Mbeki takes the fight to crime
9 February 2007Acknowledging that South Africa's progress in fighting crime has not been enough "for everybody to feel a better sense of safety and security," President Thabo Mbeki has committed the government to working harder and smarter - in partnership with business, the private security industry and local communities - to defeat "that which is ugly and repulsive in human society".
Delivering his State of the Nation address to Parliament in Cape Town on Friday, Mbeki said South Africa could not "claim the happiness that comes with freedom if communities live in fear, closeted behind walls and barbed wire, ever anxious in their houses, on the streets and on our roads, unable freely to enjoy our public spaces."
While South Africa had already surpassed its 2007 target of 152 000 police officers, and improved police training, "we recognise the fact that the impact of this is not yet high enough for everybody to feel a better sense of safety and security," Mbeki said.
And despite the fact that contact crimes in the country had been reduced, the rate at which crimes such as robbery, assault and murder had been brought down were below the 7% to 10% rate the government was aiming for - with abuse of women and children continuing "at an unacceptable level."
Private security industry
Mbeki said the spike in crime experienced during last year's strike by security workers "should have brought home to all of us the fact that the security industry cannot be handled simply as a private affair of the private sector."
The current system of regulating South Africa's private security industry - including its wages, the vetting of its personnel, and the enforcement of guidelines on cash-delivery vehicles - was clearly inadequate, Mbeki said.
This system would be reviewed this year so that the government and industry could work together to "create an environment in which the security expectations of the public, in which huge resources are expended, are actually met."
'Little to do with policies'
Mbeki also committed the government to ensuring that "decisions already taken about strengthening our fight against crime are effectively implemented," noting that the challenge SA faced in fighting crime had little to do either with government policies or with the commitment of the country's public servants.
"The overwhelming majority of these public servants have proven over and over again in actual practice that they are prepared to put their lives on the line and to sacrifice even the little quality time they could have with their families, in defence of our freedom and our security," Mbeki said.
What was needed, he said, was "effective organisation, mobilisation and leadership of the mass of law-enforcement, intelligence and corrections officers, and functionaries of the justice system."
Working harder,
smarter
Mbeki said the government, besides its ongoing programmes, would this year:
- Continue to improve police remuneration and working conditions, and begin expanding the SA Police Service to bring its total number to over 180 000 within three years;
- Bring to full capacity the country's forensic laboratories, which have been equipped with the latest technology, and ensure optimum use of SA's fingerprint database;
- Improve analysis of crime trends and intensify intelligence work relating to organised crime, building on the successes that have been achieved in the last few months in dealing with cash-in-transit heists, drug trafficking and poaching of game and abalone;
- Use to maximum effect the new technology that has been provided to the justice system, and generally improve management of the courts and prosecution service in order to reduce case backlogs; and
- Further modernise the systems of the SA Revenue Service, especially in respect of border control.
At the same time, Mbeki said, South Africa would only win the war against crime "if we build an enduring partnership in actual practice within our communities and between the communities and the police, to make life more and more difficult for the criminals."
He noted that the government and the police were working on proposals to improve the effectiveness of the "vitally important" community policing forums.
He added that he was "heartened by the resolve shown by leaders of the business and religious communities further to strengthen such partnerships on the ground, and to give of their time and resources to strengthen the fight against crime.
"Government will play its part to ensure that these partnerships actually work, and that we all act together to discharge the responsibility to protect our citizens."
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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