around like a football by politicians.
He is supposed to possess the qualifications of a Doctor, Lawyer, Social Worker, Educator”. We are committed to balance this narrative, through improvement of our service to the citizens and trusting that you shall be there to partner us to share stories our success whilst you without bias reflect on those areas we should continue to improve.
Let me conclude by once again, congratulating the partnership that is Crime Line on attaining its 6th anniversary and on making a difference in many thousands of lives throughout South Africa.
May you grow from strength to strength and continue to take the fight to the criminal element through your ties with the SAPS, Crime Stoppers International and other like-minded organisations and movements. We are always grateful for these partnerships because, someone, somewhere, somehow, knows something about crime in their area.
For their support and assistance, we are forever grateful.
Thank you!
