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In 2000 the JCPS Cluster embarked on a ten-year programme to stabilise and reduce crime and build capacity in the cluster departments.

The cluster strategy is being implemented in two phases. Phase one is aimed at stabilising crime levels by 2003 while phase two is geared to bringing them to international levels by 2009. The second phase depends on mitigating the causes of crime, many of which fall outside the ambit of the cluster's responsibilities. Yet, continuous multilateral and integrated cluster programmes are embarked upon to address these causes.

The 20 serious crime categories are in effect all stable or on the decrease. Notably the incidence of murder has already decreased by almost 17% since 1999, primarily because of concentrated actions by the cluster on specific crime tendencies such as gang violence, taxi violence and various manifestations of inter-group violence.

To ensure an even further reduction in crime levels Crime Combating Units have been established and are responsible for medium risk operations and operations requiring high force levels. Stabilisation initiatives are underway in 45 priority areas with high levels of especially violent crime while special projects have been implemented to address murder and rape in a further 94 areas. As a result of cell phone robbery and theft, which comprises as high as 50% of crimes such as other robbery, other theft, theft out of motor vehicles, etc, in certain areas of Gauteng, a special project has been launched in Gauteng.

Social crime prevention serves as the main strategy to achieve normalisation in affected communities. The Crime Prevention Development Programme (CPDP) was conceptualised when the President identified 9 municipalities across the country which needed urgent interventions to address crime, violence and poverty. A phased implementation process has been adopted which commenced in the identified priority areas in KwaZulu-Natal

Terrorism

The country and this cluster in particular are committed to fight terrorism. For one, crime intelligence played a major role in the recent arrests and disruption of terrorist activities. We wish to appreciate the support we got from the public in helping to apprehend these terrorists.

South Africa is in the process of adopting a new anti-terrorism Bill, which was developed through a comprehensive process by the South African Law Commission. The Bill, will, amongst others, define terrorism in much more broader terms since it is a multi-pronged phenomenon that includes (but is not necessarily limited to) right wing attacks, urban terror and international terrorism. Bail for such suspects will be handled with extra care. The involvement of high profile individuals, including members of the SANDF, is being closely monitored. In fact, SANDF is about to complete an extensive logistical audit of armaments and related equipment.

Cabinet has approved the Bill for introduction on a priority basis.

Organised Crime

There is massive commitment to fight organised crime.

Co-operation shall be built with governments of origin of undocumented persons.

Measures will be put in place to bring under control illegal foreigners, poaching and smuggling. These activities cannot go unabated as they have economic implications for the country as well. Developmental programmes such as the ISRDS, urban renewal and moral regeneration are being implemented to assist in this regard.

Intelligence and Counter Intelligence

In the pipeline is the development of intelligence capacity, regulatory frameworks (such as the amendment of the Public Service Act to cover compulsory vetting of all government employees and service providers, and review of the Protection of Information Act of 1982) and infrastructure to improve South Africa's state of national security.

The vigilant public must be sincerely commended for coming forward with information and assistance to help deal with terrorists and sabotage activities.

The increasing threat of espionage will continue to be monitored closely.

The implementation of the Foreign Military Assistance Act of 1998 will be closely monitored too.

The government will develop its communication security programme (covering telephones, fax and e-mail) through implementation by the newly legislated Electronic Communications Security (Pty) Ltd (COMSEC).

Support for government's peacekeeping initiatives via the Presidential Support Unit will be maintained with specific emphasis on Africa since our country's security, growth and stability are dependent on those of the rest of the continent.

It should be noted that the South African Secret Services' (SASS) programme is geared towards achieving the objectives of NEPAD amongst other things.

Correctional Services

* Correction and rehabilitation of offenders will be at the centre of business in 2003. Already the Programme of Restorative Justice proved successful as prisoners came out to demonstrate to communities that they have been reformed by building schools in some parts of the country.
* Changes in the strategic plan and organisational structure are at an advanced stage internally.
* Rehabilitation will be coupled with retraining 34 000 staff in new, relevant techniques.
* The only two training colleges available will not cope. JCPS cluster member departments are; however, ready to negotiate the sharing of such facilities.
* The issue of the leadership core will be addressed through the recruitment of new leadership with competencies required to achieve these new strategic plans. Identification and recruitment of such capable senior managers will be conducted even amongst other government departments. The current restructuring process will include skills audit of all employees.
* Prison overcrowding threatens to impede humane incarceration and rehabilitation of prisoners amongst others. This has become a cluster challenge. The DCS, SAPS, Justice and Constitutional Development and the National Prosecuting Authority will take joint responsibility in managing the awaiting trial detainees. In addition, an integrated policy process will be embarked upon to pluck up identified policy gaps within the system.
* Much as the work of the Jali Commission and the Special Investigative Unit, amongst others, is acknowledged and commended, DCS will develop its own investigative capacity to ensure the entrenchment of clean administration.

