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27 January 2009

Greetings

It is a great privilege and honour for me to address you on this important occasion to celebrate the advances we continue to make in the effort to achieve the safety and security of all the people of our land.

Last week our country received the shocking news of the brutal killing of Inkosi uZondi, a descendant of one of the bravest and greatest leaders who fought against colonial occupation, uBhambatha KaMancinza. This heinous crime perpetrated against one of our country's eminent citizens and leaders can only serve to strengthen our resolve to defeat crime.

We would like to convey our deepest sympathies to the family, friends and relatives of iNkosi uZondi, as well as the people of uMsinga, KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa as a whole.

Since 1994, we have as a people, joined hands in the national effort to realise in practice, democracy, non-racialism, non-sexism, unity and the goal of a better life for all.

Working together as a people, we set ourselves the tasks of:
* Healing the divisions of the past and establishing a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights.
* Laying the foundations for a democratic society in which government is based on the will of the people and every citizen is equally protected by law;
* Improving the quality of life of all citizens and freeing the potential of each person.
* Building a united and democratic South Africa able to take its rightful place as a sovereign state in the family of nations.

As we set out to realise these noble goals, we were not under any illusion that their achievement would be easy. We knew that the road ahead would be arduous and long. We knew that along the way, there would be storms, zigzags and tumbles. We knew that there would be times when the faint hearted would lose hope, and would scream that we had gone off course.

We however, had absolute faith in our collective strength and believed that working together, no challenge would be insurmountable. We knew that steadily but surely, we will realise the goal of a better life for all.

Looking back today, there is no doubt that despite the remaining challenges, our country and its people continue to score successes and, it indeed fills us with a great sense of pleasure and satisfaction that, the South African Police Service (SAPS) has and continues to be a reliable and effective contributor to our nation's collective achievements.

Right from the birth of our country's democracy, the SAPS has been there to ensure the smooth hosting of major events. Among others, we have played host and welcomed into our shores, the Commonwealth Heads of State, the Rugby World Cup, the Africa Cup of Nations, the African Games, the World Summit on Sustainable Development and, the Cricket World Cup.

In all of these, the SAPS have been there and have performed in a commendable manner. When our country holds national elections earlier this year, when it hosts the FIFA Confederation Cup, when the 2010 FIFA World Cup is held next year and, when our country holds local government elections in 2010, our country knows that the SAPS, as we have done in the past, will be there to make a contribution in the effort aimed at enabling South Africa to take its rightful place as a sovereign state in the family of nations.

When our various political parties contest the upcoming elections to renew their democratic mandate, they know that the SAPS will be among the committed contributors to help our country to deepen the establishment of a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights.

We commend and salute the SAPS on the work it has done to help our country to shape itself into a nation united in action in pursuit of the goal of a better life for all.

Today as we celebrate the successes of the South African Police Services' crime prevention and combating programmes, we are convinced that, despite the weaknesses that occasionally make our travel rough and slippery, the overwhelming weight of evidence indicates that we do so standing on a higher pedestal.

As we commemorate and salute the lives of those of our members who paid the ultimate price as they worked to ensure the safety and security of every South African, we are certain that their selfless contribution has bequeathed on us a better police service and a better country.

The highly commendable efforts of our previous ministers, including our current Deputy Minister Ms Susan Shabangu, as well as the efforts of past and present top SAPS leadership, are highly appreciated, and without their untiring efforts, zeal and energy, we certainly would not be where we are today.

We pay tribute to the unsung heroes, the millions of South Africans who in various ways and on daily basis assist the police to perform effectively their crime-fighting responsibilities. They give practical expression and life to the view that the creation of peace and stability in our land must, while led by the police, however be co-owned by broader society.

In the fight against crime, we must deepen and promote partnerships with communities.

Many organisations and institutions continue to contribute and provide support in various ways to our law enforcement agencies. Among these are to be found big and small businesses and organisations including Prime Media, Business Against Crime, the SABC, Community Policing Forums, non-governmental organisations, religious groupings, chiefs and izinduna.

