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| Policy and Budget Speech, 2008/09, presented to the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature, by the MEC for Safety and Security, Honourable Siphosezwe Masango 3 June 2008 Madam Speaker and Deputy Speaker Together, let's fight crime Madam Speaker, this Budget Vote takes place at a backdrop when the country is shocked by the occurrences of sporadic and unfortunate attacks by criminals on some of the immigrants. The most terrible thing that happened regarding these barbaric activities is when other people's lives were lost, and thousands others displaced, due to these senseless attacks. In Mpumalanga Province these attacks occurred in the Gert Sibande and Nkangala regions, respectively, because of their proximity to Gauteng. It is worth noting that the areas of Nkomazi and Bushbuckridge which are home to thousands of amaSwati from Swaziland and Mozambicans, respectively, have not experienced these attacks. Madam Speaker, in view of the foregoing observation, we are fortunate that these attacks did not occur in those areas because indeed it would have been a civil strife of unimaginable proportions. The few criminals who committed these dastardly acts, did so for opportunistic reasons i.e. stealing property, stealing cash, occupying the deserted shacks, and because of business jealousy. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate our SAPS members for their quick response in arresting the suspects thus bringing the situation under control. Some of the suspects are among the more than 1 380 suspects arrested nationally on various crimes involving xenophobia since it started in Gauteng a few weeks ago. The cases of these criminals will be dealt with expeditiously. They must feel the full wrath of the law. As a Department of Safety and Security we sincerely appreciate the groundswell of condemnation by the leadership of the country, the province including the religious, civic and traditional leadership. Indeed, Madam Speaker, we the people of Africa are one. Premier Thabang Makwetla has in the previous sitting of the Executive Council established a Provincial Cabinet Committee, comprised of the Departments of Safety and Security, Local Government and Housing as well as Health and Social Services, to deal with all xenophobia – related challenges. The committee will also ensure that humanitarian aid is provided to the displacees, that the police heighten their visibility and vigilance and that National Intelligence Agency (NIA) swing into full operation. This year we will focus our attention on rogue farmers who have visited various forms of abuse to the farm workers. That is why the department ordered that reservists in the Wakkerstroom area who were commandos should not be deployed to do any police work because they were allegedly linked to cases of abuse in the area. Madam Speaker, another matter that touched many people's hearts in the country was racism in the police service. Some police unions also raised the matter and it was widely publicised in the media. In the province, allegations that involved officers using separate toilets and vehicle parking space reserved for a particular race were levelled against other senior police officers. Other allegations included the skewed allocation of resources among officers based on skin colour including but not limited to vehicles and office space. Racism within the police is a matter that also disturbed the Honourable Premier, Mr Thabang Makwetla, and he ordered that the department do something in making sure that racism among police officials is dealt with accordingly. Section 206 (3) of the Constitution of the Republic provides, inter alia, that each Province is entitled: (a) to monitor police conduct, Flowing from the above statement and taking into serious consideration the impact racism has on the lives of the citizens of this province, the department will, in terms of Section 206 (5) of the Constitution, appoint an investigation team to investigate the validity of the allegations of racism in the SAPS (Mpumalanga) in identified police stations. The investigation team will be expected to make recommendations on its findings, which will be considered to address these concerns. The President of the Republic, Honourable Thabo Mbeki, in his presentation of the State of the Nation Address early this year, unveiled 24 Apex Priorities as a guideline for state institutions to achieve their set objectives in the context of business unusual. Madam Speaker, four of these priorities are to be facilitated by the Criminal Justice and Crime Prevention Cluster, which is chaired by the Member of Executive Council responsible for the Department of Safety and Security. The priorities as captured in the State of the Nation Address include the implementation of special crime combating and security initiatives, reduction of the number of pending cases, formation of partnerships and communication on fighting crime and the increase South African National Defence Force (SANDF) intake of young trainees. The South African Police Services in Mpumalanga In a bid to enhance policing in the province, the SAPS is in a process of beefing up its capacity at senior management level. Recently, the Mpumalanga SAPS was joined by Commissioner Rex Machabi who filled the position of Deputy Provincial Commissioner (Policing) alongside Commissioner Pumza Makanya-Ojowuro (Deputy Provincial Commissioner: Support). I request the two officers to take a bow. The two deputies will be able to boost Provincial Commissioner, Africa Khumalo in his endeavour to sustain the Afrika Concept which aims at turning Mpumalanga into a policing model for the country. Honourable Members, according to the Afrika Concept document, some of the key focus areas that need attention include the adoption of an integrated approach