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13 May 2008

Introduction

The Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster of government continues to implement the decisions of Cabinet to establish a new, modernised, efficient and transformed Criminal Justice System (CJS).

At the heart of the revamped CJS is commitment to enhance the provision of quality and professional services including the dispensation of swift, equitable and fair justice as well as to boost the integrity of the criminal justice system.

The redesigned system, as we indicated at the media briefing on February 19, will be characterised by a seamless interlink between the police, prosecuting authority and corrections underpinned by focused and successful investigations and arrests, prosecutions and adjudication and a better system of detention, which would alleviate the problem of overcrowding and result in an enhanced system of rehabilitation.

The revamped CJS, therefore, is intended as a springboard to deal with all manner of crimes, especially of the serious and violent kind as well as organised crime.

Serious and violent crime

The JCPS cluster will give a progress report to Cabinet at the July Lekgotla on the work the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) is doing on behalf of government to establish why crime in South Africa is often accompanied by excessive violence. The CSVR was assigned the responsibility at the beginning of last year. The final report will be submitted to government at the end of this year.

An interim report is due this month which will cover some case studies from interviews done with inmates who are serving sentences relating to violence and violence involving young people. The next interim report, which will be submitted in due course, will deal with violence and sexual abuse against women.

The final report, therefore, will be discussed by Cabinet at the January Lekgotla next year.

The work by the JCPS continues to reduce the levels of contact crimes like murder, rape, indecent and serious and violent assault. The statistics published in December last year on the first six months of the 2007/08 Financial Year (1 April - 30 September 2007) indicated a steady decline in contact crimes.

Organised crime

Organised crime continues to be a big challenge. We made this point clear in the last media briefing on February 19 and indicated, among other things, that we were revising our strategy to combat organised crime. We said we would use the review of the Criminal Justice System to realign the entities of state that are involved in the fight against organised crime. We said:

"We will suggest to Cabinet the establishment of an organised crime machinery that will have better priority-setting mechanisms to prevent gaps and undue overlaps in the fight against organised crime. The arrangement will also see the creation of a common pool for sharing information and other enabling resources.

"Our proposal, therefore, is to create a team that will work in the best collective traditions to fight organised crime. That team will be an amalgamation of the best investigators of both the DSO and the police Organised Crime Unit. Other investigators will be recruited elsewhere to give the new structure adequate capacity."

We approached Cabinet who, on April 30, approved the General Law Amendment Bill, 2008, which seeks to establish the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI). The DPCI will replace the DSO and the Organised Crime Unit and Commercial Branch of the police.

The Notice of Intention to introduce the bill, in terms of the relevant parliamentary laws, was published in the Gazette on May 9, after tabling in parliament on May 7. The bill has been submitted to the State Law Advisers for certification.

Criminal Justice Review

President Mbeki has appointed the Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mr Johnny de Lange, to be the political champion of the revamped CJS. His work, in the main, will be to coordinate, on behalf of the JCPS cluster, all the component parts of the CJS and ensure that they all work together to produce the desired results.

Some elements of the changes to the CJS are already in place. The modernisation of our court system has seen an extension to the Port Elizabeth and New Brighton courts of the audio-visual postponement project linking the courts to the St Albans Correctional Centre. The project, which allows for case postponements by video-conferencing, was piloted in Durban.

Part of the modernisation also allows for bail to be paid at any court nationally and not only at the court where the awaiting trial detainee appears. The system, therefore, creates the possibility for family members who live far away to pay bail at the courts where they live. This system will reduce the number of awaiting trial detainees in correctional centres, who are admitted to bail but cannot pay.

The number and value of asset forfeiture against criminals increased during the period under review. The value of new cases was R3.2 million. Good progress has been made in the development of asset forfeiture jurisprudence.

The cluster is redesigning the witness protection programme to ensure the safety of witnesses. The programme is crucial in the investigations the law enforcement agencies are running.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) adopted in the period under review a set of organisational principles that it has enjoined its personnel to embrace to deliver an excellent, professional and credible service based on integrity and accountability. The NPA is also establishing a programme management office which will manage and support all NPA projects.

A tender has been awarded for the development of a capacity model which will enable the NPA to determine the optimal capacity required effectively to fulfil its constitutional mandate.

The establishment of the Probation Service Coordination Forum has helped to reduce the number of children in correctional services facilities in the country. The intervention is designed drastically to reduce that number and ensure that children in conflict with the law are taken to secure places of safety.

Partnerships Against Crime

The project to build partnerships against crime continues to produce good results. Many communities have joined various anti-crime campaigns and where the partnerships with the police have taken root, crime levels in those areas have gone down.

The Presidential Working Groups, which include the business, labour and religious sectors, have become part of the fight against crime.

The National Religious Leaders Forum will meet with the JCPS on 19 June to finalise their joint project to prevent social crime, which accounts for the biggest portion of contact crime.

The National Religious Leaders held a workshop on March 3 on social crime prevention. The meeting and a subsequent meeting on March 11, agreed to establish a formal and structured partnership with the police.

A report was submitted to the President yesterday when he met with the National Religious Leaders.

Cooperation agreements exist between South Africa’s law enforcement agencies and several countries across the globe. A delegation from the Netherlands, led by former Dutch national commissioner of Police Services, Mr Peter van Zunderd, is in South Africa this week. Their visit is connected to the bilateral cooperation agreement signed with the Netherlands early this year.

The agreement includes the following broad areas of cooperation:

* improvement of the quality of policing through exchange police training programmes
* improving the quality and standards of integrity within the law enforcement agencies
* improvement in the project to address domestic violence, community policing, crime prevention and reduction, organised crime combating, corruption and border control
* the provision of safety and security at major events, including the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Upholding national security

Border control continues to receive serious attention from the cluster. A new mobile cargo scanner has been installed at the Durban harbour. The technology will curb the smuggling of illegal and counterfeit goods into the country. The scanner is the first of eighteen to be introduced at different ports.

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has converted to the e-government service system in the delivery of its products, using the HANIS system. Most of the programmes that form part of the HANIS have been completed or are at advanced stages to completion. Some of the Home Affairs projects include:

Late birth registration

New processes for the late registration of births came into effect on 1 May 2008. The processes will close the loopholes that have allowed people to obtain South African Birth Certificates through fraudulent means. About 1 700 DHA officials have already been trained in the new system.

Refugees and permits

Significant steps have been taken to ease congestion and speed up the Asylum Seekers Registration Process in Cape Town. The Cape Town office was able in February to process 300 Section 22 Permits in a single day. In the Rosettenville office in Johannesburg has been closed down and all asylum matters are dealt with at Crown Mines, which will be transformed into a Centre of Excellence for the registration of asylum seekers.

E-passport System

The project to develop and implement the E-passport system is incorporated into the 55 turn-around projects for 2008 at the Department of Home Affairs. The project charter has been completed and is under consideration for approval. The Government Printing Works has secured an interim production site and a Hi-Tech printer has been procured. The specifications for the capturing, enrolment and personalisation are currently being developed.

Issued by: Government Communications (GCIS)
13 May 2008