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For today's briefing, we will give an overview of the strategic goals and priorities for the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster which emerged from the recent Cabinet Lekgotla. The strategy is being implemented in two broad phases, viz: -

(1) The stabilisation of crime levels, stretching from 2000 - 2003; and

(2) The normalisation of the crime situation - a process that should take us five years from 2004. This phase is linked to the neutralisation of the causes of crime and social crime generators.

Since the Cluster strategy is worked out on the basis of a ten-year implementation plan (2000 - 2009) the various component programmes, projects and operational approaches, which constitute it, will continue to receive attention during 2002. An analysis of the crime situation for 2001 has indicated that the Cluster stabilisation goal has already been achieved ahead of the targeted year, 2004. When we set out our strategic goals in the year 2000 we had prioritised 145 police station areas, which accounted for more than 50% of serious crime. The stabilisation and reduction of crime in 100 of these areas is indeed an outstanding achievement by this Cluster. At the same time, it is an affirmation of the fact that the integration process of the criminal justice system, together with our intelligence community and the state-public partnership, has grown tremendously in the period under review.

We underpinned this achievement in our presentation to the Cabinet Lekgotla and argued that, appearances notwithstanding, the facts reject the contention by Government detractors here at home and mischiefmakers abroad, that South Africa was the unsafest and the most insecure piece of land on the globe. The stabilisation of these areas goes further to expose the emptiness of the allegations that the Government and the political leadership of the criminal justice system in particular, have no political and moral will to fight crime.

It is true that decent law abiding South Africans continue to be robbed, killed and raped, but it can never be true that this country is the crime capital of the world. This point was affirmed by the statistics that the Cluster released to the media and the public in December last year. Yes, the crime levels are high. But, let's be realistic about it, there is no South Africa that is sinking into the quagmire of criminality. On the contrary, it is the SAPS, the Intelligence Services, the Scorpions, our courts, our prisons and indeed our own people who are on top of the crime situation. We are certainly winning the war against crime and the final battle of that war will be fought and won in the Coloured and African townships - the apartheid slums that continue to be the mainstay of violent crime in the country.

What then is our strategic approach to these 145 areas in the current year? Our response would be the sustenance of the gains achieved in the 100 stabilised areas. Transforming the SAPS Public Order Policing Units into crime combating and response units to conduct continuous operations such as roadblocks and cordon and searches where high force levels are required will inter alia do this. They will also deal with medium risk operations such as combating taxi-violence, bank robberies, cash-in-transit robberies, faction fighting and gang violence. These units will be established in each of the 43 police areas to support stations and to accelerate the process of crime reduction.

Then we come to what we shall be doing with the remaining 45 station areas. We have started giving them stern attention in January this year through Operation Tsipa. Indications so far are that this operation is going to realise the stabilisation goal pretty fast. In its first four days, for instance, it has netted 4 485 suspects, 75 illegal guns, 183 stolen vehicles and drugs with a street value of R1, 5 million.

At the same time 50 of the already 100 stabilised areas will be subjected to a process of normalisation by doing, inter alia, the following:

* The development and implementation of social crime prevention plans. The Cluster will provide the necessary information in the form of intelligence assessments to facilitate the development of suitable programmes by all role players on a priority basis, taking into account both the possible impact of projects and available budgets;

* An integrated development plan will be completed by all Cluster Departments to determine the capacity needed in the 50 areas to normalise service delivery to the relevant communities;

* As a first phase to normalise Cluster functions the South African Police Service will establish Sector Policing Units in the 50 areas. A total of 5 000 entry level constables will be recruited and trained during the 2002 - 2003 financial year, of which a large portion will be deployed in such units; and

* Where applicable the functions of Metropolitan Police Services will be incorporated into the concept of sector policing in the 50 station areas.

The Cluster has further decided to broaden the geographical focus of stabilisation initiatives to include a further 195 station areas. This is necessary if our capacity for decisive intervention is going to be enhanced. The crime combating and response units will conduct continuous operations similar to Operation Tsipa in these areas to obtain this goal.

These areas, together with the 145 areas initially prioritised (340 in total), are responsible for more than 80% of all serious crimes in South Africa.

Our success rate will, no doubt, be greatly enhanced by the introduction of AFIS throughout the country this year. It is already operational at the SAPS Head Office. Indeed, the Criminal Justice System is in the throes of revolutionary technological advancement. These initiatives include:

* the automation of the courts by means of the Court Process Project;
* a fully automated DNA reference indexing system will be operational in the SAPS Forensic Science Laboratory in March this year;
* an electronic monitoring system by the Department of Correctional Service;
* computerised surveillance systems to trace stolen vehicles;
* systems to trace illegal firearms; and
* scanning equipment to detect illegal goods and contraband at ports of entry.