towards service delivery, development and implementation of a community – centred policing approach, and developing a marketing strategy. Some of these focus areas such as the establishment of Multi-Agency Mechanism (MAM) structures marks the beginning of the implementation of these service delivery interventions. Co-ordination at cluster level As part of an on-going implementation of the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS), the department has revived the Provincial Justice Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) to assist in co-ordinating and integrating matters related to the operations and strategic direction of the criminal justice system. A programme of action for the cluster was drafted and three committees serving under the cluster are responsible for implementing the programme of action of the cluster. Amongst others, important achievements that have been made by the cluster is the adoption of the Victim's Charter which was launched in the province by all stakeholders participating in the cluster on 25 April 2008 at the Msogwaba Stadium in Pienaar township. Madam Speaker, all the criminal justice departments, particularly courts and police stations will be required to put the Victim's Charter at their service centres so that victims are informed accordingly of what are their rights when they go to these institutions for a service. Furthermore, in line with the National Crime Prevention Strategy, the department has co-ordinated the establishment of Multi-agency Mechanism structures at local municipal level which assist in handling interventions to developmental issues that are cross-cutting. The department has also prioritised the Tourism Safety Campaign, Gender-based Violence Campaign, the School Safety and Borderline Security Campaigns for the current financial year. Transformation of Community Policing Forums (CPFs) into Community Safety Forums (CSFs) Madam Speaker, the department has been vigorously involved in the process of ensuring that all police stations have functional CPFs. While the functionality part is still a concern in some areas, we can confirm that by the end of March 2008, all police stations in the province had these structures in place except for two stations, namely Badplaas and Wakkerstroom. In line with the Minister of Safety and Security's Policy and Budget speech in April 2007, the department has adopted an incremental approach in the implementation of the ministers' pronouncement over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period. In the first year, the focus will be on consultation and lobbying for resources, in the second year the focus will be on getting office space and recruitment for volunteers to run the offices in the 31 priority police stations in Mpumalanga. The third year will then focus on the remaining police stations that are not part of the priority stations. We hope that by that time we would have clarity on the concept to be adopted and the review of the South African Police Act would have been finalised to allow for full implementation of the CSF concept. In the 2007/08 financial year, the department conducted broader consultations with stakeholders on the restructuring of CPFs. Consultative meetings with CPFs, SAPS and municipalities have been held and community meetings in the form of Izimbizo throughout the province have also been conducted. We must indicate, however, that the absence of a national uniform approach and concept has subjected the restructuring process to many interpretations which are a challenge to the restructuring process as they tend to distort information. The department is in close contact with the National Secretariat for Safety and Security which is in the process of formulating a concept that will inform the restructuring process nationally. Madam Speaker, in its mandate to mobilise community members to partner with the department in crime prevention and to inform them about departmental programmes, the department conducted ten Izimbizos targeting the priority police stations. These Izimbizos were preceded by special operations which mainly consisted of visits to taverns to check compliance with the law, patrols, roadblocks and the visitation of parolees with senior correctional services management to ensure compliance with their parole conditions. Through these operations, it was established that most liquor outlets do not comply with their liquor license conditions, some even allow minors into their establishments; which is against the law. The challenge of reducing the occurrence of social crime remains daunting. Apart from the abuse of alcohol and drugs, the department would massively mobilise tavern and other liquor traders to comply with the legislation regulating their business and educate them on the principle of responsible drinking. A number of workshops will be conducted in all three regions regarding the above. Enhancing the Tourism Safety Monitors Campaign Madam Speaker, the department in collaboration with the Department of Economic Development and Planning, launched the Tourism Safety Monitors Campaign in December 2007, which saw 150 youth volunteers trained through the Phase one police reservists' training and South African host programme which deals with customer care. These tourism safety monitors assisted in patrolling crime hotspots in conjunction with the police. They were deployed in all tourist attraction areas in the province as well as in some areas outside the tourism spots as determined through crime trends. Our view is that, the Tourism Safety Monitors project would go a long way in complementing the work of the police and safety and security agencies in the fight against crime. It is our considered view that, paramount to economic development, is the provision of safety and security to our tourists and visitors now and beyond 2010. Therefore, we