Department of Home Affairs

* Personnel capacity will be developed by means of filling of posts in order to enhance service delivery.
* Rooting out corruption is top of the agenda. An inter-departmental task team will be established to deal with this matter.
* There will be a joint JCPS cluster effort to assist in the re-writing of the National Population Register.
* Advanced technological mechanisms will be put in place to deal with border control operations as well as corruption.
* We will also look at preparation for the 2004 General Election and facilitate legislation to address relevant needs.

Investigations and Crime Intelligence

Technological advances in the past year in the fight against crime have resulted in remarkable achievements. The Integrated Ballistics Identification System (IBIS), which links firearms to crime scenes, was implemented and currently a hundred weapons per day are received for test firing and comparison against the open case database. The Laboratory Information Management System is presently being implemented at the Forensic Science Laboratory and will enable the Forensic Science Laboratory to manage its operations more effectively.

A Justice Crime Prevention Security Cluster Task Team has been established to coordinate the implementation of a multi-dimensional anti-drug strategy. This strategy forms part of the Drug Master Plan, which is being coordinated by the Central Drug Authority. Much of the work here is done in collaboration with other states in Africa.

The Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) has been fully operationalised at 35 decentralised Local Criminal Record Centres since 1 September 2002 and is currently dealing with the fingerprint backlog to produce previous conviction reports for court purposes. Automated fingerprint searches enable the police to identify criminals at a faster pace; therefore reducing the time awaiting trial prisoners spend in the cells before sentencing. Between April and June 2001 (Pre-AFIS implementation) the Criminal Record Centre could only produce 23 252 previous conviction reports within 40 days, whilst for the corresponding quarter in 2002 (Post-AFIS implementation) 77 660 reports have been produced within 40 days (234% more than the corresponding period in 2001). Since the implementation of AFIS the backlog in fingerprint searches has been reduced from 84 891 to 32 169 over a six-month period.

Reducing the impact of firearms on violent crimes.

* Implementation of Firearm Free Zones

In order to give effect to Section 140 of the Firearm Control Act, 2000 a pilot project was launched to declare 27 schools in 5 provinces as firearm free zones. The main objective of the pilot project is to develop a model for the implementation of firearm free zones and to determine the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders. Thus far, a total of 16 applications for declaration were received and were handed over to SAPS Legal Services for processing and promulgation in the Government Gazette.

* Firearm Control System

The aim of the Firearm Control System (FCS) project is to provide the Department of Safety and Security with a mechanism to manage effectively the relevant business processes pertaining to all firearms and ammunition, from the time of manufacture/import through individual ownership, until such firearms and ammunition are either exported or destroyed. The FCS is replacing the current Firearms Register System

An interim firearm control system has been developed and is being implemented to address the various sections of the Act, which will be implemented as from 2 April 2003.

* Destruction of redundant State-owned and confiscated firearms.

The destruction of redundant state-owned and confiscated firearms is a continuous process. During 2002 the SAPS destroyed 42 379 redundant firearms. The recovery of illegal firearms is supported by initiatives to trace the origin of firearms, by looking at the correlation between firearms lost and recovered and their usage for criminal activities. This initiative contributed to the seizure of 11 741 illegal firearms between April 2002 and September 2002.

We continue to provide services to Mozambique to destroy weapons of war and there is also much cooperation in regard to the control of drugs and the proliferation of small weapons.

Border Control

The cluster departments continue to work closely to improve border control and combat organised crime at ports of entry.

The Movement Control System (MCS), which was introduced in November 1998, is now fully computerised and installed at border posts and airports. The computerised system enhances policing to be more effective in tracing unwanted persons, goods, stolen vehicles and monitors the movements of suspect persons/vehicles at border posts and other ports of entry. The principal shareholder of the system is the Department of Home Affairs.

New technology at air, sea and land borders has been deployed. This includes baggage x-ray scanners, drug and explosive detection technology, walk through metal detectors, body scanners, new radio communication systems, and handheld scanning devices to read barcodes on vehicle licence discs and speed up the flow of vehicles, whilst enhancing the detection of stolen vehicles.

The implementation of technology at different ports and strengthened coordination between departments, resulted in 2 680 arrests for stolen/hijacked vehicles, illegal firearms, drugs/narcotics, fraudulent documentation, marine products and counterfeit/contraband products. More than 5 000 illegal immigrants were arrested.

