Madam Speaker
Honourable Premier of the Province
Honourable Members of the Legislature
Colleagues, Ladies and Gentleman

Our history has been a bitter one, dominated by colonialism, racism, apartheid, sexism and repressive labour policies. The result is that poverty and degradation exist side by side with modern cities and a developed mining, industrial and commercial infrastructure. Our income distribution was racially distorted and was ranked as one of the most unequal in the world – lavish wealth and abject poverty characterize our society

In its dying years, apartheid unleashed a vicious wave of violence. Thousands and thousands of people were brutally killed, maimed, and forced to move away from their homes. Security forces including the police all too often failed to act to protect people, and were frequently accused of being implicated in, and even fermenting, this violence. Systematically the state created a culture of violence in which no person could feel any sense of security in their person and property. The spectre of poverty and/or violence still haunts millions of our people.

The result is that in the many spheres of our society – economic, social, political, moral, cultural, environmental – South Africans are confronted by serious problems. There is not a single sector of South African society, nor a person living in South Africa, untouched by the ravages of apartheid.

Millions of ordinary South Africans struggled against this system over decades, to improve their lives, to restore peace, and to bring about a more just society.
It is this collective heritage of struggle, these common yearnings, which are our strength. Although the challenges facing South Africa are enormous, only a comprehensive approach to harnessing the resources of our country can reverse the crisis created by apartheid.
Only an all-round effort to harness the life experience, skills, energies and aspirations of our people will lay basis for a new democratic order, free from want, ill-health and fear.

The future is in our hands and we must carry forward the work needed to finally liberate ourselves from the evils and ramifications of apartheid.

Passionately and with purpose we are focusing on restoring the socio-economic imbalances in our society, institutional reforms in the public sector and to entrench the ethos of ubuntu through restitutional reforms, redress, reconciliation reconstruction and moral regeneration.

Honourable Speaker, in order to deal with my budget speech for 2004-2005, it would be proper to outline some of the successes attained that we should jealously guard and reinforce the gains made thus far.

During 2003, specific policing priorities and objectives were set by the South African Police Services in Mpumalanga with regard to crime, in line with the National identified priority crimes. These were:

Organized Crime
Serious and Violent Crime
Crime against women and children
Improve basic service delivery to all communities
Human Resource Management

As a result of the national crime combating strategy the following achievements were recorded nationally;
Murder experienced a small decrease of 1.7%. However since, 1994, the incidences of murder has decreased by 30.7%.
A decrease of 5.7% in the occurrence of rape was recorded between 2001/2 and 2002/3.
The rape ratio (per 100 000 members of the population) is at its lowest level since the establishment of the SAPS in 1994/5.
It can be said therefore that the national anti-rape strategy of the Inter-Departmental Management Team (IDMT) of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and other interventions are beginning to make an impact. This decrease is quite apparent bearing in mind the fact that docket analysis of reported rape cases indicate that the majority of these cases occur between people known to each other or acquaintances.

There was a significant decrease in high profile cases of aggravated robbery. Highjacking of motor vehicles decreased by 20.2% and bank related robberies (bank robberies and cash in transit robberies) by 15.4%. Both these categories of crime have reached the lowest levels recorded since 1996/7.

Despite these gains in the fight against crime some categories of crime have increased, these include aggravated robbery, street robbery (especially in informal settlements, former black townships and even rural villages) and robbery at residential and business premises.
The contributory factor in the increase in this category of crime can, in part, be attributed to alcohol and drug abuse.

Strategic intervention and the launch of various operations including Operation Sethunya resulted in the significant decrease of serious and violent crimes during the period 2003/4. Operations Sethunya gave impetus to the SAPS fire-arm strategy which is aimed at eradicating the proliferation of fire-arms for the use in crime and violence.

Recently, the Honuorable Minister Charles Nqakula, unveiled a new arsenal of stricter gun control laws, which comes into effect from the 1st of July 2004.
He said that government was determined to protect lives by ensuring that both the public and police thought more carefully before using weapons. He further defended the right of police officers to shoot to protect their lives, but also instructed them to use their weapons more carefully.

