Address by Thobile Mhlahlo Eastern Cape MEC for Safety, Liaison, Roads and Transport at the launch of Nelson Mandela Bay operation coca (clean up), at Lillian Ngoyi Hall, KwaZakhele, Port Elizabeth

"Promoting Safety and Security for All"

Let me first take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude for this practical collaboration between the provincial government through the Department of Safety and Liaison, the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro and our law enforcement agencies in an effort to clean our community.

Our approach derives from the noble principles of co-operative government and intergovernmental relations as highlighted in the Constitution of South Africa, which clearly states that all spheres of government and all organs of state within each sphere must preserve peace, national unity and indivisibility of the Republic.

It is when we work together as various spheres of government and our social partners that we can be able to successfully combat crime in our society.
We believe that through effective integrated law enforcement operations, great achievements can be made in this province.

This approach of integration and co-ordination of our work gives more weight to our strategies, as we continue to embark on our programme of action to change the lives of our people for the better. It augurs well with our Battle Plan Against Crime for Peace, which we launch this year here in Port Elizabeth. This plan complements the Provincial Crime Prevention Strategy (PCPS) and encourages a multi-agency collaboration as an imperative in the fight against crime.

Through this plan, we have set ourselves clear targets, as we would like to maintain a decreasing crime trend up to 2010 of between 12 percent and 18 percent which will be conducive for stabilising high incidents of contact crimes, which includes murder, common robbery, rape and assault.

Local crime prevention

Today, we are taking this multi-agency collaboration to another level, where the local sphere of government plays a central role in crime prevention.

For a long time, this sphere of government has been absent in the crime combating initiatives, which left a huge gap in our strategies, especially in dealing with social crime.

I would like to commend the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality for this bold step and commit the Ministry for Safety, Liaison, Roads and Transport and the South African Police Services (SAPS) that we will continue to work together in a quest to win back the streets of this City from the hands of criminals.

Today, we are making a public call for assistance from members of the public in our search for criminals who have been in our "Most Wanted" list for a long time. People can give us information through our toll free number 086 001 0111.

The Department of Safety and Liaison has identified 17 municipalities in the province for the rollout of Community Safety Forums (CSFs) and the Nelson Mandela Bay is one of them.

These CSFs are vehicles to implement the PCPS at local government level and ensure that crime prevention is perceived as a service. This intervention will make a meaningful contribution to strengthening social cohesion and moral regeneration in the province. That necessitates commitment by municipalities and communities to ensure that CSFs form an integral part of their Integrated Development Plans, which would further strengthen co-ordination between the spheres of government.

2010 Federation International Football Association (Fifa) World Cup

As we prepare for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, we are equally charged with a responsibility of ensuring that our people and visitors enjoy this historic moment. If we talk of an African World Cup, we need to attend to issues of safety and security in our townships today in order to ensure that all parts of the Eastern Cape province are accessible to all visitors and create a crime-free environment for all our people.

Discussions are at an advanced stage between the Department of Safety and Liaison, the Department of Labour and the Security Skills Education Training Authority (Seta) in an effort to mobilise resources for training of 5 000 community patrol volunteers in preparation for the 2010 Fifa World Cup with a particular focus on crowd control.

I would like to invite business support for this initiative in order to sustain the project until 2010 in order to pave way for peace and stability during the tournament.

In an effort to concretise our strategies, the Department of Safety and Liaison, will host a Safety and Security Summit for 2010 on 1 to 2 November 2007 at Coega Village, here in Port Elizabeth.

The objectives of the summit are:

* to facilitate processes whereby all relevant stakeholders, in particular the law enforcement agencies and the Criminal Justice System, develop appropriate and holistic security plans in an integrated and systematic manner
* to develop a volunteer strategy for communities to contribute to the safety and security of the tournament and beyond
* development of an integrated Provincial Safety and Security Plan, which includes the role of local government.

Traffic law enforcement

This "Operation Coca" further complements our Arrive Alive Campaign, which is a continuous and tactical programme designed to achieve effective practical co-operation between the three spheres of government in all ongoing road traffic and road safety management.

As we prepare for the 2007/08 holiday season, our Arrive Alive Plan will endeavour to provide a seamless, national enforcement plan that responds to the demands of prevailing circumstances in an effective way.

The focal areas this year will, amongst other things, be alcohol abuse, which is one of the areas of focus in this Operation Coca. The Department of Roads and Transport has purchased a Booze Bus with all the necessary equipment to prosecute drunken drivers at a cost of R1,7 million. This bus is expected later next month.

All those, who have been caught driving under the influence of alcohol, will be reported to the Asset Forfeiture Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority for consideration of their vehicles to be forfeited to the State.

In conclusion, I would like to once more express my sincere gratitude to the municipality and our law enforcement agencies for this collaboration and wish you all the best in this operation.

I would like to further call upon organs of civil society, which include churches, sport bodies, youth structures, women's organisations, business, community-based organisation and non governmental organisations to support our endeavours in this mammoth task of fighting crime in this Metro.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Safety, Liaison, Roads and Transport, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
22 October 2007