Budget Vote speech for Ministry of Safety and Security by Deputy Minister for Safety and Security, Susan Shabangu, MP, National Assembly

Madam Speaker
Honourable members of the extended Parliamentary Committee

Introduction

Social contact crimes

All over the world there are many instances where people who are usually found in or are affected by the same social environment visit injury upon one another. Partners in love relationships assault one another, mostly behind the closed doors of the homes they share. Some fathers, uncles and brothers rape their daughters, nieces and sisters.

Some drinking partners at various bars, taverns and shebeens pick up arguments which graduate into cases of serious discord and assaults. The result is usually death.

In the South African Police Service (SAPS) annual report for 2005/06 we reported that the Crime Information Analysis Centre of the police analysed 9 623 dockets where they looked at among other things murder, rape and serious and violent assault.

The survey revealed that murder victims in 81,5% cases knew who the killer was. In 61,9% cases they knew the killer because they were relatives, friends or acquaintances of the victim.

In the rape cases the victims knew the perpetrators in 75,9% cases. In 59,9% instances the rapists were relatives, friends and acquaintances of the victims, while those who seriously assaulted the victims were known to them in 89,1% of cases and in 71,5% the attackers were relatives, friends and acquaintances of the victims.

The overall average was 80% of serious and violent crime that happens between people who know one another because they are relatives, friends or acquaintances and will be found mostly in the same social milieu.

Most social crimes like the ones referred to in the survey are difficult to prevent as they happen away from the public. The police in those circumstances come in later when they investigate.

We should remember, therefore, what President Thabo Mbeki said in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) this year, "Measures required to improve social cohesion cannot be undertaken by government alone. We must, as South Africans, speak together of freedom from want and from moral decay, and work to attain the happiness that comes with it."

"I am certain that we shall all agree that working together to achieve the happiness that comes with freedom applies equally to the challenge of dealing with crime. Promoting peace and security will involve all people. It will build on and expand the national drive for peace and combat the endemic violence faced by communities with special attention to the various forms of violence to which women are subjected."

It is a fact that the government and the SAPS will not be able to turn the tide against crime if they work alone.

Criminologists, sociologists and other social scientists agree that socially determined contact crime such as sexual offences (including rape), assault [both grievous bodily harm (GBH) and common], murders and attempted murders cannot be combated by means of conventional policing alone.

An integrated approach to combating these crimes should be followed. Police agencies, other relevant government departments (e.g. justice, correctional services, social development, housing, local authorities, etc), non-governmental organisations (NGOs) especially those active in the religious and cultural spheres and most importantly the communities themselves have to work in a co-ordinated and systematic fashion to address the problem.

On our part we want to call on all people to participate in our campaign to work Against Crime Together otherwise known as ACT in order to ensure that our democratic right to safety and security is upheld in South Africa. They should become police reservists supporting their local Community Policing Forum (CPF) reporting criminal activity or the perpetrators of crime to the SAPS or by, for example, simply saying no to receiving any proceeds from crime such as buying stolen goods.

Levels of contact crime are further impacted upon by the generators of and conditions conducive to crime such as urbanisation, unemployment and poverty, growing material needs and the increasing abuse of alcohol and drugs.

Substance abuse

The levels of violence in crime are often associated with the aggressive behaviour of people who are especially under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

Drugs are expensive. Addicts, especially young unemployed people, resort to crime to be able to feed the addiction. They steal goods from shops, homes and vehicles to sell off for money to buy the drugs. Some render themselves open to sexual exploitation to get some income to satisfy their craving.

Drugs are also a commodity involved in many organised crime transactions. There are at least some indications that drugs are linked to e.g. carjacking, the plunder of our marine resources especially abalone along the coast between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth and theft of precious metals, gem stones and gold dust.

Prevention

Social crime prevention is the focal point for the creation of a crime free environment in law enforcement and policing. Of vital importance is the understanding of the nature and causes of social crime.

Child protection

To protect our children we must reintroduce the primacy in our homes of moral judgment and the promotion of social values that must rebuild our dysfunctional families that expose children to violence and crime through domestic violence, child abuse and other forms of assault on the spiritual base of the children.

The following programmes were initiated to facilitate safety nets for children and prevent their involvement in crime.

The children living in streets project in the Western Cape also facilitates the eventual reintegration of homeless children into their families. An Indoor Skills and Development Centre was also established in Woodstock to provide these homeless children with skills.

During the last financial year capacity building sessions were conducted for SAPS members in the various provinces to build networks of service providers.

The pilot project should provide lessons for sound practices for the better management of children living in streets.

The experience gained from the Woodstock Centre has been a good building block for us to expand to other provinces.

The SAPS therefore will continue to participate in exercises to develop and implement awareness campaigns that make communities, parents and other care givers to pay attention to the security of children.

SAPS are playing a key role in the reduction of commercial sexual exploitation of children in Tshwane was developed and consultations with other role players have been conducted for implementation in the course of the year. Other role players include the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Department of Social Development and Street Kids Alliance. The latter is a coalition of NGOs working in the shelter, child welfare societies and other related environments within the sector.

Other projects

The SAPS is involved in other projects with various stakeholders that are designed to keep children away from crime.

More youth co-ordinators have been appointed by SAPS

To raise children's and young people's awareness of crime generators that can ensnare them.

A joint action plan between the national Department of Education and SAPS aimed at improving safety at schools is being developed. This should address not only the security control and infra-structural challenges of schools but also the management of challenges such as bullying, carrying and use of dangerous weapons, gangs, substance abuse and other criminal actions. The programme will be implemented fully this year.

We welcome and support the proposed legislation on random searches and seizures in schools.

Gender-based violence and victim empowerment

The SAPS participated in the development of the national programme of action for 365 days of no-violence against women and children. This includes all activities taken by police for the prevention, management, service provision on rape, domestic violence, child abuse and victim empowerment. In the past year, improved involvement of men in gender based violence awareness rising has been evident. Partnerships have been strengthened with traditional leaders, men as partners, religious community and others impacting on value development for preventative purposes. Civil society in the form of NGOs working in the sector is a large aspect of the partnership.

Other programmes in the SAPS include Women's Network, Operation Basadi and Operation Sondlo.

Employee assistance services

The mental and social health of members of the SAPS enjoys special attention by the Ministry and the police. The operational demands of policing and the traumatic experiences that are an upshot in many instances of the operational conditions under which the police serve, require a lot of empathy and sensitivity towards the members.

The environment we create for the workers must always, therefore, respond sensitively and humanely to the special circumstances of each employee.

The employee assistance service was established to respond to the traumas of policing.

The employee assistance service is a dynamic, multi disciplinary co-ordinated and integrated tool for the improvement of the mental and social functioning and work performance of employees in an affirming and non-discriminatory approach.

It does the following:

1. offer support to all employees who encounter personal, emotional, psychological or behavioural concerns that detrimentally affect their work attendance and or job performance

2. promote timeous intervention and support to employees

3. promote healthy work relationships.

Employee assistance service's programmes inter alia include the following, 'a more intensified approach has been adopted to promote the well-being of employees, especially with regard to trauma debriefing and suicide prevention.'

Issued by: Secretariat for Safety and Security
22 May 2007