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Programme Director, Director of Public Prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka, distinguished guests, members of the Directorate, ladies and gentlemen.

It is an honour for me to address you today as you come to the end of what I am led to believe was an extremely fruitful process. I hope your shared experiences and lessons from the last four days will prove useful to you in the continuing fight against organised crime. With almost limitless resources and just about every technological gizmo available to the world of syndicated crime, law enforcement agencies - the world over - struggle to keep pace with these criminals let alone trying to stay one step ahead of these fiends.

Since the advent of democracy in South Africa, our country has had to grapple with many challenges. Democratising our society and bringing to its heart the values enshrined in our Constitution, has required a full-scale overhaul of government and the other institutions that support and underpin the transition to a fully-fledged Constitutional democracy. In addition, the challenges of giving substantive effect to the political, social and economic rights espoused in our Bill of Rights in the face of widespread poverty and deprivation has required an almost superhuman effort and has become the driving preoccupation of our Government.

The onset of a new and democratic order in 1994 saw our country reabsorbed very quickly into the international community and we immediately faced the challenges of becoming a player in the international arena. The International isolation that resulted from the almost universal condemnation of apartheid had artificially cocooned this country from developments in the rest of the world. And as we embraced our new democracy adjusting to these developments in a highly globalised world exposed some serious deficiencies in our ability to deal with our new international status. This was especially true in respect of our ability to deal effectively with the amorphous world of organised crime.

At the same time, in our fight to withstand the insidious effects of global organised crime syndicates on our society, we have had to be careful not to infringe on the very hard won rights that the majority of South Africans had aspired to and fought for for many years.

Crime, in all its manifestations, detracts from the quality of life of all South Africans, but its harmful effects are especially pernicious on the poor and marginalised. Recognising the need to combat and overcome this beast, Government has set in place various mechanisms to deal with the insidious effects of crime on our society. We are however not gathered here today to deal with crime in the generic sense of the word; we are here to examine the work of the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO). The Directorate's governing legislation is quite specific about the purpose of this unit.

Your statutory mandate, your focus, your core business is to combat organised crime. Your mission statement is unequivocal in its commitment to combating the scourge of organised crime, serious and complex financial crime, organised corruption, racketeering and money laundering.

It is on the subject of your statutory mandate, namely organised crime that I wish to share a few ideas with you today.

You will know that there is no common dictionary definition for organised crime. The reason for this lack of standardised and commonly agreed upon terminology, is that organised crime manifests itself in many varying forms and presents itself in as many varying scenarios. Because of their different experiences, detectives investigating the underworld in Beijing, New York, Sicily, Lagos and Johannesburg use different definitions to describe the phenomenon.

The differences in definition are more often than not indicative of the features of organised crime as they present themselves in different environments. Indicative and defining features include for instance the structure and hierarchy within a syndicate, the capacity to operate as an agile, self-correcting network, the division of labour within the syndicate, the use (or not) of violence, and the means selected the pursuit of profit.

I am not going to focus on the reasons why combating organised crime, internationally and domestically is so vitally important. You know that our country is a signatory to the Palermo Convention. Association with this convention implies that South Africa, together with a range of other countries, has accepted that trans-national organised crime is a threat to international security, democracy and the rule of law. It is a threat that calls for a rigorous response from all sectors of society. The approach to fighting international crime is well captured by UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan's comments on globalisation, globalised crime and civil society's response to it. "We cannot wait for governments to do it all. Globalisation operates on Internet time. Governments tend to be slow moving by nature, because they have to build political support for every step."

Reconstructing this country and creating an enabling environment for vibrant economic growth, increased employment opportunities and sustainable social development, will flounder if we do not manage and contain the unacceptable levels of serious organised crime in our society. Government proceeds from the premise that combating, preventing, and reducing crime, and organised crime in particular, is an essential pre-requisite to the reconstruction and development of our society. Let this be the motivating principle that guides you in your work - don't lose sight this!

This is why the people of South Africa need you to succeed in fulfilling your statutory mandate; be it the businessperson in Sandton, or the unemployed youth in Umlazi.

I appreciate that you will leave this conference "all pumped up" and deservedly buoyant, having reflected upon your considerable successes since the establishment of the DSO three years ago. And, having committed yourselves to a sharper focus and clear mission for the road ahead you are bound to be a little pleased with yourselves. Go ahead! Slap one another on the back - you deserve the congratulations!

Having said that and having no desire whatsoever to rain on your parade. I do however want us to reflect just for a moment, on the enormity of the challenges facing us.

Let us remind ourselves of the advantages that organised crime formations have over the DSO, and other institutions of state mandated to combat organised crime.

Firstly, it takes a 419 syndicate in Hillbrow a couple of days to copy a website (for example an established South African financial institution), to have a number of telephone lines relayed, and thereby establish a credible enough appearance of legitimacy to lure a foreign "investor" into making a $100 000 (US) deposit. It will, however, take you and a healthy dollop of benevolence from Mother Luck, several months after the fact, to uncover the sequence of events. And then comes the whole complicated prospect of successfully prosecuting your case in a court of law.

