The Minister of Police, Mr Mthethwa
The Minister of Higher Education, Mr Nzimande
The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Ms Van Wyk
The Principal of UNISA, Professor Makhanya
The Director-General of Higher Education, Mr Qonde
The Group CEO of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) and the CEO of the Safety and Security Sector Education and Training Authority (SASSETA), Mr Montana and Ms Moroka
Representatives of theSouth African National Defence Force (SANDF), the Department of Correctional Services and the Metro Police
Provincial and Divisional Commissioners of the South African Police Service (SAPS)
All other dignitaries and guests of honour
Good Afternoon ladies and gentlemen
On behalf of the Department of Police, it is my privilege to extend a warm word of welcome to each and every guest to this historic occasion, as well as to this beautiful academy of learning.
The inhabitants of this town like to say that Paarl is the pearl of the Western Cape. We will undoubtedly, within just a few years, be boasting that the SAPS University in Paarl is the pearl of the South African Police Service.
Most of us will agree that a pearl is a thing of great worth. This aptly describes the SAPS University which is being brought to life today. We welcome the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the SAPS and UNISA, and a memorandum of cooperation between the Ministries of Police and Higher Education.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is phase one of the creation of a police university. Early in 2014 we will implement phase two, which will entail welcoming the first 120 learners who will embark on their studies towards a Bachelor of Policing degree.
The worth of this university is diverse, but its true worth is that it will allow the SAPS to fully transform into a professional entity with employees of integrity who will ensure a safer South Africa. The men and women who study in this beautiful setting will play a major role in restoring the dignity of the police of this country. The community we serve will, in time, learn to respect the men and women in blue, not fear us or heap scorn on the organisation. This is the sad indictment of our times - that those few SAPS employees with no discipline, scant regard for the law or their colleagues, bring the rest of us into disrepute. But I am convinced that we will turn the tide and change perceptions for the better.
The slogan adopted for the SAPS University is very appropriate. “Through these doors shall come men and women who will serve the country with pride, dignity and professionalism”. Again, going back to the pearl, unlike other jewels which are found buried in the earth, pearls are found inside living creatures. The South African Police Service is a human-resource concentrated organization, with the large majority of our budget being apportioned to our most precious assets, our living creatures. We owe it to them to afford the best of the best an opportunity to become even better, to become leaders of a new generation of police officers.
In order to achieve the goal of the National Development Plan of making the police service professional, we consulted widely and thoroughly and decided that one of the important milestones would be to establish a police university. By combining the academic side of the university with a professional policing culture, we will be able to build future leaders for the police. In other words we are setting up a succession plan and establishing a pool of excellence - professional men and women from which future leaders can be selected to lead this organization with honesty, loyalty and integrity.
We are very proud to be associated with UNISA, the fourth biggest university in the world and with the SANDF’s Military Academy in Saldanha Bay, which has been in existence for 50 years, as well as with the Department of Higher Education. We have no doubt that, through these partnerships and collaborations, we will achieve our objective for the SAPS University.
One of our objectives is that this institution that we are creating will become an internationally acclaimed police university. We want to attract police officers from the Southern African region, the African continent and other countries to study the science of policing at our university. We also want to see an exchange of students so that our learners will have the opportunity of studying policing in other countries. As crime and criminals know no borders, the idea of transnational and international policing is no longer a pipe dream. As we have SAPS members deployed on peace-keeping missions and at embassies all over the world, as well as our inter-country training programmes, we have already entered that realm and intend developing this aspect further.
In conclusion, honoured guests, the birth of a pearl is a miraculous event and each pearl is a miracle of nature. The birth of the Police University is, to us, a miraculous event, an historic occasion in the existence of this academy. Our learners will wear uniform, will drill as well as study and will transform into professional police officers, true pearls of the South African Police Service.
