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We remain unmoved in the fight against crime and securing a better life for all

There are many factors that speak to the continued relevance of a multipronged approach in the fight against crime, combining aspects of crime prevention, crime combating, and the improvement of socio-economic conditions and strengthening of the spirit of Ubuntu and human solidarity among citizens.

In the various break-down of crime trends over the past fiscal year, there are areas where we are making progress. At the same time there are other areas where we are still lagging behind. Nevertheless, the ANC government remains unmoved in its commitment to securing a better life for all and the fight against crime is an integral part of ensuring this better life.

The ANC led-government releases crime statistics once a year to provide the public with an indication of the crime situation in the country. Crime statistics are used daily as a management tool to guide operational plans for the South African Police Service.

The release of the statistics is not merely to quantify crime or to create a debate in our society. It is a call to action for government, Business, Non-Governmental Organisations and communities.

Contact crime currently accounts for 32.7% of all crimes. It is this form of crime with which violence is normally associated. We are encouraged by the decrease in five of the seven contact crime types.

Conversely, there are certain types of crime which increased during this same period. These increases serve to dampen some of our enthusiasm regarding the overall decrease in contact crimes.

There are four areas reflected in the crime statistics that we are not happy about and in which crime has increased. These areas are: robbery with aggravated circumstances, sexual offences, stock theft and commercial crime.

In assessing aggravated robberies there are three areas that account for the increase. These areas are business robberies, house robberies and hijackings. The area where the biggest increase occurred was in the small and informal business areas.

Over the last few months we have been engaging the business community to assess how we can better work together to reduce these robberies. Arising from these meetings, a number of key areas have been identified and have started to assist us in dealing more effectively with this form of crime.

It is important to recognise that the police need to do more to assist and protect small businesses. However we are also aware that certain factors like the availability of cash (often linked to the difficulty these businesses face when it comes to access banking services) and the unavailability of resources to implement crime prevention measures contributes to making these businesses vulnerable.

Over the next few months we will be engaging both large and smaller businesses in an attempt to see how we can support each other to reduce robberies at small business premises. We need to look at what technological measures can be introduced to assist in reducing the risks incurred by small business. Already joint SAPS/business initiatives are being piloted in Johannesburg Central and Tembisa, these initiatives focus specifically on robberies at small businesses. The lessons learnt from these two pilots will be rolled out to other areas of the country.

To address business robberies more generally we are working towards consolidating our partnership with business. This partnership seeks to jointly improve our efforts through, enhanced police and business crime prevention measures and improving alignment between the business sector and government. We are confident that as we move forward with this partnership which focuses on a government-directed and led strategy supported by business, we will be able to assist in making South Africa a safer place to do business.

Cash-in-transit robberies declined by 2,3% during this period. Over the last two months, the Department of Police has focused considerable attention on the area of cash-in-transit robberies. We have started consulting with business people regarding improvement of standards within the industry and we have also had a number of successes in the arrest and foiling of such robberies. There is no doubt the improved standards coupled with the proactive measures taken by SAPS have dealt a serious blow to cash-in-transit heist criminals.

We are also concerned about the increase in house robberies. It is one of the crimes that are the most intrusive and personalise the crime experience. We simply cannot tolerate a situation where people do not feel safe in their own homes. Again we recognise that SAPS needs to do more to address this form of crime.

Under the leadership of the National Commissioner of Police an audit has started in earnest to look at how we effectively deploy our resources. Equally we realise that we need greater engagement with affected communities. They must ensure that those that represent them on the Community Police Forums are an equal partner with the police in establishing the programme of action in addressing the needs and to monitor the implementation thereof. This engagement will assist us in refining our approach to dealing with house robberies.

We have recently piloted an initiative in Honeydew involving the SAPS and Private Security companies active in the area that is aimed at reducing the risks associated with house robberies. We are currently evaluating the lessons and successes, and based on this evaluation we will develop a national approach to these crimes.

The final form of aggravated robbery that has increased significantly is that of both car and truck hijackings. In finding solutions to this we will look at the strategies and approaches that worked in the past and draw lessons from them.

The passing of the Second Hand Goods Act and the finalisation of regulations that will be implemented in January 2010 will go some way in curtailing the local market for illicit vehicles. We are also going to make greater use of technology to assist us in tracking and identifying such vehicles. Technology such as Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) has already been piloted within SAPS.

In dealing with the illicit regional trade in vehicles a number of interventions are planned. Some of these include working with other regional police agencies to strengthen the implementation of regional protocols and agreements surrounding the movement of vehicles and increases our capacity to embark on strategic joint operations such as Operation Salamanga. We anticipate that with the election of our National Commissioner as the head of Southern African Regional Police Chief's Cooperation Organisation (SARPCCO) and the subsequent election of South Africa to chair the SARPCCO Council of Ministers, we will be able to use our positions to advance our tactics regarding cross border crime.

Over the last year we have implemented a number of policing strategies to address house, business and vehicle robberies. Some of these strategies have yielded considerable success. One such example is the introduction in some provinces of the War Room concept. Through this concept, suspects involved in violent organised crime have been tracked, linked to crimes and arrested.

We are now looking to the newly formed Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) to consolidate these efforts. The DPCI is still relatively new but we are already witnessing successes. The arrest of a number of cash-in transit robbers together with the recovery of firearms used in these crimes is an example of some of these successes. Equally the DPCI played an integral part in the successful drug seizure here and in the United Kingdom when they arrested a drug syndicate operating from Durban and seized drugs worth more than R500 million.

