Deputy National Commissioners present
Provincial Commissioners present
Divisional Commissioners present
Head: Corporate Communication
HRD
SAPS Band
SASSETA management
Provider of vehicles
POPCRU
SAPU
The learners present

Ladies and gentlemen, I greet each and every one of you present here today.  Thank you for inviting me to be here, it is a pleasure and honour to be with you.  As we celebrate our 20 years of our democracy, it is very important to reflect on the challenges and positive strides that we have taken as an organisation in the past two decades.  A shift from a long history of authoritarian law and order to a broader idea of safety and security for all citizens in South Africa has been fundamental to the development of appropriate policing in South Africa.

The South African Police Service (SAPS) has faced numerous challenges over the years, and through those obstacles, have learned extensively.  We have overcome numerous challenges with remarkable endurance. On behalf of the SAPS management, I am pleased to announce that the SAPS has entered into an agreement with the Safety and Security Education and Training Authority (SASSETA) and Chippa Investment Holdings CC to equip one thousand (1 000) SAPS operational members countrywide with driving skills during the financial year 2014/15.

As the management of the organisation, we are of the opinion that the needs of our employees are taken seriously. We see assisting employees as a strategic imperative that will play an important role in helping us fight crime. The realisation of this strategic priority is dependent on the creation of a conducive support environment. Our frontline operational members who need this programme, remain the most public face - not only of the SAPS, but of the State, and with all the challenges they face, vehicles and driving skills should be the least of their problems.

Improved driving skills which means that a member is suitably qualified to use State vehicles, I believe will ensure that there are more vehicles on the road deployed to do police work across South Africa. This should also increase our capacity to respond timeously where we are urgently needed.

This unit standard will empower the learners to be able to meet the requirements in order to obtain a learner’s licence, be a safe driver in order to obtain a valid driver’s licence for a motor vehicle. Although the SAPS management waived the possession of a driver’s licence as a requirement for police recruits in 2010 to accommodate previously-disadvantaged candidates, it was decided to address the issue of operational members who did not have driver’s licences through additional, external initiatives such as this one.

Two testing centres were established to assist the members to obtain their driver’s licences, one in Benoni (Gauteng) and one in Bishop Lavis (Western Cape).  The training will commence after the 2014 general elections, because the nominated members are involved in deployment and operational duties for the duration of the elections. The training will be concluded on 31 March 2015.  The management of the SAPS is confident that through this intervention, the existing challenge will be addressed adequately and more SAPS members will be empowered to fight crime effectively and efficiently.

I am confident that with the assistance of the parties concerned, we will tirelessly stay true to what we have agreed upon. We therefore all have to play our roles, ensuring that our agreement yield the expected results.

Thank you.