Remarks of the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, on the occasion of the opening ceremony of the South African Police Service (SAPS) Radio Communication Centre, Midrand, Johannesburg

Minister of Safety and Security, Charles Nqakula
National Commissioner, Jackie Selebi
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Altech, Mr Craig Venter
Esteemed members of our police service
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

I am glad to address you today at this important initiative in our fight against crime and wish to thank all the partners for their practical commitment to this task as seen through this Radio Communication Centre. In the past two weeks our nation has, through the cruel hand of crime, lost an able artist, a mentor, a role model and a doting father and family man, Lucky Dube.

Once again, on behalf of government, I would like to convey our condolences to the Dube family and to all other families that have experienced losses of loved ones to violent crime. The tragic events such as the cold-blooded murder of Lucky Dube remind all of us of the urgency with which we have to act and work hard to defeat the criminals.

Today as we launch the South Africa Police Service (SAPS) Radio Communication Centre for Gauteng, we usher in a new era in crime-fighting across the nation and vow to increase our efforts towards addressing this challenge. Similar facilities are about to be opened in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape and soon others will be opened in other parts of the country. I really would like to use this occasion to make a call to the SAPS, at all levels, particularly at the local level to do serious introspection about their work and ask themselves critical questions, such as: are we doing enough to reduce crime in our areas?

What are we doing about criminals that we know operate in the areas under our control? Do we pretend we do not know criminals that sell drugs to our youth when we have sufficient information for us to act? What do we do to officers that engage in corruption in our presence, such as those who take bribes and ensure that dockets are lost?

I know of areas where communities report visible progress with regard to the reduction of crime, because the station commissioners do their work as they should, lead by example, work hard against corruption in their ranks and work with communities to fight crime. But I also get reports of police stations where victims of crime are treated with contempt, where police officers show no urgency in attending to reports of crime and officers behave as if they are doing victims of crime a favour when serving them.

Obviously this misconduct must come to an end. We need a renewed sense of duty among all police-officers. The crime that is affecting our people should tell all of us that things cannot be treated as normal that extra efforts are needed at all levels of the police service to deal decisively with crime. Indeed, there are good plans to ensure that we continue to improve the work of the criminal justice system. But these plans will come to nothing if, as individual police officers, we lack enough resolve, commitment and determination to take the fight to the criminals.

I am told that this technologically advanced facility is on par with similar systems in many developed nations. Not only does this state-of-the-art technology promise to address the defects of the previous system, it also provides previously unheard of features that will improve, among other things, the intra-provincial co-ordination efforts of SAPS and the constant monitoring of active officers.

Already this advanced technological measure of fighting crime in our country is further proof of our determination as a country effectively to uproot crime from our society. We cannot rest until our communities are free from fear of attacks, robberies, murder, rape, robbery, women and child abuse as well as drugs.

I wish to remind the people of Gauteng of the importance of working with the SAPS to bring about conditions of safety in our society. A facility of this nature, the 10 111 call centre number, is key in improving the efficacy of the SAPS.

It is our shared responsibility, not just that of government to bring criminals to justice. There are instances when criminals are our brothers and sisters; when they are our neighbours and our friends and relatives; they live down the road from our homes. All it takes is for moral courage to work together with the police to take the fight to the criminals. The SAPS is confident that with this new system, vehicles will be able to respond to calls faster because the call centre agents are now able to deploy officers who are closest to the scene of the crime.

I would like to take this opportunity once more to urge community members to speak and act out against violence against women and children when they witness it in their communities. This new call centre is being made available for precisely these kinds of emergencies. May the number 10 111 forever be synonymous with "help" in the minds of all South Africans?

To the new team who will be staffing this new call centre, traversing troubled waters and rooting out injustice, I wish you all the best. Yours is a heavy responsibility. But I trust that you are driven by the joy that comes from knowing that today you saved a life. The sense of purpose you must have is unmatched in any other vocation. May you continue to bring light and life into the lives of the people you assist!

I want to also thank those whose vision and foresight have brought us here today. I wish you all the success in this new venture, confident that we will begin to experience the positive impact of this facility in the near future. I declare this SAPS Radio Communication Centre for Gauteng open.

I thank you.

Issued by: South African Police Service
29 October 2007