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30 August 2007

Introduction

Various elements of the Justice Crime Prevention and Security Cabinet cluster, regarding the project for social mobilisation against crime, are in place. The mobilisation springs from the concept of community policing that the government is advancing to prevent and combat crime.

At the centre of the strategy is the centralisation of community participation, alongside the police, in the fight against crime.

Partnerships

The period under review was characterised by a number of interactive programmes that featured the JCPS cluster and various stakeholders.

Meetings were held with the National Community Policing Consultative Forum (NCPCF) that represents the 1 072 Community Policing Forums (CPFs) across the country. The purpose of the meetings was to discuss:

* the reshaping of the CPFs to give them more powers and resources
* recasting of the CPFs as the co-ordinators of the partnership between the communities and the police, and to properly define the programme to mobilise communities to participate fully in community policing.

The NCPCF has drafted a document that will be discussed by the JCPS. The document raises strategic questions that will improve the effort to mobilise communities.

The CPFs will be empowered to help root the police among the people, identify within the communities trustworthy and capable persons to be recruited into the police reservist service, and also mobilise volunteers who can assist the police in certain areas of policing, including trauma counselling for victims of domestic violence and the abuse of women and children.

The recruitment of 7 665 new reservists during the review period has raised to more than 45 000 the number of police reservists in the country. The new recruits include 80 former commando members. At least 12 536 reservists were called up for crime fighting operations during the reporting period.

The partnership between government and the business sector is also working very well. The last meeting between the two sides was held on 4 August. A report of the work that is being done in terms of that partnership was given last Thursday to President Thabo Mbeki, at his meeting with the Big Business Working Group, at Tuynhuys, Cape Town.

The government-business partnership has been divided into four working groups that deal with organised crime, define strategies to improve capacity across the Criminal Justice System and to articulate programmes to mobilise broader society to participate in crime prevention and combating. Senior officials from both government and business constitute the core functionaries in the implementation of the decisions that are taken by the Government-Business Anti-Crime Leadership Forum, as the partnership is called.

During the current reporting period, the partnership concentrated on aggravated robberies, with particular focus on vehicle hijackings, business and house robberies, all of which showed an increase in the last financial year. Both sides have committed more human and financial resources to boost their work.

Discussions between the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the private security industry have gone well and will be finalised soon where a framework will be created for the harmonisation and alignment of the work the two groups do in crime prevention and combating, especially with respect to cash-in-transit heists.

SAPS are assisting at least five major security companies in aligning their work with the dictates of the country's labour policies and guidelines.

Business Against Crime (BAC), which has had a partnership with the police for more than ten years, continues to be the co-ordinator of the resources that the business sector is committing to the project.

The BAC National Vehicle Crime Project, that includes the microdotting of vehicles as a measure against vehicle theft, was among programmes that were consolidated during the current reporting cycle. Government and the business sector are discussing a best practice model for motor vehicle registration and licensing to reduce fraud and corruption in that environment.

Crime prevention and public safety

Between May and June the law enforcement agencies mounted 2 920 crime prevention operations which included roadblocks, stop and search, vehicle patrols, searches for firearms, persons who are on the SAPS wanted persons list, and stolen vehicles. The operations resulted in the recovery of 2 492 vehicles, 1 917 firearms and the confiscation of 19 829 kilograms of Cannabis. The operations had a dual purpose: crime prevention and combating as well as promoting mass awareness and vigilance.

There were also successes in relation to contact crimes. A total of 27 139 arrests were effected, whereof 1 616 were for murder, 845 for attempted murder, 3 807 for robbery with aggravating circumstances, 2 063 for rape and 198 for attempted rape, 6 141 for common assault, 12 185 for serious assault, and 284 for indecent assault.

We have also continued to improve the capacity of our officials in detective work which has been introduced as part of basic training while some members of the SAPS were trained on handling special categories of crime like family violence and crimes against children.

The cluster has become a partner in the definition and implementation of the Integrated Development Plans of municipalities, especially the Urban Renewal and Integrated and Sustainable Rural Development Programme (ISRDP).

We are strengthening the partnership between organised crime investigators and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to ensure appropriate guidance of investigators and to improve conviction rates in this category. The co-ordination helped to arrest 4 organised crime syndicate leaders and 61 runners. Co-ordinated raids across the country netted 217 criminals who deal in precious metals, 101 were arrested for drugs and 36 for vehicle theft.

We are also improving security in public transport facilities with 1 200 railway police deployed nationally while the establishment of contact points at various train stations is progressing well. The New Canada and Durban police contact points have been opened and are working. Rapid progress is being made regarding some stations in Johannesburg, Tshwane, Mabopane, Dennebom and KwaMashu.

International Co-operation

South Africa has deployed more than 3 000 soldiers in five countries on the Continent for peacekeeping and security operations as we intensify conflict resolution, reconstruction and development in Africa under the aegis of the African Union.

