MEC for Community Safety, Security and Liaison, Ms DP Magadzi
National Police Commissioner, General Bheki Cele
The Provincial Commissioner of the Limpopo Province, Lt. General Mashigo
Chairperson of the CPF
All SAPS Lieutenant Generals, management and staff present
Distinguished guests
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
I am informed that, almost a year ago, a 20 year old girl from this location, Seshego, received the Best Trainee Award during the Police Passing Out Parade in Pretoria. Out of 1667 police students, this 20 year old young woman, Lebogang Magdeline Letsoalo, came out top as the best student in academic, physical and training, and street survival. I am mentioning this young woman’s achievement not only because she is a woman, but solely because of the words of her mother when she was congratulating her daughter. She said, “My child is multi talented and I am happier because she has a supportive family”. Let me emphasise these words of the happy mother: “because she has a supportive family”.
Ladies and gentlemen, as we are here to launch a “safer festive season operation When Duty Calls”, I want us to remember the fundamental role the parents ultimately play in the development, safety, and general wellness of their children in particular. Yes, our police have a key role in fighting and preventing crime in our society. But Operation When Duty Calls is calling on all communities of South Africa to take responsibility of working together with government and police to fight and prevent crime in our townships, suburbs, and in the farming-rural community.
This emphasis on community responsibility to help fight crime is informed by the call made by our government to working together to do more to make a better life for all our people. Ladies and gentlemen, as a Deputy Minister of Police, as a woman, as a mother, and as grandmother, I think this call by the police, urging communities to partner in crime fighting, is fundamental. Of extra importance, is the role of the family as part of the community, in fighting and preventing crime, especially, the fight against abuse of women and children.
Parents have a fundamental role to play in the development, safety, and general wellness of their family and their children in particular. We must all believe that fighting crime often begins with tackling unacceptable and anti-social behavior, beginning in the family sphere within the community. It is with this reason that the main message of Police says: “Fighting Crime, it begins with me”. Scientific research has shown that, a high number of women and children have and are still being raped, murdered, molested and sexually exploited by those who are closer or familiar to them. This week alone, South Africans courts are featuring high profile cases of spousal murder and children molestation happening within the family sphere.
For instance, a British tourist, called Shrien Dewani, is out of bail for being implicated in conspiring in the murder of his wife, Anni.
A wife called Mulalo Sivhdzo, has just been found guilty by the courts of law for conspiring to kidnapping, robbery and murder of her husband. And, then there is this horrific discovery of adult family members using their children and minor relatives for child pornography. The case is proceeding in the court of law as we speak. These are all horrific crimes perpetrated by so-called “loved-ones” within the family sphere! We are therefore saying, as we are in the midst of commemorating the 16 Days of Activism for no Violence against Women and Children, let us all enhance the partnership in fighting crime with police by emphasising the importance of family as part of the strong link with creating a safer environment for the young in particular. We have to support the multi-faceted approach, endorsed by the leadership of police, that success of this operation when duty calls and beyond, will largely be due to a close working relationship with the community at large, with the school in general, and with the family in particular.
As parents and families, we must catch the children early enough to teach and shape their knowledge, behavior and attitudes to safety and security matters. We call on parents, educators and community leaders to form a sustainable partnership with police because children’s earliest interactions occur within the family and communal sphere. Family and community members are the first ones to see earlier signs of risks or threats to the well being of the child. Our strategy as police then has also shifted for the better and for the smarter, to effectively and efficiently address the vulnerability of our children and women to violence, abuse, and sexual exploitation.
The re-introduction of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS units) is a focused resolve by this ANC-led government that the fight against women and children abuse is not rhetoric, as some non-governmental organisations like to claim. As government and as police, we are committed to bring back the one strong link partner against crime, and that is the family. It is with this reason that we also have forensic social work, where social workers are responsible for forensic assessments of young children, and to help police investigation catch child rapists who are most of the times, confined in the close environment of the child.
We are emphasising the family/parent factor as one of the strong link for policing partnership, solely because we know as parents and as mothers, that "Kids don't read their parents' lips, they watch their parents' actions. We have a challenge where children under 18 years of age live in a household where a parent or other adult uses illicit drugs or distribute drugs. We have children who live in a household where a parent or other adults are binge or heavy drinkers. We have children who live in a household where a parent or a relative is a child molester and woman beater.
As government, we say this must stop as parents are putting their children, and this country’s future, at risk of having anti-social behavior at a later life. By re-introducing the FCS Units, we as government want to build on the best local partnerships, ensuring that they are action-oriented, not weighed down by process or meetings. We want to make community safety partnerships more effective and more accountable. We commend the good work that has been done by our police members of continuing to apprehending these heartless criminals who resort to killing their loved ones. In the same vein, we encourage police to arrest even those colleagues of theirs, the corrupt police officers, who are in partnership with these criminals.
On behalf of the Minister of Police, Minister Mthethwa, and myself, I would like to take this opportunity and condemn the killing of an innocenttwo year old, little Willemien Potgieter and her parents. We send our sincere condolences to the Potgieter family and the community of Lindley, especially the farming community. We commend our General Cele and his team for apprehending these heartless criminals so quickly. We say, they do not deserve to live in our communities. We must stop using unemployment and poverty to justify criminal activities.
We must never politicise crime.
As government, through the When Duty Calls Operation, we are responding to the calls of our people that the public want a more visible police force, patrolling their local area. We, as government will never make a grave mistake and underestimate the importance of this demand. This operation reinforces this zeal. The Operation When Duty Calls in all provinces, is building the public's trust and confidence and showing that police officers are visible and available, and that police are always on communities side and keeping them safe.
I thank you.
Source: South African Police Service
