Northern Cape Department of Safety and Liaison Budget Vote speech by MEC T Madikane

Honourable Speaker of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature, Mme Connie Seoposengwe
Honourable Premier of the Northern Cape, Mme Dipuo Peters
Honourable Deputy Speaker, Mme Grizelda Cjikella
Honourable Members of the Executive Council and the Provincial Legislature
Honourable mayors and councillors
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

This budget is presented in the Youth Month and therefore we would like to dedicate it to our young people in the province. The history of our struggle is rich with heroic deeds by our young people some of whom sacrificed their lives so that all of us can be free today. This budget is also tabled at a time when society is discussing pertinent issues that affect us as a country, as a region and as a continent.

This I perceive to be democracy at its best particularly in our country, as everyone feels and is entitled to air his/her views. A lot is being said about crime. This leads us to have a common agenda i.e. that of working towards realising a crime free society where all of us enjoy the freedom and rights that are enshrined in our constitution. We cannot as a nation allow for a situation where we live our lives in fear and become hostages to criminals.

All of us have the right to be free, to enjoy the fruits of our liberation that we fought for as enshrined in the Freedom Charter. We should be free to walk in our streets at any time and anywhere without fear of being robbed, murdered or raped. Our children have the right to be free to play in the neighbourhood, without fear of being abducted, raped or killed.

Madam Speaker

The levels of contact crimes in the province are still at an unacceptably high hence we need the commitment and dedication of everyone to rid our province of the scourge of crime. Our province is notorious for violent crimes that are committed against the most vulnerable and defenceless people in our society i.e. our elderly, women and children, and this is usually attributed to substance abuse. Hence we continue to forge links with other departments as well as with civil society to try and get a different mindset in our community in terms of responsible drinking.

The responsibility to ensure a safer and secure province rests with all of us. It is against this background that we table the Departmental budget of R72 974 million for the 2007/08 financial year.

Social crime prevention

Madam Speaker, the reduction in crime especially contact crime and those crimes committed against women and children remain our major focus in the Province. The budget I present today will enable the Department to ensure a broad based mass community mobilisation. Crime is not the responsibility of government alone but everybody's business as it takes place within communities and affects community members.

It is against this background that the Minister of Safety and Security in his budget speech this year said "It is not the size of the police service that will guarantee success in the fight against crime but the ability of the police to forge a viable relationship with the people to prevent and combat crime".
We are now in an era where greater emphasis is placed on community involvement and mobilisation. Thus we speak of the "Anti-Crime Mass Mobilisation Campaign"; a campaign that is based on the premise that it's only when all the relevant sectors in crime prevention and combating are working in concert that we shall realise our goal. The goal of having a society that is free from the bondage of crime and all its manifestations together with its causes and contributory factors.

Crime is an emotional issue as it affects people deeply yet it is preventable. This is the situation that we would like to focus on more as dealing with the effects of crime is more expensive in terms of all respects namely the medical bills, the justice processes that must be followed, the emotional trauma experienced by the victim and those close to him or her. All these necessitate that we must focus more on the prevention of crime.

To this end I wish to announce that we will be launching our Provincial Anti-Crime Mass Mobilisation Campaign this month. The objective of which is to mobilise civil society including the religious sector, the community based organisations, non-governmental organisations, organised business, organised workers and government in the war against crime. The only way that we can win this war against crime is by working together in partnership.

This campaign will entail programmes that will be embarked on by government, civil society and business all geared towards sensitising our communities to the fact that they need to be both resilient and intolerant of crime. It will include door-to-door campaigns, crime prevention campaigns, church visits, debates at school, indoor safety games and so forth. All of these will be happening within communities in partnership with the community.

Partnership policing is considered an essential element in sector policing and the utilisation of existing partnerships as well as the establishment of possible new partnerships especially at local government. Community involvement in preventing and combating crime will also be enhanced by rejuvenation of the Community Safety Forums (CSFs) in the various municipalities in the province.