As part of improving safety and security in rural areas, commandos are to be discontinued to make room for better coordination of services previously provided by them.

Women and Children

Crimes against women and children remain one of the main priorities of the JCPS Cluster. The 16-day activism on non-violence against women and children got off well and turned out to be a huge success. We want to thank all those persons, including the many thousands of those within departments for undertaking the signing of a pledge, and in deed a commitment to respect and protect the rights of all women and children. A total of 580 295 signatures were collected during the National Pledge Campaign and an amount of R705 919 was raised to assist the cause of abused women and children. The Foundation for Human Rights pledged a further R705 919 to NGOs assisting victims and survivors of violence.

The SAPS Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS) received 18 737 cases (4031 enquiries and 14 706 dockets) for investigation during the past six months. A total of 52 life sentences were imposed in 1 013 cases of crimes against children (under the age of 18 years), and 6 life sentences in 234 cases of crimes against adults (18 years and older).

In March 2002 Cabinet approved the strategic framework for an interdepartmental anti-rape strategy. the jcps and social Cluster Departments have jointly begun to implement the strategy.

Areas of good practice have been promoted i.e. the creation of victim friendly facilities and provision of victim care kits at designated police stations; school call canter projects earmarked for 2003; courts have been dedicated for the prosecution of sexual offences; and multidisciplinary training on evidence collection earmarked for 2003.

Provinces have been instructed to develop and implement provincial, area and station level action plans prioritising the 128 police stations areas where 50% of all incidents of rape are reported.

The Child Justice Bill, which aims to introduce an explicit focus on restorative justice in the way children in conflict with the law are treated and managed within the Integrated Justice System, is currently being proposed.

During the 2001/2 financial year the implementation of a victim empowerment programme and training on the Domestic Violence Act were introduced in the SAPS.

Capacity Building

The SAPS has developed in 2001 an enlistment programme for 2002 - 2005 (including replacements for natural attrition). Over the three year period provision is made for 40 560 personnel, including entry level constables and civilians, of which 28 560 is additional. In addition thereto, provision is made in 2005/2006 for the enlistment of 5 000 personnel. These increases in the number of personnel will allow the SAPS to roll out inter alia the sector policing strategy more intensively and therefore increase police visibility.

A policy regarding the South African Reserve Police Service has been approved. The policy aims to improve community involvement and cooperation in policing, and to enhance the application of sector policing.

A concept of sector policing was developed and introduced to the relevant stakeholders at provincial level. The implementation of sector policing at the 50 priority - and 14 presidential stations is near completion.

The restructuring of 500 specialised investigation units into three (3) specialised components in the SAPS is well underway. This will allow for enhanced focus on organised, serious, violent and commercial crime. To date 288 individual specialised units were closed down.

A significant advantage of this approach is that trained detectives are being made available for strengthening investigations at police stations.

It is envisaged, however, that some units, such as those dealing with child protection and sexual offences, will retain some autonomy to deal with crimes that require their specialised skills, and an independent identity.

The protection of very important persons has been increased with the establishment of a protection and security services division in the SAPS. In the last few months this division has provided protection for 676 very important persons at 32 major events (including the World Summit on Sustainable Development and, as we speak, the Cricket World Cup). This division is also responsible for guarding national key points.

The Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), a civilian oversight body, continues to play an active role in minimising deaths of persons in custody or as a result of police action. It continues to inculcate respect for human rights and contribute to the broader transformation of policing. To monitor the incidents of deaths in custody, the SAPS have put necessary systems in place. A decrease of 12,8% in such deaths has been noted (750 deaths in 1997/1998 decreased to 585 in 2001/2002).

Conclusion

The JCPS cluster must be congratulated on their professional ability to ensure that South Africa was able to host the AU in July in Durban without a criminal incident. Again the members of the security fraternity ensured that safety and security at the WSSD in Johannesburg in August was impermeable. To date no serious incidents of crime and security breaches have been reported at the Cricket World Cup of 2003.

As the President highlighted in his State of the Nation Address on Friday, our success in the sphere of the criminal justice system will depend on strengthening the partnerships of the letsema campaign, with communities volunteering to assist the security agencies in their work. Again, in this area, as in all others, conditions are ripe for us to forge a people's contract for a safer and better South Africa and a better life for all.

This will involve consolidating on other partnerships - like the efforts involving Business Against Crime and a recent development in Khayelitsha where business, education and community leaders got together to address crime issues. This Khayelitsha experience will be taken to other parts of the country in our fight against crime.

Issued by Ministry of Safety and Security

17 February 2003