intend to double the number of tourism safety monitors in all the identified tourists' attractions hotspots. Madam Speaker, this department is also a contributor to the flagships of the Mpumalanga Provincial Government. In keeping with this objective, SAPS has, in 71 police stations, successfully introduced community gardens projects that are aimed at poverty alleviation as well as greening the province by planting trees. In addition, working in partnership with Community Policing Forums, SAPS and other stakeholders, we have, during the course of 2007, managed to plant 1 280 trees in Lows Creek, Elukwatini and KwaMhlanga police stations. In support of the greening projects, the department plans to increase the number of gardens and trees in the police stations. Critical to this project, would be the involvement of communities and stakeholders in order to ensure that the project receives maximum support. In the enhancement of the Accelerated Capacity Building Flagship seven senior managers in the department have participated in the Executive Development Programme, four of whom have attended all the modules offered by the programme, and the remaining three are still in the process of finalising the programme. As part of capacity building, the department has also reviewed its organisational structure and it has been beefed up with amongst others three chief directors, as compared to one. The chief directors will be responsible for the Corporate Services, Community Liaison and the Monitoring and Evaluation programmes. The introduction of the new structure for the department will also impact positively on the work done by the section that deals with monitoring and evaluating the work of the SAPS. As a result of the restructuring and availability of funding, one director will be appointed to take care of both directorates, namely Monitoring, as well as Evaluation and Research. When more funding is secured, backed up by more capacity, the filling of posts for Chief Director and Director will follow. During the Imbizo Focus Week the department conducted a tour with the view to inspect the ports of entries and the borderline. This was done after the withdrawal of the South African National Defence Force members from manning borderlines, replacing them with ordinary police officers. This withdrawal of the SANDF is going to weaken our battle against trans-national crimes which is one of the key pillars of the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS). Due to the fact that borderline is the competency of the SAPS, we plan to increase the number of police officers in order to deal effectively with crime occurring in the Mpumalanga borderlines. The plan would also attempt to address the challenges of the informal ports of entries in the areas of Mbuzini, Magudu, Mgobodzi, Magogeni, Dludluma and Piet Retief. Community meetings and border security campaigns will be conducted to also educate communities living along the border on the importance of national security and what should be their role in this regard. Support to police stations Monitoring police stations is one of the key performance areas of the Monitoring and Evaluation component in the department. As stipulated in our operational plan, an increased number of stations will be covered in terms of monitoring and evaluation, with a new tool that allows for community organisations to have a say on how personnel in police stations in the province should render services to the general public. In emphasising the call of President Mbeki for business unusual, monitoring and evaluation will now be extended to the level where service delivery is actually taking place. The activation of partnerships with community organisations will allow for the inclusion of community based organisations and faith-based organisations. Madam Speaker, in a March 2008 national study by the Human Science Research Council (HSRC), it was mentioned that the trust in the SAPS to deliver quality service is unfortunately at an unacceptably low level. The study revealed that in 2005, the level of trust among South Africans was at 45 percent while in 2006 and 2007 respectively, the trust dived to a low 39 percent. These results clearly indicate that more must be done in order to monitor the work of the SAPS; a drop of six percent from 45 percent to 39 percent from 2005 to 2006 is not acceptable. This level (39 percent) was maintained for 2007, indicating that no improvement was achieved. The new monitoring and evaluation tool does not only have the benefit of community participation, but will allow for a powerful force multiplier, as organisations will provide quarterly input in terms of rating and this quarterly ratings will assist with the final evaluation of all results achieved. This will also assist in achieving the goal of better oversight of the work done by SAPS, as volunteers in the respective community safety fora will have the benefit of comparing notes with the relevant community organisations. In terms of focus, it is only logical that community organisations will be approached for assistance in those 31 police service areas that are crime ridden, as these areas accounted for as much as 77 percent of all contact crime committed in the 2006/07 financial year. It must be mentioned, Madam Speaker, that serious integrity challenges remain within the SAPS and justice system, perpetuated by the behaviour of some officials. For instance, recently 13 police reservists from Gauteng walked free after a prosecutor forgot or misplaced a case docket at home. These reservists were arrested after they were caught at the Lebombo port of entry smuggling Mozambicans back to South Africa. They were supposed to have deported the Mozambicans but changed their minds after allegedly accepting bribes from the Mozambicans. This could be one of the contributory factors towards the