We are currently at a stage where the whole concept of the location of the Community Policing Forums (CPFs) and the establishment of CSFs is at the level of policy review and we are participating fully as a department in that process. This policy change will formalise the existence of CSFs. These structures are aimed at doing oversight over the whole Criminal Justice Cluster Departments. This will also necessitate the amendment of existing legislation governing local government as crime prevention and combating has to be rooted closer to the people, in this case in local government.

We will continue to participate in the Municipal Integrated Development Planning (IDP) review process through our Departmental IDP Champions in ensuring that Municipal IDPs are reflective of Integrated Social Crime Prevention programmes.

We have recruited and trained Expanded Public Works Programme Safety Volunteers who are stationed at the provincial 21 crime weight stations, which are now 22 with the inclusion of Kgalagadi and Pampierstad. These volunteers are responsible for visiting schools complimenting the School Safety Programme of the Department of Education, door-to-door activities where contact crimes are prevalent and serve as a support group to victims of crime.

The overall objective of this project is to utilise the volunteers as an intervention programme to strengthen community participation in crime prevention and community police relations. We have made great progress in relation to inter-governmental integration and strengthening the role of and relationship with local government in crime prevention. The department has formulated a working plan in collaboration with the safety volunteers, the police and the community development workers.

Madam Speaker

We are pleased to announce that this year again we shall be recognising outstanding female police and traffic officers in carrying out their duties through the Female Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Competition. This competition is held every two years and will be held during August, the women's month. The competition is aimed at giving recognition and encouragement to women to continue breaking the glass ceiling in these previously male dominated disciplines.

Oversight, Monitoring and Quality Assurance

Madam Speaker
The quality of monitoring and oversight of the police continues to improve following the implementation of the monitoring tool and police accountability meetings with communities facilitated by the departmental officials. These accountability meetings together with the increase in structured oversight visits to police stations result in very useful oversight reports with recommendations for corrective intervention in respect of improving police performance and conduct as well as police community relations.

The continued transformation of the South African Police Service (SAPS) will be closely monitored, especially since the setbacks that have been observed in this regard as a resultant unintended consequence of the restructuring process. The community outreach programme that is championed by the Provincial Commissioner is being rolled out particular to areas with high crime levels. This is giving our communities another avenue to voice their concerns.

The department is also involved in the policy review process with the national Secretariat and the Ministry of Safety and Security in streamlining the structure as well as the functions of the Provincial Civilian Oversight Offices.

Policing

Madam Speaker, during the past financial year statistics show that 13 out of 14 priority crimes are on the decline only one crime category has shown an increase and that is robbery aggravating in the Northern Cape. In terms of contact crimes of which we have a responsibility of reducing by 7 to 10% annually till 2014 in line with the provincial and national priorities as well as towards the realisation of the millennium developmental goals, we have observed a decrease in six of these crime categories.

The biggest reduction is in common robbery, which has seen a decrease of 28,8% followed by common assault at 27%, attempted murder at 20,4% ,assault grievous bodily harm at 10.8%, rape at 10% and murder at a 3,6% reduction. The only two depicting an increase are robbery aggravating at 1,2% and indecent assault at 1%.

Rape and domestic violence are a serious problem for the Northern Cape. In a third of cases of rape the charges get withdrawn and this has a negative impact on the prevalence of this type of crime, as nothing seems to deter the offenders from repeating the crime. The Domestic Violence Act is abused and you find instances where there are 30 charges and counter charges laid by the two concerned parties. These charges get withdrawn time and again depending on whether it is convenient or not for the affected parties.

A programme by the SAPS in partnership with the Department of Education is currently being rolled out to all police stations in the province i.e. the concept of Junior Station Commissioner and Junior Branch Commander. This project is intended to enhance and strengthen the campaign against crime. We are giving special attention to the youth and children in order to build resilience and resistance to crime. We need to mention that this is serving as a best practice as other provinces are copying it as well.

We have resources at our disposal as government in the form of human, structural and technical capacity. These are in the form of the increase in the numbers of members of the service including the reservist system, which is regarded as a force multiplier and that is now remunerated. This will enable better visibility and response times. The recent restructuring of SAPS had a profound effect on delivering support to station personnel. This process is viewed as positive towards improving our services to our customers as well as in building capacity in the identified accounting stations.