Another area we are not happy about is the increase in sexual offences. We are cognisant of the fact that at least in part, this increase can be attributed to changes in legislation. Under the new Sexual Offences Act, a number of new categories of crime are now included as part of sexual offences. On this matter we will only be able to do comparisons starting at the end of next year.

Despite the overall increase in sexual offences, we are heartened by the slight decline in crimes against women and children though we are still not totally satisfied. Violence against women and children is still prevalent in our society and it militates against our national effort to create a caring and humane society that is underpinned by values of human solidarity, justice, peace and development.

The closure of special units that have focused on some of these crimes against women and children has led to significant debate. Issues surrounding the need for certain types of crimes to be addressed by people with specialised knowledge and experience have been raised. We have listened to these debates on the reintroduction of these specialised units, in particular the child protection and sexual offences units. SAPS are now looking at their reintroduction as directed by the Ministry. We are auditing available capacity with the view to strengthening these units.

The increase in stock theft also poses a serious challenge. This form of crime negatively impacts on the lives of people living in rural communities and requires our particular attention. Our history is characterised among others, by deliberate neglect of rural areas. The birth of democracy saw a shift in approach. The ANC led-government has now placed the issue of rural development high on the agenda which must find concrete expression in our policing strategy. Once again the SAPS has begun the process of locating this as a key focal area. We are going to enhance the capacity of our units.

Another area that requires our attention is the increase in commercial crime. This is an area that requires more focused attention by both business and government. The structural integration of crime intelligence and DPCI is a key factor in addressing this type of crime.

We have started this overview by focusing on the negatives because it is important that we admit our challenges and seek to find concrete means of addressing them. However we also need to look at some of our successes because this can assist us to identify what has worked and helps us to adapt some of our approaches to the challenges we face.

There are four key areas where we are happy to say we have seen decreases over the last year. These areas include:
Murder and attempted murder. Both these forms of crime have been steadily declining over the last couple of years. We are pleased to say that they have continued to decline over the last fiscal year.
Common Assault and Assault with intent to do Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH) have also declined. We are encouraged to see that this decline is consistent with previous years.
The dramatic decline in bank robberies is extremely encouraging. The partnership developed between the business and government, resulted in increased arrests of perpetrators, strict bail application and conditions for offenders and measures introduced by the banks themselves.
It is equally encouraging that attacks on Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) (which is listed as a specific category in our crime statistics) also declined. The decrease can be attributed to improved police responses and approaches as well as enhanced cooperation with the banking sector.
One of the largest categories of aggravated robberies is that of street robberies. The decline in both street robberies and common robberies is undoubtedly a positive trend. Despite the decline the number of street robberies still remains unacceptably high and we need to ensure that we do not become complacent. We must continue to give attention to this form of crime.
Looking forward there are a number of key areas of focus for the SAPS which we believe will contribute to reducing crime levels in the country.

Some of these measures include:
A more concerted focus on the role that intelligence can play in supporting our approach to crime. We have recognised that intelligence should act as a nerve centre and has a crucial role to play in all aspects of policing. We are currently revitalising our intelligence component.
We have been working with the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development on amendments to Section 49 of the Criminal Procedure Act. We are at the stage of finalising these amendments which will go before parliament during the 4th session of this year. These changes are being made in order to strengthen the hand of the police in dealing with violent criminals. We are generally humbled by the support shown by the majority of the members of the public in this regard. It is important to mention at this point, that trigger happy members must not think that this is a license to kill. It is a measure aimed specifically at dealing with serious violent crimes and dangerous criminals. Alongside these changes, we have strengthened the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD). We see the strengthening of the ICD as an important measure to ensure that changes to Section 49 are not abused. Legislation to this effect will be introduced in due course.
The government has focused attention on the revamping of the Criminal Justice System. The basis for this is to ensure a far better integration of the different departmental role players in the Criminal Justice environment. SAPS have focused considerable energy on efforts to establish a transformed Criminal Justice System. In this regard we have started to increase the number of detectives and focus on intensified and improved training aimed at reaching a guilty verdict. We believe that if we can considerably increase our conviction rate that trust in the SAPS and the Criminal Justice system will improve. It is our belief that while there is still significant work to be done, the work that has been done over the last year provides a strong base upon which we can build. We are also hoping that the Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Amendment Bill will be finalised during the 4th session of Parliament this year.
It is apparent to all of us that the police alone cannot win the fight against crime. We acknowledge that criminals do not live in isolation from communities. Therefore, we need to deepen our partnership with communities. In this regard, the Ministry has established a dedicated unit to focus on deepening the interaction with communities, civil society, business, faith-based organisations and the different spheres of government.
Management and control of some of our borders is a major challenge. Cabinet has recently agreed that, at least until 2010, the SANDF will be re-engaged in securing our borderlines. The Justice Crime Prevention and Security Cluster has also been tasked by Cabinet to address the matter of border control. The cluster is developing a comprehensive approach and plan to deal with this area.
We are profoundly distressed by the number of South African Police Services members who have died in the line of duty. On behalf of the department our sincere condolences go out to the families and loved ones of those officers who gave their lives so bravely. We will persist in addressing the dangers that face our heroes and heroines in blue and to find ways of implementing measures to protect them.

We wish to reconfirm our unwavering commitment to fight crime and work towards ensuring a safe environment to the benefit of all South Africans, those who live in South Africa, those who live within our boarders and those who are our visitors and tourist in our country. In areas where there have been positive in-roads, we wish to reiterate that we will continue to work hard and smart to entrench these successes. Accordingly, in areas where there have been some increases in crime, we re-commit ourselves to finding and working with all stakeholders to ensure we create a safer South Africa. This is our mission and this is our conviction.