APPROPRIATION
BILL
(Second Reading Debate)
Vote
– 10 Department of Safety and Security - R70 341 000
#The ACTING SPEAKER: Any Statements? None. We proceed with Motions. Motion 1 reads as follows:
That the Second Reading
Debate on the Appropriation Bill be continued.
The Vote before the House is that of Safety
and Security.
The hon MEC.
[Applause]
Mr
M. C. MOKITLANE (MEC): Hon Acting Speaker, hon Premier in absentia, hon Members, members of the
Management of the South African Police Service in the Free State, members of
the Departmental management, representatives of the Community Policing Forums
and Area Boards, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. In a recent survey conducted by the Kaizer
Family Foundation, children between
the ages of 13 and 17 were questioned about issues that are of utmost concern
to them. These young children identified
crime as the one spectre in our society - eclipsing even HIV/Aids - which
hovers like a sword over their necks and prevents their from self-fulfilment.
Our task then is to ensure that this ominousness,
which is a product of criminality pervading our society, is removed in order to
afford the future generation a chance to grow up in conditions of peace and
stability, a chance to play, learn and experience their childhood without
trauma and a chance to focus on those things that will lead to self-development
and towards responsible citizenship.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Government is
committed to realising an environment in which the rape of women with impunity,
brutal murders that sometimes take place in our communities, the continued
abuse of women and children and the entire spectrum of criminal activities
which haunt us, are foreign.
The Government is committed in ensuring that people:
·
Who tie
other human beings behind their bakkies
and drag them for kilometres to their death;
·
Who hang
four-year olds by their necks from rafters;
·
Who
murder their neighbours because their dogs bark at night, even though they have
dogs that bark;
·
Who
murder SAPS members, because of calcified racist attitudes which they openly
display;
·
Who
murder SAPS members exercising their lawful duties;
·
Who, in
the stealth of the night and the silence of the day, pounce and murder
unsuspecting farmers and farm workers;
·
Who whip
and tie the vulnerable farm workers around poles and petrol tanks after hunting
them down like outlaws;
·
Who in
the thick of the cold winter night evict farm workers, because of their
vulnerability;
·
Who cause
injury and kill business people who try to make a living and provide much
needed employment to the millions of the unemployed;
·
Those who
rob workers of their hard-earned, but meagre wages,
are removed from society and receive punishment commensurate to
their criminality.
The
President of the country, the hon Mr Thabo Mbeki, echoed this commitment on the
occasion of his State of the Nation Address on
·
The
necessary attention and resources to the 124 priority police stations in the
country of which 13 are in the
·
To give
the necessary assistance to Metropolitan Councils to enable them to establish
their municipal police services where these do not exist;
·
To reduce
and eliminate the unduly large backlog of cases that have not been tried;
·
To find a
solution to the problem of overcrowding in our prisons caused especially by the
large number of awaiting-trial prisoners;
·
An
increase in intelligence resources dedicated to the fight against corruption
and, where necessary, the expansion of the existing anti-corruption units;
·
To train
3 000 people and recruit about 600 to specialise in the issue of crime
information; and
·
To
encourage further community involvement in the fight against crime, which will
include the recruitment of 30 000 reservists, especially in the already
identified high-crime areas.
Programmes
will have to be facilitated by my Department to ensure that the above matters
are addressed.
DIRECTORATE
MONITORING AND EVALUATION
The SAPS’ Provincial Operational Plan and Operation
Crackdown
To this effect during the last year, my Department
was actively involved in the Provincial Operational Plan of the South African
Police Service, which was launched on
This very comprehensive Plan afforded my Department
a measuring tool to evaluate service delivery by the SAPS in this
Province. The plan had to be implemented
concurrently with Operation Crackdown, which was conceived at national level
and had to be implemented by
Both the SAPS’ Provincial Plan and Operation
Crackdown ran successfully from their inception until August 2000, when it had
to be scaled down in favour of providing security to ensure free and fair
elections in December 2000. Remarkable
successes were achieved with Operation Crackdown.
Given that, up to this
stage, no announcement has been made regarding the future of this Operation
from national level, my Department will continue
assessing the SAPS’ performance in terms of Operation Crackdown, which is in
essence a visible policing initiative.