The Honourable Minister for Safety and Security outlined some of the following priorities for this financial year in his budget speech on the 22nd of June 2004:

Strengthening the programmes of SAPS to reduce instances of violence against women and children and the monitoring of the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act.

Fire-arms Control Act to be implemented from the 1st of July 2004.

Reduction of contact crimes such as murder, attempted murder, rape, attempted rape as well as serious and violent assault.

Dealing with organised crime with respect to drug abuse and drug trafficking.

Border control, whereby SAPS will deploy special intelligence driven operations with the SANDF.

Increasing the number of reservists by recruiting new recruits proportionately among the provinces and respective areas within the provinces. The larger portion of the allocation will be given to the poorest regions, based on needs, with a view to create job opportunities.

Expanding the implementation of the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) by introducing an AFIS palm printing facility by February 2005.

In order to enhance police capacity in both crime prevention activities and in improving the investigative effectiveness of the SAPS, an amount of R406m has been set aside for general training programmes and R111m for basic training by the National SAPS.

In addition the Minister for Safety and Security is committed to improving the conditions of service with respect to salaries for all police officers. These negotiations have already commenced with all the relevant stakeholders in order to ensure appropriate remuneration for police officers based on a performance management system.

In keeping with the government’s commitment to enhance its effectiveness in reducing crime, I am pleased to announce that the budget of the SAPS in Mpumalanga for 2004/5 is R222.8m, effectively an increase of R34.3m from the previous revised baseline allocation of R188.5m. An additional amount of R9.3m has also been allocated for overtime.

An amount of R39.2m has been earmarked for the purchase of approximately 379 vehicles.

In addition, 848 police officers will be appointed in this financial year.

The bulk of this additional resources will be directed to those areas in most need so that the response time as well as all aspects of service delivery can be improved.

Based on the experiences of the past and the crime trends, the SAPS for Mpumalanga have identified the following strategic priorities for the medium term.

The first is to combat organised crime, focusing on drug and fire-arm trafficking, vehicle theft and highjacking, as well as commercial crime and corruption among public officials.
The second is serious and violent crime, for which strategies have been developed to, among other things, counter the proliferation of fire-arms, improve safety and security in high crime areas, combat crimes such as taxi violence, and maintain security at major public events.
The third priority focuses on strategies to reduce the incidences of crimes’ committed against women and children and improving the investigation and prosecution of these crimes.
The fourth priority is to improve service delivery at police stations.

Policing visibility will be enhanced by implementing sector policing as part of the crime prevention strategy, as a partnership between police officers, appointed sector managers and communities. This approach will be supported by a recruitment process, in terms of which funds have been provided to increase the number of personnel. This labour input will be complimented by a concomitant expansion of the Department’s vehicle fleet, equipment supplies and IT infrastructure.

In line with the President’s State of the Nation Address, the SAPS of Mpumalanga have committed themselves to arrest at least 30 most wanted criminals in the first 100 days of our third democratic government. In due course, I will inform the Legislature on the progress made in this regard.

The Victim empowerment programme in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Services and Business Against Crime is a key intervention for improving the services to the public. Victim support centres are provided to enable statements of intimate violence, such as rape, sexual offences, child abuse and domestic violence, to be made in private.

To date 42, Victim Support Centres have been established out of the 91 police stations in the province. An additional 10 Victim Support Centres will be established in this financial year.
In this regard a new domestic violence training curriculum is being completed for implementation in 2004/5.

In addition, the building of the following police stations will commence in this financial period at Daantjie/Pienaar, Hazyview, Masoyi, Mbuzini, Tweefontein, Redhill and Ermelo.

The close collaboration between all the role players in the Criminal Justice System has enabled us to have an effective integrated justice system at the various pilot sites in Middelburg, Witbank, Nelspruit, KaBokweni and Ermelo. In addition, the Department of Justice, in line with the President’s commitment, will establish three specialized Community Based Courts at Mhluzi, Vosman and KaNyamazane. These will primarily deal with cases regarding youth and petty offences in order to effect speedy trial and diversion sentencing.

