Date: 25/06/2006
Source: Department of Transport
Title: Thibedi: Provincial Anti-Police Killing Campaign
Address by North West MEC for Transport, Roads and Community Safety, Mr Jerry Thibedi, during the provincial Anti-Police Killing Campaign held at Matlosana Stadium, Klerksdorp, Sunday
May peace and goodwill be unto you! Khotso e be le lena!
May I also say this upfront that it is once again a day of mix feelings and emotions as we are gathered here united as a front to remember our colleagues who have passed on and those who died in the line of duty.
It is with sadness to announce to this gathering that just 48 hours ago; this province has lost 14 teachers instantly in a single road accident outside Lichtenburg yesterday.
This happened in the early hours of the morning (4am).
The information at my disposal is that the teachers, all of them women, died instantly on impact when the hired minibus taxi they were travelling in collided head-on with a truck just a few kilometres from Lichtenburg town from the direction of Mafikeng.
They were, I am told travelling from Mafikeng to Madidi near Mabopane to attend a funeral.
But instead of reaching their destination and going back to their families and relatives in the same mood and condition we now have 14 more bodies to bury and 14 families without their loved ones and young learners without mentors, lost skilled educators that we so desperately need in this country and province.
What is going on?
Is this a chilling reminder that we indeed live on borrowed times.
When will the time come when we can for once stop counting bodies? Bodies of crime and victims of road accidents like the one I have just told you about and also bodies of HIV/Aid related deaths.
Is this not the time that all of us need some divine intervention? Can we only turn to God or some power that be superior to mankind for answers and comfort in this difficult time?
Ladies and gentlemen, may we at this point all rise and observe a moment of silence.
May their souls rest in peace.
Colleagues and friends, our mandate as the South African Police Service (SAPS) involves the prevention, investigating and combating of crime in general in order to ensure the safety of everyone within our borders.
The current strategic thrust for policing in our united democratic South Africa which belongs to all of us is the reduction of crime by between seven percent and ten percent annually.
We have not fared badly and I am still of the view that a war against crime is not only the responsibility of the SAPS. It is the responsibility of the society as a whole, men and women, young and old. Once we can truly achieve and cement lasting partnerships built on solid foundations of trust between police and the communities they serve, I do not believe there would be a place to hide for criminals.
I do not believe we will again have to gather in numbers to mourn and remember policemen and women who died in line of duty protecting you and me and our families.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a supreme sacrifice!
If and only if we can succeed to get communities to say:
“No to crime. No to criminals. No to the proceeds of crime.”
Every household to declare, “No criminal in my house” be it my husband, wife, son or daughter.
We would be able to wrap in no time police investigations into some of these killings including unwarranted attacks on our policemen and women.
It is important to note the startling numbers involved here. I am reliably informed that:
“Between April of 2005 and April of this year (2006) North West lost in total 87 members of its police force. Twelve of our men and women in blue I am told died in the line of duty.”
They were either caught in the cross fire with criminals who live in our own communities and sleep in our houses overnight.
Like I earlier indicated, Programme Director, some of the criminals involved in these hideous acts are our own relatives and neighbours whom we give shelter and keep watch on their behalf in case police pounce.
Surely civil society has a role to play in volunteering information that could lead to the capture of murderers, rapists and crime syndicates.
Let us revive “Operation Mpimpi.”
Today it is very correct “Go Pimpa,” bagaetsho.
It is for this reason that early this year in February, we launched the Letsema Campaign to rally communities to volunteer their services in an attempt to amplify and drive home the massage of Safety Month.
That culture of volunteerism should be encouraged to continue in all our communities to foster good relations between the police and communities and to seal bonds created by various Community Police Forums (CPFs).
We need a united front to win the war against crime and to stop blaming the police while we do not make an effort to make their task easy to apprehend the criminals.
I must mention however that we have made grade strides as a country and nation since our first democratic elections in 1994. So have our police towards this daunting task, albeit the challenges.