Organised crime enjoys the advantage of initiative. The law plods along doggedly and even determinedly but inevitably getting a view from the rear of what was accomplished by the fleet-footed bandits who have already moved on to their next gig!

In addition, organised crime has an advantage over government because of its organisational agenda. A Johannesburg-based syndicate importing mandrax from Pakistan has only one objective. To maximise profits and to minimise risks. On the other hand, combating organised crime is but one of a range of sometimes competing organisational objectives and considerations facing our government.

For example, the DSO is unable to intercept a telephone conversation or email correspondence at will. Despite the fact that this would assist greatly in ferreting out and combating serious crime, your capacity to listen in on a suspect's conversations is circumscribed, and correctly so, by our society and the Constitution's assertion of the respect for human rights, privacy and dignity. The syndicate's boss, telephonically ordering the next consignment of Thai sex workers to enter our country through Lesotho on a false entry permit, does not operate under these constraints. He is not concerned with human rights or dignity - these are not exactly operational considerations in his book and are most certainly the futherest things from his mind.

We can do random sample checks, and we can act on intelligence received, but our ability to operate unrestrictedly in the organised crime environment is limited. As our country takes ups its role as international citizen and becomes integrated into the international trade community, we will be importing and exporting more goods and services than ever before. Job creation imperatives demand that we exploit opportunities in foreign markets more aggressively and source goods and services from abroad. Rather than creating time consuming blockages and laborious inspections at our ports of entry, the Department of Trade & Industry seeks to undo these blockages, and to facilitate rapid movement through our ports. We applaud and welcome their efforts especially when we consider the development implications for many millions who remain jobless and poor. This is the inevitable nature of things. We therefore have to accept trade-offs, which although they are legitimate and necessary, can and do undermine our effectiveness in combating organised crime.

Thirdly, our government has to show deference to the sovereignty of other states. The car hijacking syndicate that kills a motorist in Soweto tonight, for the vehicle to be "exported" via Swaziland to Mozambique, en route to Zambia perhaps, merely has to bribe, conceal and disguise for the export product to make its way across different national borders. Despite the fact that we are building regional networks and law enforcement co-operation within the Southern African region, you, and your colleagues in the South African Police Service still cannot track that vehicle, and hunt down the perpetrators if national borders lie in the way. Those borders exist, they need to be respected, but the fact of the matter is that they are an impediment to the effective implementation of your work. It's a reality that cannot change. We must work at building the cooperative and working relationships that pose a threat to the perpetrators - that will be your success.

Though the South African government has access to more sophisticated and extensive law enforcement resources than our regional neighbours, and though the capacity to operate in an unfettered manner on a regional scale would significantly enhance law enforcement's capacity, we once again have to make certain trade-offs, deferring to the sovereignty of our neighbours, thereby constraining our own capacity. And let us remember, that as much as we might occasionally (or frequently) become exasperated by the red tape and paperwork required to conduct even a limited investigation in Botswana or Malawi, our national sovereignty is the source of similar exasperation to our colleagues in foreign territories. And we are just as determined as the next state not to be disrespected, as some third world backyard lackey and not to be taken for granted - this is the natural order of things. The bald reality is that national sovereignty continues to impinge on our efforts to combat organised crime. And as long as nation states exist, this disadvantage will live with us in our work.

Also, organised crime has a strategic advantage over government and that lies in the nature of their organisational structures. The DSO might be a new and state-of-the art creature, but it remains a bureaucratic hierarchy constrained by the requirements of regulation and transparency. Criminal syndicates place far more reliance on looser and informal networks to enhance their own flexibility and adaptability. Besides being more rigid in structure than organised crime syndicates, government additionally faces the internal dynamics of internal competition, differences in organisational culture and philosophy, and downright turf battles between different departments and units.

We need to learn how organised crime adapts to law enforcement efforts to contain it. For example, it is imperative for us to identify and understand the manner in which organised crime syndicates are responding to the enactment and implementation of forfeiture laws in South Africa.

Deepening our understanding and analysis of the manner in which our enemy functions, is absolutely necessary if we are to overcome the strategic, organisational advantages that they have over us. We operate in a paradox: On the one hand we have to uphold the law, while we are confronted with organisations that do their utmost to undermine the law.

And yet, this should not deter you. You have good reason to leave this conference in high spirits. You have made a fine start to the life of the Scorpions. You have already proven your mettle through your successes. You are smart. You are energetic. You are passionate about defending our new constitutional order, and our new democracy. You might not be driving the biggest cars and living in the fanciest palaces, like some of your enemies are doing, but you have an honourable calling. You can live with your consciences.

You are the ones that are doing the right thing, by taking on those who care not for that the values and principles which ordinary South Africans hold dear. Your fight is an honourable one. It is one to create safe and secure living environments for our people, to live their lives in peace and dignity, to participate fully in the economic life of our nation.

The playing field might not be equal, but the fight can be won. We have entrusted you with a critical responsibility. You have our support!

Thank you!

Source: Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (http://www.doj.gov.za)