Programme director
MMC for Economic Growth in the City of Matlosana, Councillor Abraham Marumule
Head of the Department, Obakeng Mongale
Provincial Commissioner Lesetja Beetha
Executive and senior managers
Area cluster boards representatives
Members of community policing forums
Distinguished guests
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
The African revolutionary intellectual and father of the African Liberation Movements, Amilcar Cabral in his address titled Weapon of Theory delivered to the first Tricontinental Conference of the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America held in Havana (Cuba) in January, 1966 referred to “the struggle against our own weaknesses.”
He asserted that when the African peoples say in their simple language that “no matter how hot the water from your well, it will not cook your rice,” they express with singular simplicity a fundamental principle, not only of physics, but also of political science. We know that the development of a phenomenon in movement, whatever its external appearance, depends mainly on its internal characteristics.
We also know that on the political level our own reality however fine and attractive the reality of others may be can only be transformed by detailed knowledge of it, by our own efforts, by our own sacrifices.
We wish to reiterate that our people have mandated us the ANC government not to spare any energy during the term of this fourth democratic government but to work together with them to accelerate service delivery.
The priority to fight crime and its causes is in line with the manifesto that the overwhelming majority of our people mandated us to implement during this term of government in order to enhance service delivery by:
* Establishing a new modernised, efficient and transformed criminal justice system to develop the capacity for fighting and reducing crime in real terms
* Reviewing the functioning of the police, the judiciary and the correctional services to achieve integration and coordination
* Actively combating serious and violent crime by being tougher on criminals and organised syndicates. In this respect, we will increase the capacity of the South African Police Service (SAPS) through recruitment, rigorous training, better remuneration, equipping and increasing the capacity of especially the Detective Services, forensics, prosecution, judicial services and crime intelligence
* Establishing and strengthening the new unit to fight organised crime
* Providing greater support for the SAPS, especially to combat the attacks on the members of the SAPS, Including through introducing legislative measures to protect law-enforcement officials in the execution of their duties
* Combating violence and crimes against women and children by increasing the capacity of the criminal justice system to deal with such violence
* Mobilising communities to participate in combating crime through establishing street committees and community courts, amongst others.
All of our people irrespective of their social and economic status are yearning for effective, accountable and democratic policing because they are affected by the scourge of crime therefore CPFs should work with the police to ensure that our police stations become centres of hope for all of our communities.
We share President Jacob Zuma’s assertion made on the occasion of his inauguration that, “There is no police force that can cover every corner or anticipate every act of wrongdoing. Residents and citizens are better placed to pick up indications of criminal plans and to assess local moods, developments and attitudes.”
We are also of the view that no police force or service can deal effectively with crime if it does not enjoy the support of the masses in the communities they police. In the end, it is not the size of the police service that will guarantee success in the fight against crime but the ability of the police to forge a viable relationship with the people to prevent and combat crime.
Our commitment of developing a crime-free society, which is grounded on common democratic values and observance of human rights, still stands firm as an ongoing project. As a result of this commitment we dare not to waver or be shaken in our resolve to fight crime in all its facets.
Our point of departure should be to admit that we are here on the account of our own weaknesses and our collective failure to exercise our obligation to keep the previous provincial community policing board accountable. The dysfunctional state of most area cluster boards as constituencies of the provincial structure was a de-facto recipe for the dissolved structure to become aloof from its core constituency and loose sense of its obligations and responsibilities.
We therefore wish to emphasise that the key objectives of the provincial community policing Board we are gathered here to establish as part of implementation of the resolutions of the CPF Consultative Forum we held in September are to:
* establish and maintain a partnership between communities and the police
* promote communication between communities and the police
* facilitate improvements in the rendering of police services in the province
* improve and ensure the transparency and accountability of the police
* monitor and ensure the effectiveness of the police
* promote and ensure joint problem identification and problem solving by communities and the police
* evaluate the provision of visible policing in the province.
All of us should realise that the structure will need our continued support in performing its core functions which are to:
* advice the SAPS at provincial level regarding policing priorities
* encourage and support community based crime prevention projects
* promote and monitor the effective management of CPF resources
* encourage and support community based crime prevention projects
* promote and monitor the effective management of CPF resources
* advice me as MEC for Public Safety on community policing issues
* provide regular feedback to communities regarding police service delivery.
We should not just elect power mongers but put together a formidable team that shares values of honesty, integrity and voluntarism, a team that will work tirelessly to mobilise communities for the war against crime that we are determined to win at all costs.
In conclusion I wish to emphasise that the challenges that we have identified during the Community Policing Forum (CPF) Consultative Workshop need a selfless and incorruptible cadreship that is not populist in its approach but equal to the objectives and functions we had just outlined.
In wishing you a successful launch, I wish to thank you for the enormous contribution you are making in the quest for a crime free society. To SAPS management, I thank you for the support you have given also to the community policing forums and I am very optimistic you will continue to contribute positively to a crime free society.
Working together, we can correct the mistakes of the past for us to accelerate service delivery and create safer communities for all of our people. We dare not falter in carrying out our collective responsibility to take the war to the criminals in order to expose and flush them out of our communities.
Ke a leboga.
Enquiries:
Lesiba Moses Kgwele
Cell: 083 629 1987
Issued by: Department of Public Safety, North West Provincial Government
18 November 2009