Cabinet has approved the deployment of five senior military officials under the leadership of Lieutenant General Gilbert Ramano (retired) in Uganda in support of former Mozambican president, Joachim Chissano, who is mediating between the Ugandan government and the Lord's Resistance Movement.

Our soldiers and police are continuing to be involved in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Eritrea–Ethiopia and Sudan–Darfur.

Joint operations across borders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region have recovered over 850 vehicles that were stolen from South Africa. The Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Co-operation Organisation (SARPCCO) has redoubled its effort to deal with cross border crime. High on their agenda are crimes that might impact negatively on preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Sustained efforts to build an all Africa Correctional Services Association (ACSA) have borne fruit as the 8th Conference of Eastern, Southern and Central African heads of Correctional Services endorsed the decision at a conference a few weeks ago that was held in Swaziland. This marked a major breakthrough which will ensure effective co-ordination between African Countries on Correctional Services delivery.

Twenty-two counties agreed on the establishment of an Interim Executive Council (IEC) of heads of Correctional Services and a Ministerial Council of ACSA Champion (MINCAC) that will drive the process towards the launch of the ACSA in March 2008. South Africa leads the secretariat and will host the first meeting of the structure in November 2007.

We are also assisting in building capacity in Africa and the world in the field of witness protection. Our Witness Protection Unit (WPU) completed in July the review of the draft United Nations (UN) Guidelines on the matter. We also conducted training on witness protection best practices to officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC). We are assisting Kenya in setting up their WPU structure following the enacting of their witness protection law. There are other requests for assistance from other parts of the Continent that Cabinet is looking at.

Review of the Criminal Justice System (CJS)

The report on the Review of the Criminal Justice System has been finalised and will be submitted to Cabinet soon.

The review seeks substantially and in a sustainable manner to improve investigation and adjudication, including improvements in case flow management and reduced case cycle times, of criminal matters throughout the Criminal Justice System.

The review has brought up matters that will require particular attention to administrative issues and well as some changes to our law that will be necessary as we consolidate the system of justice.

There are aspects of the review that are already receiving attention and where changes have been effected. They include the adoption of the e-Scheduler, which is a new electronic court management system that covers every court to which prosecutors, judicial officers, detectives and court personnel, who administer the court processes, will have access to. Already, 3 852 users have been registered.

An upgrade has been done to 1 208 Court Rooms that include 222 High Court rooms, where the old manual court recording system has been replaced by an advanced digital recording system. The video postponement of cases is being rolled out by the provision of high quality multi-protocol communication links between court rooms and Correctional Services facilities.

There are 40 courts and 22 Correctional Centres that have been identified to benefit from the project. A successful pilot project that was undertaken at Durban Westville laid the foundation for the roll out.

The further capacitation in terms of the changes that are being effected has included the employment by the Department of Justice of 162 court managers and six operations directors. The Department of Correctional Services has created 525 junior and middle management positions to ensure effective supervision and improved service delivery. The department has also recruited more staff. Over 4 000 graduates will receive their certificates in September.

The Department of Home Affairs has recruited 229 members as part of the department's strategy to build an effective National Immigration Branch.

The Department of Justice designed a programme recently to accelerate the appointment of women to judicial positions. The effort has already seen 19 women lawyers from the magistracy and the private sector undergoing training towards that end. The project seeks to provide accelerated development to selected participants for possible appointment as judges or acting judges to address the under-representation of women in the judiciary. It is further intended to establish a wider skills pool from which women judges of all races can be drawn.

The Department of Justice, in partnership with the South African Women Lawyers Association (SAWLA) hosted the inaugural 'Access to Justice Week' aimed at expanding access to justice to those who cannot afford legal services by giving free legal advice. Hundreds of women lawyers gave free advice at various designated points across the country, with particular emphasis on rural areas.

SAWLA will be officially inaugurated at a conference to be held at the Sandton Convention Centre from tomorrow. The conference will bring together women lawyers to have a dialogue on the transformation of the sector as well as issues affecting women on matters of justice.

Civilian Intelligence

Various steps have been taken to develop training interventions for the intelligence community to meet the challenges posed by a rapidly changing world.

The Musanda Satellite Campus in Pretoria has been renovated to cater for short courses, workshops, seminars and colloquiums. Partnerships are being formed with tertiary and other institutions for the enhancement of the training of intelligence officers.

The National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee (NICOC) established nine interdepartmental project teams incorporating representatives from a range of government departments, to create a channel for the deposition of information across government.

A new high-tech building of the Electronic Communications Security Company (COMSEC), the first of its kind in Africa, will be opened at the end of this year. COMSEC already has a fully-equipped security operations centre. The objective of the centre is to protect critical information and communications infrastructure of government from unauthorised access and attack.

Issued by: Government Communications (GCIS)
30 August 2007