P Makgoe: Free State Safety, Security & Liaison Prov Budget Vote 2004/2005

Budget speech by the MEC for the Department of Safety, Security and Liaison: Hon. Phi Makgoe
10 June 2004

Mr Speaker
Hon. Premier
Hon. Members
Hon. Mayors and Councillors
Members of the SAPS, Correctional Services and Courts of Law
Representatives of the Community Policing Forums
Distinguished Guests
Comrades and Compatriots

Speaker,

When the gallant women and men of South Africa decided to define their journey toward democracy, respect for human rights and sound governance, their dreams and ambitions were shaped by the understanding that South Africa would be a country in which all her peoples would express themselves and conduct their daily lives in a safe environment, free from fear of crime and other forms of anti-people behaviour.

As our people continue to celebrate the first decade of our hard earned freedom and democracy, they also have dreams, hopes and ambitions. Not only do they hope that their movement -the African National Congress- will work hard to make sure that their dreams, hopes and ambitions are realised. They themselves are committed to working with their movement. Accordingly, in April this year, they signed a people's contract to create jobs and fight poverty.

But effective social and economic development can only be achieved in conditions that do not undermine and threaten the consolidation of democracy, peace and stability.

Speaker:

As Government is putting anti-poverty programmes in place, it is indeed the constitutional obligation of the department to creatively employ all the relevant multi-dimensional strategies to create conditions that allow effective and sustainable development to take place.

Multi-dimensional approach to crime prevention found expression in February 1996 when the former President of South Africa, the new retiree Cde Rolihlahla Mandela asserted in Parliament as follows:

"Dealing with crime, violence and corruption requires a new morality of our new nation. Indeed, it requires a new patriotism among communities, the public and private sector, and the security forces- so that at the end of each day, each of us can answer in the affirmative the question: Have I done something today to stamp out crime?"

It is against the background of the aforementioned challenges and considerations that my department identified the following strategic priorities for this financial year, the:

Prevention of violence and abuse of women and children
Prevention of corruption and fraud within state institutions in the Free State;
Promotion of an integrated justice system through coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the Criminal Justice System;
Monitoring and evaluation of police service delivery; and
Implementation of social crime prevention projects.

1.WOMEN AND CHILDREN

Honourable members, I believe that children are the flowers of the nation, who need to be nurtured and protected at all times. Women are the mothers of our nation, who need our love and care. We dare not fail them. Crimes committed against children, women and the elderly remain a matter of grave concern.

Accordingly, in line with the President's call during the state of the Nation address (21 May 2004) my department has identified the establishment of Victim Empowerment Centres aimed at creating a private and friendly environment conducive for women and children to give evidence to the police.

In the past financial year my department was central in the establishment of 21 Victim Support Rooms at police stations. In this financial year, a further 21 Victim Support Rooms will be established once more with the support of the Flemish Government which has allocated an amount of 1.4 million rand for the project. We will be ready to implement the proposed Victims Charter as soon as it is finalised by Cabinet. The SAPS has also established Victims Friendly Facilities in the Southern Free State, Northern Free State and Eastern Free State.

Mr Speaker, this government is also committed to the President's call for our people to volunteer their time and skills for the betterment of our society. Therefore during this financial year, we have committed resources to the training of 63 volunteers in:

The combating of Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse;
The Psychological effects of Violence; and
Basic Counselling.

Also, the department will continue with the retraining of 63 other volunteers who joined the programme during the previous financial year.

Mr Speaker,

The department, working closely with SAPS, will continue to strengthen the SAPS units dealing with women and children through regular assessments and we will embark on public awareness campaigns aimed at mobilising our people to oppose any form of violence and abuse against women and children. An amount of R150 000.00 has been allocated for this project.

Let me inform the Members and the public at large that the SAPS succeeded in ensuring 1259 arrests; 8 life imprisonments, jail sentences totalling 901 years and 23 youth referred to diversion programmes for crimes against women and children.

2. CORRUPTION AND FRAUD

Honourable members, government continue to lose resources due to fraud and corruption. Only recently, the Minister of Housing, Comrade Lindiwe Sisulu indicated that the Department of Housing will be establishing its anti-fraud unit and strategy.

My Department will obviously be working closely with the Department of Local Government and Housing in the Province in order to ensure that corruption in the housing industry is uprooted. Furthermore, during this financial year, we will be establishing an interdepartmental committee, whose purpose will be to develop an anti-corruption strategy in the Province.

The committee will also look at developing programmes aimed at empowering and encouraging public servants and the public at large to report incidents of fraud and corruption against the state.

