Date: 09/06/2004
Source: Gauteng Provincial Government
Title: F Cachalia: Gauteng Provincial Media Briefing, June 2004


GAUTENG PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT MEC MEDIA BRIEFING, STATEMENT BY GAUTENG COMMUNITY SAFETY MEC FIROZ CACHALIA, 9 June 2004

Building safer communities

* Facilitate the implementation of sector policing throughout the Province
* Ensuring a holistic approach to crime prevention at local and area levels
* Monitoring the functionality of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)
* Ensuring the implementation of schools-based crime prevention initiatives to foster a culture of safe learning and teaching through programmes like Tiisa Thuto and Adopt-a-Cop
* Provision of necessary resources, e.g. vehicles, to SA Police Service (SAPS) to ensure safe and secure communities
* Capacitating youth involved in the youth desks at police station level with skills that enable them to design and implement community-based projects
* In partnership with the Departments of Social Development and Health, the business sector and the non-governmental sector, improving existing victim empowerment rooms at police station level. Currently, there are 93 functional Victim Empowerment Programme (VEP) rooms at police station level throughout the province. As there are 124 police stations in the province, the stations without these facilities will be focused on in the next year to ensure that there is a VEP facility at all police stations in the province
* Coordinating the implementation of the strategy for the prevention of violence and abuse of women and children
* Coordinating the implementation of the strategy for the prevention of youth criminality
* Facilitating the alignment and coordination of provincial government resources to focus on interventions on the root causes of youth criminality
* Develop and implement an intervention programme on the prevention of violence in higher learning institutions
* Develop and implement projects focusing on substance abuse and gangsterism among youth
* Implementing education and awareness programmes focusing on men as both victims and perpetrators of domestic violence
* Facilitating education and awareness on the application of protection orders and empower potential victims on their rights and responsibilities
* Facilitating accessibility to services of the criminal justice system to victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse
* Through working with faith-based organisations, social services, community- based organisations and other relevant stakeholders, focusing on ensuring that the family becomes the basic unit of society and influence.

Apprehension of most wanted criminals

* Encouraging departments of the Criminal Justice System (CJS) to provide timeous feedback to communities
* Mobilise communities and other stakeholders to actively participate in CJS matters
* Education and awareness programmes on operations of and issues related to CJS, for example, Witness Protection Programme, to encourage reporting by members of community on crime and criminals.

Strengthening of community policing forums

* Strengthening of Community Policing Forums (CPFs) through capacity-building and facilitating optimal functionality of the structure
* Encouraging and ensuring consultation with communities for the development and implementation of community-based projects
* Ensuring that CPFs are representative of the communities that they represent
* Strengthening CPFs at local level, to promote community police relations and facilitate an integrated approach to crime prevention
* Reviewing the concept of CPFs in areas where they have been piloted
* Implementing a consultative approach to crime prevention through project design and implementation at local level, including ward committees, civic structures, and the business sector
* Capacity building for volunteers e.g. training of CPF members on management and financial skills
* Encouraging and ensuring consultation with communities for the development and implementation of community-based projects
* Ensuring monthly public meetings with the department.

Traffic management

* Design and implement programmes aimed at improving road safety
* Improve road safety and reduce traffic accident fatalities
* Integrating functions of Provincial Traffic Management with SAPS and Metro Police Departments (MPDs)
* Ensure the development of a crime prevention strategy for implementation by the provincial traffic department.

Resource deployment and coordination of law enforcement agencies

* Enhancing the existing labour-intensive approach to monitoring and evaluating service delivery by the CJS
* Ensuring the reduction of the turnaround time of responses on public queries, inquiries and complaints
* Capacitating the departmental service delivery desk to ensure that timeous and quality responses to complaints and problems are provided
* Bringing government services closer to communities through enhancing the mobile service delivery desk and linking with Multi-Purpose Community Centres (MPCCs)
* Ensuring information-sharing between policing agencies (SAPS and MPDs)
* Facilitating an integrated approach to policing between the SAPS and MPDs
* Promoting an open-door policy for members of the public to approach the department with complaints against the criminal justice system for immediate assistance
* Ensuring the flexibility and integration of policing agencies in terms of their operations
* Ensuring the accessibility of police station management to members of the community
* Deploying departmental community officers to deal with issues of safety and security at a local level and also to liase with community development workers.

For more information contact: Mpone Mangole
Tel: (011) 355 1827
Cell: 082 889 2078
Issued by: Department of Community Safety, Gauteng Provincial Government
9 June 2004