The Department will further sensitise the SAPS to the necessity of
continuing with visible policing.
This will be achieved through continuous attendance
of the Provincial Crime Combating Forums (PCCF) and Provincial Operations
Co-ordinating Committee meetings, during which links were also established
during the past year. These activities
will not impact on our Department's Budget.
Monitoring
and Evaluation
My Department has compiled a document to be used in
carrying out inspections and reviews at police stations to assess service
delivery of the SAPS at local level.
This project was piloted during the latter part of
the past financial year and our Department will continue to identify negative
trends and concerns for possible intervention and redress. The idea is to visit each police station
twice this year, although the Department realises that to be able to do this,
additional human resources will be needed.
My Department also intends to establish a section to
deal especially with complaints against the SAPS or individual members within
the SAPS. This proposed section will set
up a call centre for the registration of all complaints and will conduct
independent investigations ensuring transparency and accountability. The call centre will also be responsible for
keeping the National Secretariat of Safety and Security informed about the
nature of complaints as part of the National Monitoring Framework.
Community/Police
Relations
The need for Community Policing Forums cannot be
over-emphasised. However, the sustainability of CPFs is hampered by a number of
factors.
In a
report - written by Neil Sammonds - which was funded by the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office of the
The compiler of the Report refers to research done
by Altbeker and Rauch, which also points out the different perspectives that
exist between blacks and whites about the nature and function of CPFs. According to this research, blacks place more
emphasis on oversight and whites on improving safety and security.
He attributes this to the previous relationship that
the two communities had with the South African Police Service - that there is a
greater emphasis of ameliorating socio-economic causes of crime on the part of
blacks and an inclination on the part of whites to keep crime and criminals out
of their areas. If this is true, it
points out a need to forge a common perspective and my Department will see this
as a niche to be addressed.
As part
of the Idasa/DFID project, community police forums (CPFs) were trained in local
service evaluation of police stations.
The purpose of this training was to empower members of CPFs to regularly
assess the service delivery rendered to communities at particular police
stations. Outcomes are discussed with
the relevant station commissioners with the view to improve the service
delivery.
Members of the CPFs were also trained to execute the
Community Visitors’ Scheme (CVS). In
terms of the CVS, members of CPFs visit police cells regularly to ensure
detainees are properly treated and that the SAPS properly supervise detainees
and cells. Information gathered during
these visits is discussed with the station commissioner with a view to improve
performance. Similar training was given
to communities in local social crime prevention by providing knowledge and
hands-on experience.
Only yesterday, we celebrated Human Rights Day. During apartheid uncountable and unspeakable
injustices against basic human rights were committed in police custody. This history must never repeat itself and,
through its monitoring function, the Department of Safety and Security is
pivotal in preventing these atrocities from ever occurring again.
My Department has also started a process to
visit all the community policing forums in the Province to assess their
functioning and existence. Where
necessary, these structures will be re-established to ensure maximum community
mobilisation against crime. This process
will be maintained until these structures are intact and operational.
In the past year several
social crime prevention projects were submitted by some of the CPFs requesting
funding from the Department. After
evaluation of the respective business plans, it was found that they do not
clearly conform to the criteria to justify funding. Since October 2000, my Department has been
consulting with the respective CPFs to redraft the business plans for
reconsideration of funding.
It is envisaged that the
Department will approve some plans during the new financial year and provide
financial assistance for the implementation thereof. At our Departmental strategic planning
workshop in February 2001, it was established that an estimated amount of R5
million is needed for only the 13 plans submitted. It is thus with this in mind that the
Department will have to be conscious of its new Budget allocation and its
decision to provide funding. However, we
will also have to look at donor funding to supplement the Budget in this
regard.
Other
relations and issues
During the early part of this year I will, together
with the Provincial Commissioner, be visiting the five new district councils in
the Province. The aim of this would be:
·
To give
the leadership at that level a crime pattern profile;
·
To
discuss with them the possible causes of crime in their areas;
·
To give
them information about the resource capacity of the SAPS in their areas;
·
To sensitise
them about their role as councils on matters of safety and security; and
·
To allow
them to sensitise us about community concerns.