The clustering of stations led to the identification of 17 accounting stations in the province. This was done through thorough consideration of distances, current capacity and infrastructure. The single most valuable impact of the clustering of station lies in the integration of available efforts and the sharing of resources in the form of skill, knowledge and physical resources in the prevention and combating of crime. Five directors were placed at police stations through this process. Crime prevention, investigations personnel and support staff have also been deployed to stations.

Management was changed in stations where serious and violent crime is most prevalent and this has improved command and control as well as increased managerial capability at the stations. The specialised units have also been placed at the local stations for quicker response to complaints, especially those that relate to the abuse of women and children. Mentorship is used to improve communication between the province and the stations to enhance involvement of provincial personnel at station level. The result will be informed station personnel, uniform approach to policing and the sharing of best practices for the greater good of service delivery.

Madam Speaker
The use of technology facilitates the creation of a result-driven organisation in the SAPS. The performance chart is a management and performance tool that has been developed to guide management in setting performance standards, to measure the actual performance, identify deviations and to initiate corrective action. It also sets the foundation for sustainable, strategic and operational management processes.

The instrument has been used to grade and rate all police stations. To enhance the current organisational performance and give effect to Batho Pele (people first principle) a measurement tool for operations has been developed and will be utilised to ensure that all major operations executed contribute positively to the realisation of organisational objectives and targets.

The use of a tracking system for SAPS vehicles that is being rolled out to all provinces will greatly enhance the accessibility of services as it will monitor and help direct the optimum utilisation of the vehicles. The improvement in the performance of our officers is an aspect that continues to receive attention and results will soon be visible as the whole Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Sector is undergoing an overhaul in terms of the amendments to existing legislation to make it more efficient.

Madam Speaker
The spin offs from this restructuring process just to mention a few is better policing at local level as a result of fewer organisational levels. Authority is devolved to the lower levels, which enable police officials to be able to make decisions at those levels and thus they are able to respond quickly to the needs of the community.

Traffic management

Madam Speaker, one of our key priorities is the smooth takeover, continuation and integration of Traffic Management Services in the disestablished Kgalagadi and Phokwane Cross-boundary Municipalities affecting Moshaweng and Pampierstad as from the beginning of the 2007/08 financial year. This will not be an easy task as we are inheriting an organisation that is as depleted as ours in terms of personnel, and the added adjustment that we have to make, as we shall be policing an area that has challenges in terms of access roads, which require other types of vehicles like 4X4s.

We take all of this in our stride, as we understand that it is about bringing services to our people and not about how easy or difficult this would be, with the hope that we shall receive all the necessary support to accomplish this. We have to mention that we are faced with a serious challenge in terms of traffic law enforcement as we have the responsibility to train traffic officers. Natural attrition due to deaths either resulting from illness and road accidents as well as members leaving the service to join other sectors continuously depletes our personnel. The municipalities are also encouraged to have their own traffic offices; this also puts a further strain on us, as they take from the pool that is available.

The Department has taken over one additional traffic station at Mothibistad with 23 traffic officers who will continue to serve the community in the Moshaweng area. The Pampierstad community will be serviced from the Jan Kempdorp traffic station, which was the ninth traffic station to be established in the Province before the inclusion of Kgalagadi and Pampierstad. This has enhanced and strengthened traffic law enforcement capacity.

We will continue to profile and promote traffic law enforcement and road safety as important components and elements of community safety and security. In the last financial year 30 student traffic officers were recruited and 28 completed their basic training and were deployed to the nine stations in the province. In this financial year we have recruited 31 additional traffic officers who have already commenced their training at Lengau Traffic Training College in Thaba Nchu.

Road Safety is rolling out campaigns and programmes geared at raising road safety awareness in the community. There are also joint programmes with the Department of Education and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) that include the incorporation of these programmes into the curriculum. Visibility of our traffic patrol vehicles is key to the whole concept of Visible Law Enforcement to this end we have managed to brand our Traffic Patrol Vehicles with blue lights and reflective markings. The Arrive Alive Campaign, which is intended to keep our drivers, pedestrians and passengers safe on our roads, will be intensified by making use of a task force that will target specific hazardous locations. Analysis of causes of accidents is unfolding in order to make focused interventions.