Such a programme will involve popularising the Anti-corruption toll-free number located in the Premier's office. To those who have stolen from the state the message is loud and clear: confess your sins, hand yourself over to the police or face the full might of the law.

3. INTERGRATED CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Mr Speaker, during this financial year the Department will be playing a central role in convening and coordinating activities of the Provincial Integrated Criminal Justice Cluster. We will endeavour to develop a replica of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster within the Province in order to ensure the implementation of the National JCPS Cluster programmes.

Regarding the rehabilitation of the prisoners, the most threatening trend is that the majority of inmates (80%) are repeat-offenders. This is a great challenge that needs the involvement of national and provincial government as well as the community in ensuring that rehabilitation programmes are initiated, successfully implemented and continuously monitored to discourage recidivism.

As a corrective measure, the Security Cluster in our province will, during this financial year, undertake a campaign to popularise the recently approved White Paper on Correctional Services which is aimed at improving the rehabilitation of prisoners and humane detention conditions.

4. MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF POLICE SERVICE DELIVERY
4.1 CIVILIAN OVERSIGHT

Mr Speaker

One of the cornerstones of our democratic constitution is the establishment of the Secretariat on Safety and Security whose mandate is to provide civilian oversight over the South African Police Service. Over the past financial year, we have strengthened our Provincial Secretariat through the employment of additional personnel.

Furthermore, we have improved our monitoring and evaluation tools including the public launch of a Toll-free number through which communities can register complaints against or compliment members of the South African Police Service.

The number 0800 72 73 74 provides hope to our people that their complaints will be taken seriously. In the past financial year 1467 complains were recorded and attended to. During this financial year we will sustain public awareness campaigns to popularise this number. I request honourable members to make a note of this numbers and ensure that all your Constituency Offices have it readily available.

Our Department has also placed suggestion boxes in all police stations. The department keeps the keys and will be collecting contents thereof at regular intervals. I hope that during the course of this financial year I will have the opportunity to share some of the issues raised by communities in these suggestions boxes with members of this honourable house.
Mr Speaker

As I have indicated, we have established an investigative unit within the Civilian Oversight Directorate with skilled personnel to conduct independent investigations where necessary. The investigative capacity will be supplemented in the new financial year through the appointment of more investigators.

It is important to note that this independent investigation does not aim to replace criminal investigation conducted by the SAPS nor does it seek to act as a Community Service Centre (CSC) in respect of opening criminal cases. The merits of independent investigations are to assist the department to establish substance and secondly, to ensure that communities have confidence in the process undertaken.

To enhance complaint registrations and acknowledgements, a computer programme has been developed and procured for electronic capturing and monitoring of progress with independent investigations.

The Department developed its own monitoring tool, which will continuously be used to assess the delivery service levels of all the Free State police stations during the 2004/05 financial year.

Honourable members, during this financial year, the department will extend oversight responsibilities to include monitoring of police dismissals, suspensions, overall discipline, human resource and promotion of women within SAPS.

4.2 PUBLIC PERCEPTION SURVEY

In line with the constitutional and legal mandate of overseeing the effectiveness and efficiency of the SAPS, and to continuously consult with communities, two Community Climate Surveys were conducted to test the perceptions of communities as recipients of service delivery by the SAPS.

The outcome is comparative data-base which will form the basis to identify proper intervention strategies on negative findings e.g. to create more awareness on community policing initiatives; facilitate the distribution and re-distribution of resources; the improvement of the SAPS' response times; creation of more and better investigative capacity and public education to communities on the functioning of the Criminal Justice System.

We will be announcing the outcomes of the second Public Perception Survey next week; I do not want to elaborate on its contents except that it reveals interesting tendencies that had directional influence on the strategic plan of the coming financial year.

Mr Speaker

The department and I, will focus our monitoring and evaluation efforts on the following 2004/05 SAPS Strategic Priorities:

(a) Operational Priorities

Combating of organised crime;
Combating of serious and violent crimes;
Combating of crimes against women and children;
Improving service delivery to the communities;

(b) Organisational Priorities

Improved Human Resource Management
Improved Budget and Resource Management.

However, attention will be given to the actual impact of crime prevention on the lives of the ordinary person in the street. This will inevitably call upon the utilisation of both qualitative and quantitative crime prevention indicators.

5. SOCIAL CRIME PREVENTION PROJECTS: YOUTH DIVERSION
PROGRAMMES

Mr Speaker

"The youth are still a constituency that is largely unemployed and out of school; and are vulnerable to crime, substance abuse and diseases which can be as a result of poor lifestyles." This is one of the observations made by the African National Congress at its 51st Conference in Stellenbosch.