It will be an intensive engagement that must create
structural linkages with my Department within the framework of PROVLOC.
Business Against Crime (BAC)
Business Against Crime
was established through the facilitation of the Department. One of the projects
that came out of that was the installation of additional Closed Circuit
Television Cameras (CCTV) in the central business districts (CBDs) of
In the new financial year my Department will focus
on the facilitation of other projects from this Multi-Agency Co-ordinating
Committee (MACC). Through these initiatives
a closer working relationship between the Department and the BAC structure will
be maintained.
The
Multi-Agency Co-ordinating Committee (MACC)
The MACC, established by the Executive Council in
terms of the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS), is still chaired by my
Department and is responsible for the facilitation and co-ordination of crime
prevention projects.
Other Departments’ continuous involvement in and
commitment to these projects in the next financial year are of the utmost
importance as some of these projects are aimed at supporting victims of crime,
identifying problem areas and developing proper plans and projects and
education and training programmes. Some
of these projects include:
Victim’s
Support Project
In terms of this project the Department of Social
Welfare is establishing victim support centres throughout the Province and is
providing training to community volunteers in the counselling of victims of
crime.
The
Department is part of a steering committee to establish family courts in the
Province. The importance of family
courts for the Department is due to the fact that it will provide the
possibility of early stage intervention in troubled families. This will
hopefully result in a decline in crimes that are being committed within the
domestic environment. Some of these
centres are similar to the Tshepong Victim Support Centre.
As a
result of the success of this initiative, my Department will emphasise the
creation of more centres throughout the Province in the new financial year.
Youth
development programme
This programme aims to mobilise and empower youths
against violence, criminal activities and substance abuse. The emphasis will be on reducing youth
involvement in crime and the creation of intervention programmes, for example,
skills development. Although the
Department will reserve funding for these programmes, donor funding will also
be sought.
Adopt-a-Cop
This project is done in conjunction with the
Department of Education and the SAPS, and within this programme 636 schools
throughout the Province have already established Adopt-a-cop projects.
Bohlokong
Gangs
There has been a problem regarding gangsterism in
Two projects were identified. One was a car wash project and the other was
a project to create parks and plant trees.
My Department is still exploring the possibility of getting funding from
private business to ensure that these projects are carried out.
My
Department and each and every Free Stater cannot afford or allow the phenomena
of gangsterism to raise its ugly head in our Province. There should be continuous vigilance to
detect this tendency and proper measures should be taken around that.
Other
Three possible projects, namely the case backlog at
criminal courts, the
Apart from this, the Department actively
participates with the National Crime Prevention Centre at National level, to
implement crime prevention projects on a national basis.
The abovementioned programmes and projects indicate
that the Department of Safety and Security’s involvement in these initiatives
can be linked mainly to administrative expenditure and, in the case of
projects, transfer payments, which in essence will put tremendous pressure on
the new Budget allocations.
Security
component
The Department upgraded the Security Support
Directorate to a full directorate. This
Directorate is responsible for ensuring a safe environment at buildings
occupied by the Free State Provincial Government.
Although the Executive Council took a resolution on
the prioritisation of security administration or manpower, this resolution was
not implemented as a result of the problems we face with regard to
funding. The Head of the Department and
the Director-General are currently in the process of ensuring that they
facilitate a process that would transfer the function of security
administration from my Department to other departments, with the control
function within the Premier’s Office.
Until this is finalised, my Department will still remain responsible for
security administration.
Investigation
team
We established an Investigation Team, which we
wanted to use for the purpose of ensuring that we reduce the number of
burglaries in Government buildings. This was established through interaction
with the Provincial Commissioner. A Task
Team was thus established and at present there is a crack down on syndicates
which may be operating within the precincts of Government buildings.
Subdivision:
Inspectorate
We have established a Subdivision called
‘Inspectorate’, which is responsible for:
·
carrying
out security inspections;
·
giving
security advice and assistance on request; and
·
monitoring security
services rendered by private contractors and in-house security.
We have
an Information Preservation Subdivision which is responsible for the
safekeeping of all classified information.