PRIORITIES OF THE CIVILIAN SECRETARIAT

The Department reviewed its 2003-04 Operational Plans and considered the following priorities in order to improve our focus more effectively on our core mandate as outlined in the White Paper for Safety and Security and in Section 206, sub-section 3 of the Constitution:

“Each province is entitled –
to monitor police conduct;
to oversee the effectiveness and efficiency of the police service, including receiving reports on the police service;
to promote good relations between the police and the community
to assess the effectiveness of visible policing and to liaise with the Cabinet member responsible for policing.”

The following priorities will support and augment the strategic efforts of the SAPS:

To enhance public education and awareness on safety and security matters in order to promote public participation

We cannot underestimate the role of communities in identifying the problems and challenges in combating and preventing crime. By empowering communities through broad based public education, be it, electronic media or print we can promote the role and responsibility for members of society in complementing all the efforts of the different institutions of the criminal justice system and other organs of the state.

Public education and the prevention of crime is facilitated by various strategies such as holding anti-crime rallies, campaigns at schools on drug abuse, sexual abuse, violence and illegal weapons.

Shebeens are also targeted to promote participation and collaboration with the SAPS, as well as encouraging them to register as licensed vendors and to refrain from serving clients who are under the age of eighteen years.

Alcohol and drugs provide our youth with a false sense of temporary and transient security. Peer pressure needs to be dealt with in partnership with the educational authorities.

In a survey conducted in 1997, it was confirmed that the victim and /or perpetrator had been under the influence of alcohol in 73.4% of cases analysed. Drugs were involved in 14.7% of the cases. It is imperative that this is tackled at school level, so that we continue to educate our youth on the dangers and long-term negative impact of substance abuse and drugs.

In addition anti-crime school games will be encouraged as a means of advocating anti-crime messages and providing recreation in those areas without infrastructure. Both soccer and netball will be encouraged. This will be a joint effort between ourselves, the Departments of Education and Culture, Sports and Recreation.

To monitor and analyse policing policies in the province, in order to participate in the development of local, provincial and national policies

A national monitoring and evaluation tool will be used to evaluate the functioning of the SAPS at station level for improved service delivery and to report to the Minister and MEC thereon.

This process will assist in identifying strengths and areas of improvement, as well as collate and disseminate good practices across the country.

In addition, it will complement our collective efforts in developing improved
policies for policing, so the effectiveness and efficiency of the police services
may be enhanced.

The transformation of the SAPS to one that effectively serves the needs of the community in ensuring their safety and security will be continuously monitored. The allocation of resources to police stations will be closely monitored to ensure that previously disadvantaged service areas are prioritized based on needs.

In this regard the feedback to complainants who have lodged cases will be monitored to ensure that there is an improvement with regard to their cases, as most complaints received by the Civilian Secretariat usually deal with a lack of communication between the complainant and the investigating officer.

In order to create an environment of competitiveness and to boost the morale
of all police officers, the Simunye Excellence Award for the best police station
will be reviewed and implemented in 2004/5. This award was won by the
Hendrina Police Station in 2003/4. The Civilian Secretariat, the Provincial SAPS
and CPFs will oversee the process and the adjudication.

To improve relations between the police, local municipalities and the community by facilitating the establishment of active CPFs

The Civilian Secretariat will have to initiate a closer working relationship between the local SAPS, CPFs and the local municipality in order to set joint crime prevention priorities and develop an integrated community safety plan, as part of the municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs).

On the 9th of July 2004 I will be meeting with all the Municipal Public Safety Councillors and Managers, as well as representatives from Community Policing Forums, Provincial SAPS Management and other stakeholders from the Criminal Justice Cluster in order to initiate the concept of Community Safety Forums so as to enhance and ensure the implementation of the Multi-Agency approach at municipal level as part of the National Crime Prevention Strategy.

