BUSINESS NEWS
Business, govt unite against crime
Posted Mon, 28 Aug 2006
Big business and government have vowed to join forces in an intensive campaign to reduce unacceptably-high crime levels in South Africa. It was necessary to "intensify the fight against crime", Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa told a media briefing on Friday, following a Big Business Working Group meeting with President Thabo Mbeki and members of his cabinet at Tuynhuys. He said one of the key outcomes of the meeting was, having reviewed crime trends, those present had decided "we are indeed dealing with a [crime] problem that requires us to raise our level of engagement.
"I think we agreed that we're not just dealing with phenomena which are manifested in a variety of incidents, but there is perhaps a society-wide problem... that does require us as business and government and society generally to engage at the highest level. "One of the proposals to meet this challenge was that there needs to be a closer, deeper collaboration between the
justice-crime-security cluster in government, as well as the business leadership, at the highest level," Mpahlwa said. Business Leadership SA's Mike Spicer said the meeting had not spent a lot of time debating whether crime was up or down in South Africa. "I think everyone agreed there had been a spike, and that it's a spike off an unacceptably high level anyway."
He described the meeting as "genuinely useful interchange of views and examination of what had been achieved and where the gaps were". An important outcome of the meeting was "we need jointly to raise our game ... in order to signal a new level of commitment, will and leadership on the side of both business and government" when it came to tackling crime. "We need to move much more effectively," he said. Unilever chairperson Gail Klintworth said crime was an obstacle to growth, and had not received enough attention from business, "and possibly too from the side of government". She
warned that with 2010 in sight, the country needed to raise its level of engagement when it came to tackling crime.
"What was very clear is... there was a common understanding and commitment to the fact that things can't go on as they have," she said. James Fitzgerald, of Business Against Crime, said specific details of the joint campaign had not been discussed at the meeting because "it was felt before we discuss this, we need to have a common view in terms of the way forward". Business Against Crime would wait for the first meeting with government, and then determine the content of the campaign, he said. Klintworth said there was no date set for this, "but the president did emphasise as soon as possible". Pushed to put a time on this, she said: "We'll make sure it's as soon as possible."
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