During
the previous financial year, the IT Department developed a security clearance
programme for this subdivision. A security
policy was also compiled and a total of 230 security clearances were dealt
with.
Training
Subdivision
We
continue to engage in training programmes in terms of conduct for the members
of this Security Administration Directorate.
Subdivision: Physical Security
In order to meet its objectives of effective and
efficient service delivery and access control at government buildings, this
section will concentrate on capacity building in supervisory and other key
positions. Uniforms, furniture and other
equipment will be purchased for purposes of enabling the men and women to do
their job well.
There is also a need for us to beef up our security
administration, because of the emergence of Multi-Purpose Community Centres
(MPCCs). The purpose of these MPCCs is to ensure access of communities to the
services of Government. There are others
that will be opened in the future at Botshabelo, Thaba Nchu and Zastron and the
result is that there is a lot of expensive equipment, which we will have to
safeguard.
Objectives
not achieved
Unfortunately we could not achieve our objective to
implement Resolution 143 of
Human
Resource Management
It is envisaged that a training development
programme will be implemented in the 2001/2002 financial year. All the outstanding performance appraisals
until
A personnel file audit to identify missing files was
done. One of this sub-directorate's
priorities for the 2001/2002 financial year will be to trace these files that
were lost and, where they cannot be found, to recreate them.
Provision
Administration
The procurement function was taken over from the
Office of the Premier in the 2000/2001 financial year. Due to personnel shortages all deadlines in
stocktaking could not be met. The
appointment of personnel is, however, subject to the decentralisation of
Security Administration in the 2001/2002 financial year.
Financial
Management
Implementation
of policies and procedures, for example, the implementation of the Public
Finance Management Act regarding a fraud prevention plan, risk management plan
and an internal audit plan will be handled in this financial year.
We have already conducted interviews with candidates
for Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and hope to make an appointment very soon.
Communication
To ensure that the Department is successfully
marketed, and all its personnel and the public stay informed about the plans
and achievements of the Department, it is envisaged that a bi-monthly
newsletter for the Department be launched.
Management
Information Systems (MISS)
It is also envisaged that, during the 2001/2002
financial year, the composition and implementation of an information technology
policy for the Department will be done.
BUDGET
ALLOCATION
My Budget, I think, is very clear. I am not going to touch on it. It has all the figures needed.
THE SAPS
IN THE
I wish to reflect upon the work done by the SAPS in
the
I have requested a detailed report on the activities
of the SAPS in the Province. This has
been made available to you, but I take this opportunity to give you a birds-eye
view of these activities.
As you are aware, the moratorium on the publication
of crime statistics is still operative and therefore I will not divulge any
statistics, but I just want to concentrate on the following:
Crime
prevention initiatives/operations
Under
Operation Crackdown many roadblocks and clean-up operations were launched,
which resulted in numerous arrests. In
all of these operations, crime intelligence played a major role and it is
evident that the SAPS managed to achieve and implement it effectively.
Besides
the initiatives under Operation Crackdown, the SAPS also launched several other
crime prevention projects/operations at Provincial and area level.
·
Operation
Daily aimed at addressing drug abuse and -trafficking;
·
Operation
Dealer, concentrating on the trade of stolen goods; and
·
Operation
Red Heart, concentrating on stock-theft in the Boshof, Petrusburg and Jacobsdal
areas.
In the
eastern
In the
northern
In co-operation with the Department of Social
Welfare and Education, the SAPS launched a project to address the high number
of street children in Welkom. After the
project was launched, a decrease in the number of street children was
experienced. In co-operation with the
Gold Fields Tavern Association, the SAPS in the Goldfields visit taverns on a
daily basis to address the relevant regulations as well as the serving of
liquor to under-aged and drunken clients.
Rural
Safety Plan
This plan is chaired by the SAPS and has as its
members, the SAPS, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), the
Security Committee of Free State Agriculture, the
Office of the MEC for Safety and Security, the Red Meat Producers’ Organisation,
Office of the Director: Public
Prosecutions and the Departments of Justice and Correctional Services.
The Rural Protection plan is executed within the
framework of the National Crime Prevention Strategy and relevant NOCOC
instructions. The aim is to implement a
concept for rural protection in order to ensure community protection and
thereby enable the population to defend themselves.