This partnership tide is gaining momentum and it remains the most ominous indication to criminals signalling that the days of their parasitic activities are indeed numbered. Our collective efforts continue to bear fruits. Operation festive season has largely been a success. We are on course to achieve government’s objective of reducing serious and violent crime by seven to ten percent. In this regard, some stations have achieved better than the targeted reductions whilst others have not. We need to compare experiences, learn from each other as we continually evolve best practices.

In 2008 the SAPS recovered just over 15 000 firearms. In the same year, 12 650 firearms were reported lost or stolen. During day-to-day operations 118 514 firearms were destroyed. In 2009 the SAPS aim to recover 85% of all lost or stolen firearms, thereby addressing the proliferation of firearms in South Africa.

Our commitment to fighting organised crime is unwavering. In this regard, initiatives between the National Prosecuting Service and the SAPS Organised Crime component have resulted in eighty two (82) organised crime groups facing prosecution in terms of the prevention of Organised Crime Act.

To date fifty five (55) cases have been prosecuted, and convictions secured in thirty (30) of the cases whilst twenty five (25) are still pending trial. A further twenty seven (27) cases are in the process of going for trial. In 2008, one hundred and thirty two (132) organised crime Projects were investigated resulting in the arrest of four hundred and seventy (470) syndicate members. Outside of the Organised Crime Project Investigation process a total of 4005 suspects were arrested during 2008 and 768 convictions were achieved.

The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act came into effect on 16 December 2007 and has allowed the SAPS to address crimes such as the grooming of a child for sexual exploitation. The definition of rape now also includes the sexual exploitation of boys or men without their consent. The use of objects during non-consenting sexual acts has also been criminalised. As a results of these amendments offenders who previously could escape justice, are now being brought to book. Detectives continue to be placed on Specialised Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Detective Learning Programmes.

We continue with the effort to place specialised capacity at police stations to ensure access by victims of family, child and sexual related crimes to expert services. In an effort to progressively improve the capacity of the SAPS to perform its functions, the number of employees will increase from approximately 165 000 members to 193 000 by the end of 2009/10. This will be complemented by the expansion of the vehicle fleet, equipment supplies, technological infrastructure, and reservists.

We must mention that we have taken note of some of the challenges relating to reservists. We shall, as a matter of urgency, engage with all the relevant stakeholders to ensure an amicable resolution of the issues. We would like to encourage the public to interact with the police through its police website. Through the website, the public can liaise directly with all police stations to enquire about progress made in the investigation of cases, provide information on crimes committed, criminal activity, wanted suspects, missing persons, corrupt activities, and poor service delivery. This can be done anonymously by visiting the website (http://www.saps.org.za).

Let us ACT - Against Crime Together - and report information in regard to crime, for example, drug trafficking, the illegal possession of firearms and stolen goods, violence against women and children, rape and sexual offences and the reporting of persons suspected of being involved in criminal activity. This can be done anonymously to the SAPS Crime Stop Line 08600 10111 or saps website, http://www.saps.gov.za or Crime Line 3221.

Despite the successes we continue to score, ahead of us still lie numerous challenges. A combination of issues whose contents are cross-cutting, including effective monitoring and management of our borderlines, cross-border organized crime, the presence in the country of unregistered foreign nationals, the absence of extradition agreements with certain countries and others, all combine to make the work of the police even more complex and challenging.

Furthermore, in our country it has by now been widely acknowledged that a significant part of violent and serious crimes occur among acquaintances. This makes it unlikely that our programmes and operations, including intelligence operations, would have been targeted to families, relatives, friends and acquaintances.

In this context, many among our critics across the political, broader societal and media spectra fail to appreciate these complexities. The nature of these and other complexities strengthen the validity of the call to all of society to recognise that the roots of crime run much deeper into the social fabric of societies such that the fight against crime should, while led by the police, be truly regarded as the task of all the people.

We would like to express our pride in our police service. We convey our thanks to the National Commissioner, Deputy National Commissioners, Provincial Commissioners, the members, women and men in uniform, reservists and CPFs, we salute you all and thank you for the service you provide to our country and its people.

I thank you.

Issued by: Ministry of Safety and Security
27 January 2009