Last year we have in conjunction with the Department of Transport, Roads and Public Works, hosted a Provincial Transport Conference. As part of the resolutions of that conference an Integrated Provincial Road Safety Strategy in consultation with national, provincial and municipal traffic components has been developed and will be implemented soon.

This year we continue with the driver of the year competition whose national competition we successfully hosted last year in the province. Our province achieved first position, with the overall winner coming from Kuruman. This competition is aimed at improving the skill of heavy vehicle drivers as well as encourages them to use best practice so as to make our roads much safer. They are also sensitised to the dangers within this industry, as we partnered in the province with other departments like Health, Social Services and Population Development and Justice.

This was meant to give them useful information in the areas of HIV and Aids, the importance of family life as well as their rights and responsibilities towards their families. Schoolchildren were also invited to learn and observe the basics in terms of road safety. It must be mentioned that we have not as a province managed to make a substantial impact in the competition with our female drivers. To this end we have introduced a Female Driver of the Year Competition in the Province to prepare our female drivers well for the National Driver of the Year Competition.

I'm also pleased to announce that the Taxi Driver of the Year Competition will be rolled out in the whole province this year. We have piloted the competition in partnership with Brandhouse last year in the Frances Baard Region. The key objective of the competition is to improve driving skills of taxi drivers as well as build in good customer relations and positive behaviour on and off the road. We will also encourage women taxi drivers to participate in the competition.

Madam Speaker, we have managed to successfully open a Drivers License Testing station in Kleinzee Mine in order to enable communities living in and around Kleinzee not to travel to Springbok for learners licences, drivers licences, professional driving permits and the conversion of drivers licences. We will be opening learner's licence testing centres in this financial year in Phillipstown and in Barkly West and a fully-fledged testing centre in Groblershoop.

We have also made strides in the collection and the reconciliation of revenue from municipalities during the past year and are looking forward to improved performance in this regard. This follows a process of streamlining functions and strengthening of control systems with regard to revenue collection and an extensive investigation to stamp out under-collection of revenue, fraud and corruption at the then National Traffic Information System and now electronic National Traffic Information System (eNaTIS) Helpdesk.

Even though it was not without teething problems, eNaTIS was also successfully implemented; together with the appointment and training of new eNaTIS Helpdesk personnel and the shifting of provincial eNaTIS Helpdesk focus from transaction driven to customer care focused was successfully done.

In conclusion,

Madam Speaker, I also wish to express my sincere appreciation to the honourable Premier of the Northern Cape Mme Dipuo Peters. Thank you very much honourable Premier for the support, guidance and inspiration that you give us from time to time. You might not realise it but the lessons and experience that you share with are in invaluable.

I would also like to thank my colleagues in the Provincial Executive for your unending support and guidance. Although we might not agree on certain issues, we still always remember what it is all about i.e. service delivery and the improvement of the lives of our people. A word of gratitude also goes to members of the portfolio committee for their vigilance and consistency in doing oversight on the work that we do, particularly the consistent visits to the police stations. Your advice and recommendations assist us to remain focused and forge forward.

I would like to thank Provincial Police Commissioner Mbombo and her management team particularly Commissioner Sitole who I know is standing in for her today. We appreciate the service and the sacrifice that you make for us as a collective at all levels of the SAPS including reservists and civilian personnel. We understand the conditions that you work under but still appreciate your resolve to continue making our society safe and secure for all.

To the various stakeholders and role-players, volunteers, government officials particularly those in the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster, communities, business, non-governmental organisations and community based organisations, community policing forums/ community safety forums together with their subsidiaries in the form of Women Against Crime and Youth Against Crime we thank you, for all the inputs and efforts, co-operation and assistance.

Last but not least the Department of Safety and Liaison including the safety volunteers, for diligently executing the plans that are funded by the budget tabled here today led by the Head of Department Mme Liz Botes.

Honourable Madam Speaker I table the budget for Safety and Liaison, in anticipation to an insightful and constructive debate.

I thank you
Ke a leboga
Baie dankie
Enkosi

Issued by: Department of Safety and Liaison, Northern Cape Provincial Government
5 June 2007