The Rural Safety Plan addresses farm attacks outside
municipal boundaries. It focuses on
attacks with the intent of murder, rape, robbery and/or infliction of bodily
harm on farmers and farm workers.
Judging by the incidents reported to my Office, I
can say that the SAPS managed to apprehend the suspects in cases of rural crime
very swiftly. However, my Department
will have to assess the representation of farm workers on this Forum and their
roles and responsibilities in terms of the Plan.
Sector Policing
With the implementation of Sector Policing, the SAPS
managed to enhance visible policing as well as greater community
involvement. This concept is already
operational in 63 police stations in the Province and the remainder of the
stations will be targeted during the financial year.
The SAPS together with the National Intelligence
Agency (NIA), SANDF and the South African Secret Service (SASS) also forms an
advisory committee, which regularly briefs the Premier and other provincial
clients on all current and long-term aspects pertaining to National and Provincial security.
Vehicles
Since my appointment as MEC for Safety and Security,
I have visited more than 60 police stations in the Province.
With the exception of a few, the plight of all the
stations was a lack of vehicles. It is
thus encouraging to know that during the past financial year, 278 vehicles were
ordered and of these, 269 were delivered.
All these vehicles have been allocated in terms of priorities and needs.
Transformation
A Transformation Committee was established by the
Provincial Commissioner to oversee and monitor transformation of the SAPS in
the Province. The Committee comprises of
the SAPS, management, the office of the MEC for Safety and Security and
organised labour.
The current level of representation in the SAPS in
the Province is 68% black and 32% white.
In terms of gender, the breakdown is 81% male and 19%
female. These percentages represent the
staff complement of 9 468 personnel, which include SAPS and Public Service
Administration Personnel.
During the last year a total of 2 829 members were
promoted. The current representation at
senior management level is 60,71% black and 39,29%
white compared to 42,86% and 52,14% respectively on
Training
Various
programmes aimed at the continuous development of all personnel are in
place.
In the previous financial year a total of 168
training courses were conducted and 3 384 people were trained and 284 people
were nominated and underwent training in specialised courses presented outside
the Province.
Morale-building
Numerous morale-building initiatives were introduced,
which include different sporting codes.
The SAPS is also involved in the National HIV/Aids programme. In total, 20 "peer educators" were
trained to create HIV/Aids awareness. These educators have been able to reach 2
750 members with their HIV/AIDS awareness messages since January 2000.
Suicide Prevention
A
Suicide Prevention Programme is currently being presented in the Province,
which, inter alia, makes provision
for the establishment of a database for statistical analysis with regard to suicide,
the introduction of support professions and a Crisis Line for police officials
as well as workshops in life-skills for members of the SAPS. During 2000, 18 members committed suicide.
Termination of Service
A total of 351 members left the service due to
voluntary discharge, resignation, medical unfitness, death, dishonourable
discharge and voluntary severance packages.
These figures include 192 African males, five African females, 102 white
males, 44 white females, seven coloured males and one coloured female.
Provincial Inspectorate
The Provincial Inspectorate was established during
2000 to:
·
Promote
effective service delivery;
·
Establish
standards;
·
Promote
training;
·
Address
loopholes for corruption; and
·
Ensure
policy implementation.
In this regard, 235 complaints have
been dealt with to the satisfaction of the complainants.
In conclusion, I want to give credit to the
management and personnel in the Department for their efforts to sustain our
work and fulfil our mandate. I know that
sometimes, typical to my star sign, Virgo, I demand order, precision and detail, which appear abnormal - thanks for bearing with me.
I want to thank the Provincial Commissioner for the
sterling work that he is doing with his management team, testimony of which has
been captured in the body of my Speech and the detailed report I have
distributed. My Department indeed has an
excellent relationship with the SAPS.
I also want to thank officers and ordinary members
of the SAPS who have assisted my Department and myself to do our work. They have worked under very difficult
conditions. I want to thank the ICD for
its work to improve policing in our Province and my colleagues in the Executive
Council, for assisting and nurturing me into understanding the workings of Government.
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