Accordingly, our challenge is to develop programmes in partnership with other government departments such as the Department of Social Development to assist young people who are likely to be in conflict with the law. In the current financial year we will embark on programmes focusing on the abuse of liquor especially by our young people. One of the issues, which I am gravely concerned about, is the proximity of a number of liquor outlets and taverns to our schools, churches and other vulnerable places. This matter will have to be addressed with the Provincial Liquor Board as a matter of urgency. During this financial year an amount of R 120 000.00 will be spend on projects focusing on liquor abuse.

Furthermore, the department is in the process of establishing the Free State Youth Development Centre. This project will be co-funded by the Flemish Government to the tune of 5.5 million. Amongst others, the Youth Centre will provide young people in conflict with the law with skills that will enable them to find work and have a new leaf on life.

During the month of June/July the Provincial Community Policing Forum Board in partnership with my department and the Youth Commission will also develop programmes aimed at mobilising young people to play an active role in anti-crime initiatives.

Mr Speaker

We will also be embarking on programmes aimed at mobilising school children to actively participate in crime prevention programmes. This programme is aimed at creating safer schools for our learners. The project will be piloted in 18 schools across the province, with the assistance of the Department of Education.

6. IMPROVEMENT OF FACILITIES AND RE-DEMARCATION OF STATION PRECINCTS

Mr Speaker, the Premier in her budget speech indicated that the Mangaung Police Station would open soon. I am happy to report that the Mangaung Police Station was officially opened on 4 June 2004 by the Minister of Safety and Security Comrade Charles Nqakula. The total cost of the police station was R15, 6 million. Located at Phahameng in the Mangaung local municipal area, the new police station serves as an accounting police station and will provide the following professional police services:

Community Service Centre Services
Detective Investigative Services
Crime prevention Services
Crime Intelligence Analyses Centres Services
Human Resource Management Services
Logistical Services
Financial Services
Auxiliary Services
Communication Services, and
Community Policing Forums Services.

The construction of the Mangaung police station was resultant of the re-demarcation of the station precincts to render de-racialised and transformed police service delivery through, among other things, the equitable redistribution of the policing responsibilities among the local police stations of Batho, Heidedal, Kagisanong and Park Road.

Further re-demarcation of the following station precincts has already been approved and is in the process of being implemented:

Parys / Tumahole
Sasolburg / Zamdela
Kroonstad / Maokeng
Thaba Nchu / Selosesha; and
Welkom / Thabong.

The aforementioned re-demarcations will inevitably ensure that effective and efficient policing takes place; and that communities are assured of responsive and accessible police service at all times.

The construction of the new police station at Namahadi (Frankfort) will cost R15.3 million. The construction of the following police stations is destined to take place over the next five years:

Construction of new Community Service Centre at Sunrise View (Thabong);
Construction of a new cellblock; upgrading and renovation of the Thabong Police Station (Presidential Station);
Construction of a new police station at Kagisanong;
Construction of a new police station at Zamdela; and
Construction of a Radio Control Centre at Heidedal.

Honourable members, the Department in collaboration with SAPS, communities, business and NGO's will continue to identify those police stations in the Free State that require renovation and upgrading.

7. ESTABLISHMENT OF PARTNERSHIPS

7.1 PARTNERSHIP WITH COMMUNITY POLICING FORUMS (CPF's)

Since 1996, the department embarked on a campaign to mobilise and encourage communities to improve the police-community relations through the establishment of the Community Policing Forums (CPF's).

Throughout the Province, CPFs are doing a sterling job striving for a crime-free Free State. On the average, the Free State CPFs reached 91% functionality in the past financial year; with the Eastern Free State totalling 100% functionality, South Free State at 88% and the Northern Free State scoring 84% during the 2003/04 financial year. During the same period, the number of CPFs in the Free State increased from 97 to 104.

In this financial year, we will endeavour to make sure that these CPF structures are strengthened even further. Accordingly, we will be conducting capacity building training to all 108 existing Community Policing Forums. It is also our belief that these CPFs still have critical roles to play in building and sustaining partnership and cooperation between communities and the members of the South African Police Services. An amount of R 880 000 has been put aside for projects relating to the revival, strengthening and capacity building for CPFs.