loss of trust among people and also dampening the spirit of some of the hard-working officers. During the 2008/09 financial year, the focus of the monitoring and evaluation component will be mainly on the MEC's Service Excellence Awards, research on the level of safety of women and children as well as dealing with complaints against the SAPS. The MEC's Service Excellence Awards will be driven from this section and what makes the evaluation process unique is that all police stations will be monitored and information sourced will be utilised in the evaluation phase to ensure that the best police station performers are identified and awarded. Community organisations will play a significant role in this assessment process. In the past, the Provincial CPF Board would represent the community at large but in line with the need for business unusual, the role of the community in the assessment process will be improved as this should provide a better barometer of service delivery at station level. The SAPS redeployed the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) members to station level in an effort to bring this specialised service nearer to their respective clients. The department will be engaging FCS detectives at station level in 29 stations, as well as prosecutors and critical NGO's such as Greater Nelspruit Rape Intervention Project (GRIP) to establish what the actual level of service is to victims, as per the FCS mandate. Madam Speaker, in terms of dealing with complaints against the SAPS, let me use this opportunity to thank the Mpumalanga branch of the SAPS National Inspectorate. The Mpumalanga branch of this inspectorate achieved 80 percent rate for investigations finalised on complaints referred to them for investigation in cases where complaints were registered against SAPS members for unacceptably low levels of service delivery. This figure is a stark contrast with the 40 percent achieved a year earlier. We look forward to the 80 percent mark being improved to 90 percent for 2008/09 financial year. Improving safety and security for communities The importance of concientising our communities on the issues of crimes and its prevention cannot be over-emphasised. We seek to reduce contact crime by seven to ten percent. In doing so, we will engage in a process of mass mobilisation and visible policing in our communities. This will include the recruitment and training of 1 513 reservists and holding of six Izimbizo in the year under review. The department calls upon all communities to heed the call by government to return to our village and street committees and prevent gender-based violence and the abuse of children, the elderly and people with disabilities. Madam Speaker, infrastructure is one of many interventions by government in ensuring that residents of the province are safe. This will be evident when some of the police stations currently under construction are completed. Very soon, we are expecting the notorious Pienaar area to be a crime-free zone after the completion of the local police station. We expect the KaNyamazane Police Station not to be inundated with cases of crime anymore, which is mostly committed in the feeder areas such as Msogwaba, Daantjie, and Zwelisha, as Pienaar will have a fully-fledged station. The constructors are at an advanced stage of completion and we expect the station to be operational before the end of the financial year. Other police stations that are nearing completion are the Hazyview station which is expected to be finished in August 2008, and the Mbangwane Police Station to be finalised in January 2009. To improve police mobility, the SAPS acquired 40 flying squad vehicles last festive season, which are currently patrolling along the major routes of Mpumalanga. This intervention is assisting the SAPS in intercepting smuggled goods and confiscating stolen or hijacked vehicles on the road. Security for 2010 World Cup Honourable Members, as part of ensuring the safety of our people together with visitors during the FIFA Soccer World Cup, an Integrated 2010 safety plan has been drafted. The department in partnership with the 2010 office, various municipalities and other stakeholders attached to the security cluster held a two-day Safety and Security Summit where topical issues related to the tournament were discussed. The objectives of the summit were: * to brief provincial safety and security stakeholders on progress with regard to general preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup During 2008/09, we will finalise the Integrated 2010 Safety Plan and thereafter monitor its implementation. Security management Honourable Members, in the presentation of the last financial year's Policy and Budget Speech, the previous MEC, Honourable Fish Mahlalela indicated that there were challenges that were faced by the department in the management of security contracts by the department. I am happy to indicate that appropriate steps were taken to address concerns in this regard. Conclusion I would like to thank the Premier for his outstanding stewardship of the province, Members of the Executive Council, especially my predecessor Mr Fish Mahlalela for laying a solid foundation of this department, Members of the Portfolio Committee for their valued oversight, Commissioners and members of the SAPS as well as the HOD for Safety and Security and all other officials at various levels for their hard work. Honourable Members, the proposed budget allocation for the Financial Year of 2008/09 of the Department of Safety and Security is R68 132 million. The budget will cover the following programmes: Programme 1: Administration - R55 354 million. Once again, together let us fight crime. Inarha ayilale. Issued by: Department of Safety and Security, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
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