To deal with the scourge of rape, an inter-departmental management team comprising members from the National Prosecuting Authority, Health, Social Development and SAPS is currently finalising a comprehensive anti-rape strategy, which will comprise the following key elements:

* Improve the performance of the criminal justice system (including the finalisation of case backlogs, increasing Sexual Offences Courts, Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Units of the SAPS and Multi-Disciplinary Care Centres);

* Victim Support (prior, during and after the criminal justice process); and

* Prevention and Public Education Initiatives (These programmes will be based on an analysis to determine the different profiles of the offending population, their belief systems, the reasons for offending etc.).

Various other existing programmes such as Victim Empowerment, Child Abuse and Neglect, Domestic Violence, Child Justice and Adult Offender will be linked to the anti-rape strategy. An inter-cluster task team will coordinate the Strategy.

Since drugs and alcohol abuse are major contributing factors to violent crimes including murder, rape and domestic violence, the Cluster has decided to focus special attention in 2002 on the problem of illicit drugs in South Africa. The Cluster initiatives will include the following:

* A national Cluster coordinating team will be established to coordinate the activities of the integrated organised crime task teams focussing on the 88 identified drug-related threats;

* A special Cluster task team will be established to concentrate on the role of international syndicates in the smuggling of illicit drugs to South Africa;

* Drug hot-spots will be targeted on a regular basis to ensure the disruption of smuggling routes, the interception of drugs at ports of entry, the dismantling of illicit laboratories and the seizure of drugs at drug outlets;

* The implementation of the Drug Master Plan, coordinated by the Central Drug Authority, will be fast- tracked to concentrate on demand reduction; and

* Regional and International cooperation will be improved to combat the activities of international syndicates. The Cluster is currently involved in the completion of an organised crime threat analysis for the SADC region.

The Firearm Control Act also represents a major tool to combat violent crimes. The strategy to implement the Act is based on four pillars, viz:

* Development and maintenance of appropriate firearm-related regulators;
* Control processes and procedures around procurement;
* Reduction and destruction of illegal firearms; and
* Awareness and Social Crime Prevention Initiatives.

During 2002 the Cluster will prioritise the following issues as part of the four pillars of the strategy:

* Section 140 of the Act which deals with Firearm Free Zones, will be implemented by means of a pilot project in more than 20 schools in the Provinces of Gauteng, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and North West;
* The Business Process Re-Engineering project to develop a new Firearm Control System will be completed in December 2002;
* The auditing of firearms belonging to security companies will be completed;
* Redundant state-owned firearms and confiscated firearms will be destroyed; and
* Special operations will be launched to track and seize illegal firearms in high crime areas.

Border control is another area, which the Cluster will focus on. The Cluster will interact with the Economic Cluster to develop a balanced approach between trade, industry and tourism initiatives and law enforcement at ports of entry. The Cluster will also prioritise international airports and harbours in 2002 to establish effective border control and security mechanisms. Phase 1 of this process will deal with Johannesburg International Airport.

The rapid stabilisation of the crime situation created various bottlenecks in the criminal justice system, especially in relation to:

* case backlogs; and
* overcrowding in prisons.

Since ±50 000 of the ±170 000 prison population comprises unsentenced prisoners who are awaiting trial, the Cluster has decided to pay special attention to the issue of these prisoners during 2002. The initiatives to reduce case backlogs will play a major role in this regard. This will include an increase in the number of Saturday and additional courts, as well as measures to ensure higher productivity in courts during the week. In addition to this the Court Centre Project will be rolled out to additional areas, while further reception courts will be established. The Cluster will also investigate measures to increase the community corrections capacity of the Department of Correctional Services. This will include an investigation into existing structures, which could be converted into detention facilities in the most cost-effective way.

Policy issues, such as plea bargaining and bail conditions for less serious crime, will receive further attention by the Cluster during 2002 in order to alleviate the pressure on the Judiciary and Correctional Services.

The Cluster will also introduce measures to further reduce the number of children in custody who are awaiting trial. These will include:

* Establishment of additional One-Stop Child Justice Centres;
* Replication of the House Arrest Project in all Provinces; and
* Increase of diversion programmes.

Finally, it must be pointed out that the nature of crimes in South Africa and the social environment in which they take place requires dramatic socio-economic interventions to ensure eventual success.

Issued by Ministry of Safety and Security

11 February 2002