To facilitate the improvement in border security

The Border Security along the borders with Mozambique and Swaziland
continues to be a major concern, as presently the borders are not only porous
but a source for the illegal movement of drugs, contraband, stolen vehicles,
goods and immigrants. All state agencies are required to work closely together
to find an effective strategy in combating organised crime syndicates.

The department will continue its efforts in supporting this programme with both SAPS and the Department of Agriculture and Land Administration in minimizing the levels of stock theft along the border, by encouraging the branding of animals and by improving the control of their stock especially in the grazing areas.

Communities are also made aware of the impact on their livelihoods by the trafficking of illegal goods, vehicles and persons along the borders, and therefore the need for their vigilance and participation in reporting any illegal activities.

In addition, a task team made up of senior police officers from SAPS in both Mpumalanga and KwaZulu Natal and our neighbouring countries from Swaziland and Mozambique has been established to address cross border crimes.

To facilitate and enhance tourism safety
In 2003 the tourism monitoring project was an astounding success in reducing the number of attacks on tourists in Mpumalanga. This project is in partnership with the Department of Economic Development and Planning and the SAPS. We will continue to participate in the implementation of the tourist monitors programme and the training of hawkers especially at tourist points, so that we can consolidate the gains we have collectively made in this regard.

In this regard I would like to quote two tourists on their appreciation for the introduction of tourists monitors in the province:
Lozelle du Plesses – Department of Economics and Economic History, University of Port Elizabeth: “ I would like to congratulate you on the excellent idea of having tourism monitors in the Mpumalanga Province. We always enjoy climbing at Waterval Boven, and it makes a huge difference if one has some peace of mind while out there. I hope the project will continue, and that it would also spill over into the Eastern Cape.
Johan McLaughlin – International climber and friend of the RSA. I am writing this email from Dublin Ireland and wish to congratulate you on your team effort in policing/monitoring the Waterval Boven area and attempting to make it a safe place for people to visit and climb. I will definitely re-visit, especially if such measures are continued.

To improve the relationship between all stakeholders in the farming community

Although violence against farmers and stock theft has declined, it is critical for the secretariat to facilitate in improving the relationship between all the relevant role players in the farming community, so that the Rural Safety Plan is successfully implemented, especially in the light of plans to phase out the commandos by 2009. The commandos will be replaced by an effective sector policing strategy by SAPS so that the security of the farming communities is enhanced. These units will be assisted by reservists and the plan is to deploy 35 000 reservists nationally by 2009.

Paralegal workshops will be held with all the relevant stakeholders in an effort to create a stable socio-economic environment in the farming community. This can only be achieved by ensuring that there is mutual respect between farm owners, farm workers and farm tenants.

To facilitate and monitor the implementation of the Presidential Lead Project at KaNyamazane and Provincial Priority Projects at Vosman, Embalenhle, Driefontein and other flashpoint police stations

Much progress has been made at KaNyamazane, as the renovation and rebuilding of the police station is now almost complete, staff levels have improved, additional vehicles and equipment have been purchased, training to improve performance is continuing and the post of the recently appointed Station Commissioner has been upgraded.

At this stage, I would like to recognize the presence of Senior Superintendent Khoza, who was recently appointed, and support the commitment made by him.
“We will make a concerted effort to ensure that the officers deployed at KaNyamazane share a common vision in ensuring that KaNyamazane becomes the best police station”
In this regard he has the full support of the CPF in KaNyamazane.

In addition the first phase in the construction of a police station at Daantjie has already commenced. This will relieve the pressure on the KaNyamazane Police Station as the precinct is not only a vast area, but it is also mountainous and has a poor infrastructure which makes policing inaccessible in many areas.

We will work closely with the community and all relevant stakeholders to minimize criminality and to ensure that KaNyamazane is one of the best police stations in the country.

Both Vosman and Embalenhle, as well as other flashpoint police stations such as KaBokweni, Nelspruit, Mhluzi and KwaMhlanga will be closely monitored, so that the levels of crime can be reduced.