7.2 PARTNERSHIP WITH LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Mr Speaker,

We further believe that Local Government should play a more active role in developing and strengthening crime prevention at local level, thus we intend to pilot two projects on community safety forums whose purpose is to bring all resources for community safety under one umbrella. That is why strong and active CPFs are vital. In the next financial year my department will be meeting with all five district municipalities and most local municipalities to discuss their involvement in issues of policing.

As decision-makers, it is essential that Councillors demonstrate their commitment to crime prevention through one or more of the following:

Supporting the inclusion of crime prevention strategies in the municipalities' Integrated Development Plans;
Supporting the introduction of crime impact statements to accompany proposed policies;
Supporting the inclusion of crime prevention as one of the key result areas in the performance agreements for the municipal managers and senior staff;
Supporting the establishment of the internal crime prevention committees as contemplated in Section 79 & 80 of the Municipal Structures Act (Act No. 117 of 1998);
Supporting the active participation of the municipalities in the Community Policing Forums; and
Supporting the mobilisation and active participation of the communities in crime prevention.

I would like to express the Government's gratitude to the Motheo District Municipality for funding the purchase of the victim care packages that were distributed to all police stations in the Motheo jurisdictional area. The packages (comprising soaps, toothbrushes, toothpastes, face towels, women accessories, etc.) were supplied to the victims of rape and sexual abuse.

One of the key challenges facing us is the issue of policing in the informal settlement areas because in some of these areas, informal houses are not numbered; consequently there are no recordable residential addresses.

Not only is the numbering of residential places important for policing purposes, it is undeniably necessary for the provision of the emergency service as well. This demonstrates the critical importance of sustaining partnership between the Department of Safety, Security and Liaison, the South African Police Services, the Community Policing Forums and the municipalities.

8. RECRUITMENT AND CAPACITY BUILDING

When the Peoples' Contract was signed, the ANC emphasised, among other things, that it would seek to "deploy more than 150 000 police in active duty with more visible policing".

Councillors, religious leaders and other prominent South Africans are therefore requested to encourage members of the community to join the reservists in the SAPS. Sector policing provides an ideal opportunity for community involvement in local safety and security needs, in the form of participation in the Sector Crime Forums and police-community projects at sector level.

The policy on the South African Reserve Police Service has opened more doors for community involvement by specifically creating a category for community members wanting to be involved in sector policing. Reservists can be utilised in the following categories:

Category A: Functional policing, which entails, among other things, performing functions in all operational facets of policing and will be trained in relevant aspects of functional policing;
Category B: Support Services, which entails, among other things, performing specific support functions and will receive training in legal aspects;
Category C: Specialised functional policing, which covers, among other things, advanced operational skills or expertise and will receive further training.

A total number of 176 new employees were enlisted in the SAPS in the 2003/04 financial year. They were all deployed to the Presidential and Priority police stations. A total number of 442 functional police officials and 291 civilian personnel will be recruited this financial year into the SAPS as our demonstrable commitment to the eradication of crime in the Free State.

9. COMMUNICATION
Mr Speaker, the success of our work is in part dependant on our ability to communicate with the public at large. Accordingly, the Department has established a Communications Directorate, which will, among other things, coordinate the Public Education Programmes comprising:

Development, implementation and popularisation of the Departmental external communication strategy;
Awareness projects on fraud and corruption;
Promotion of community-police relations through the CPFs and sector policing structures;
Awareness programme on the prevention of violence and abuse of women and children.

10. SERIOUS CRIMES IN THE FREE STATE

Serious crimes such as murder, rape, armed robbery etc., are a plague to any community. We are highly indebted to the Free State communities and the SAPS for the successful arrest of 285 individuals, 16 life imprisonments and the jail sentences totalling 1237 years meted out against the criminals. There will be an intensification of the efforts on serious crimes during this financial year.

I need to express the Government's strongest contempt for the objectionable slaying of the police personnel who continuously endeavour to create safe environment under trying conditions. The death of a single policeperson, is death too many, and all of us, without exception, cannot distance ourselves from such heinous deeds.

Equally, we need to detest the killing of members of the farming community (both farm workers and farmers) who diligently and tirelessly play an important role in the provision of food. Our Constitution informs us that any form of murderous behaviour should not be condoned either for political, religious or other reason whatsoever. Each one of us has an undisputed right to life.

11. CONCLUSION

In conclusion; the struggle to attain peace and stability in our country and province continues. We will do everything in our power to help realise the peoples' ideals for peace, stability and friendship as enshrined in the Freedom Charter because the creation of a better life for all includes the safety and security of our citizens.

Thank you.

Issued by: Department of Safety, Security & Liaison, Free State Provincial Government
10 June 2004