To facilitate the provision of adequate and reliable security for government assets

In this regard an audit of all the government facilities is being undertaken, in order to inform all client departments to improve their security infrastructure, so that we can implement a preventative approach to losses of state assets.

By the end of this financial year it is expected that the Riverside Government Complex will be fully secured by the SAPS, in line with government policies for the security of strategic institutions.


BUDGET FOR 2004/2005

The budget allocated for the financial period 2004/2005 to the Department of Safety and Security is thirty five million, two hundred and sixty eighty thousand Rands (R35, 268,000).

Programme One: ADMINISTRATION
Programme One is Administration, which includes the Office of the Member of the Executive Council, the Head of Department, Financial Management, Human Resources and Communications.

This programme has been allocated nineteen million, eight hundred and ninety one thousand Rand (R19,891,00).

Programme Two: SOCIAL CRIME PREVENTION
This component is responsible for implementing the Social Crime Prevention Programme of the Department.
This unit has been allocated a budget of nine million, three hundred and twenty one thousand Rands (R9,321,000).
Programme Three: SECURITY SERVICES
This programme has been allocated three million, seven hundred and three thousand Rands (R3 703 000), which will be utilized to monitor the security services provided by private security service providers on behalf of other provincial government departments.

Programme Four: MONITORING AND EVALUATION
The Monitoring and Evaluation component has been allocated two million, three hundred and fifty three thousand Rands (R2 353 000).
This unit will be responsible to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the police services in Mpumalanga.

Madam Speaker, I therefore request that this Legislature approve a budget of R35,268m for the Department of Safety and Security for the financial year 2004/2005.

I hereby submit a copy of my budget speech and the Departmental Plans for the Department of Safety and Security.

I would like to thank the Premier for awarding me this opportunity to contribute in the efforts of government for the safety and security of our people. In addition I would like to thank my colleagues in the Executive Council and the Members of the Legislature for their support and guidance.

To the Provincial Commissioner Eric Nkabinde, his management and police officers, the Head of my Department, Dr. Gulam Karim, his management and staff, I wish to acknowledge their support, commitment and dedication and to say that the challenges before us are not insurmountable, if we are united in purpose and direction.

Madam Speaker, I would also like to take this opportunity to especially thank the members of the South African Police Services –

for their continued dedication in combating and preventing crime;

for not being deterred from their noble tasks, despite resource constraints,

for protecting and serving the communities

In addition I wish to acknowledge the many reservists and volunteers who have contributed without remuneration in the fight against crime.

I would also like to extend my heartfelt condolences to the families and relatives of the victims of crime and would like to pay tribute to those members who sacrificed their very lives in this gallant effort to eradicate crime.

To members of the Provincial and Area Community Policing Boards, the Community Policing Forums and members of the public, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your commitment, time and effort, in acknowledging the strengths and weaknesses of the police services and by working closely with them in order to create a partnership with communities.

To members of the various role players in the Criminal Justice System, I would like to thank you for your enthusiastic participation, in enabling an integrated approach to achieve a safer and secure environment in order to enhance development.

To the business community, in particular, Business Against Crime, as well as their affiliates I wish to acknowledge your commitment and take this opportunity to thank you for your efforts in supporting and assisting the training of personnel for the Integrated Justice System and at some of our flashpoint police stations.

To Agri-Mpumalanga and to all other organised structures of the farming community, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the early interactions, and I commit myself to working together with all the relevant stakeholders in order to enhance the safety of our farming communities.


In conclusion, Madam Speaker, this august body must send a clear message to our people.

“The thieves and their accomplices, the givers of the bribes and the recipients are as African as you and I. We are the corrupter and the harlot who act together to demean the continent and ourselves.”

“The call for Africa’s renewal, for an African renaissance, is a call to rebellion.
We must rebel against the tyrants and the dictators, those who seek to corrupt our societies and steal the wealth that belongs to the people. We must rebel against the ordinary criminals who murder, rape and rob, and conduct war against poverty, ignorance and the backwardness of the children of Africa.”

Thank you.