That is why we do not talk of the South African Police (SAP). We speak about the South African Police Services (SAPS) because it is a service we render to our community rather than policing it.
Just eight days ago, Friday, 16 June, was Youth Day, marking the 30th anniversary of Soweto Student Uprisings. The historical significance on that day is common a knowledge.
The point I want to illustrate is who would have thought prior to 1994 that we as leaders in the democratic South Africa and civil society, would assemble and unite in song and in grief, side by side with policemen and women in uniform, remembering their dead colleagues and in the same vein remembering the casualties on 16 June 1976 and beyond.
Thirty years ago and beyond police would both be chasing and ‘sjamboking’ us in the streets. Teargas would fill the air and many youths including innocent people who happen just to pass by would be rounded up in police ‘casppirs’ and vans and thrown in jail.
Being declared a criminal by the unjust laws of the apartheid government!
Apartheid police were enemies of the people they were supposed to serve but the police in the new South Africa are there to provide a service help defend our democracy and constitution.
They are part and parcel of the people, hence our hard working CPFs are in place.
It is therefore a very sad observation that if indeed 12 or even more policemen died in the line on duty in a particular time and period, we must ask ourselves this important question:
‘Where was the community that aught to have protected them?’
I do not suggest communities should take the law in their own hands and hunt down the suspects. But they must inform us. Communities must inform law enforcement structures we have established.
The danger is you could break the law by your actions and be the one to be arrested.
The most valuable help we need as police from our communities is information.
Tell us where the criminal syndicates operate and hide; tell us the whereabouts of the persons whom you know committed murder.
Tell us where the murder weapon is hidden and tell us where the body of Constable Francis Rasuge is? And all those selling drugs to our innocent learners at our schools?
Turning to the Rasuge case.
I have had the privilege to follow this case closely more so that it also attracted huge media interest across the country.
Whenever I tell my colleagues in government that I am proud of our police investigators, I always mention the success we had in the Rasuge case.
Success in that we secured a conviction in that we know now that the 27-year-old Rasuge was murdered and the culprit, William Nkuna is serving a life sentence.
But this has not brought closure yet for the Rasuge family because the body has not been found yet. They deserve to bury their loved one.
We deserve to bury our colleague in honour. We deserve that!
Surely, apart from Nkuna the murderer there must be somebody out there in the community who has a clue about Rasuge’s body.
Why are you silent? O didimaletse eng?
In spite of your silence we as the police will leave no stone unturned; we will not rest until we find that body no matter how long it takes.
I believe we in this country have a police service with the necessary skills and capacity to effectively take the war against the criminals at any given time.
But any effective strategy requires a good set of tactics for it work because as members of the SAPS, we have to always be on our toes, never to be out manoeuvred by criminals who also learn new tactics with the times to achieve their deeds.
It is therefore imperative that in our case we believe that we have to deploy our resources both human and material in such a way that such resources become a well co-ordinated vehicle for service delivery to our people on the ground. By now that government has envisaged a restructured police service, deemed necessary as a way forward to better policing and improved services.
This would result among others using the local police stations as live wires and nerve centres and ovens of service delivery.
It would not matter whether the local police station is situated in the remotest rural area of our beautiful province, in the township or an up market suburb.
Through this new initiative we will ensure that police community bond and trust is enhanced, morale among the SAPS should also improve. In short what this mean is:
More resources will be devolved to various police stations as part of the station empowerment strategy.
This will result in the elimination of wasteful duplication, improved service delivery on the ground, improved command and control of all resources, improved interaction, communication and participation and a quicker response to the needs of the communities.
This is our aim and objective.
In conclusion, Programme Director, to the families of all those policemen and women who died in line of duty, your sons and daughters, husbands and wives have sacrificed in their own way their lives protecting the citizens of this country and the gains of our democracy.
They gave their own lives in order to safe and protect mine and your life. They stood their ground, never blinked and never died as cowards. They will remain our heroes worth all the honour bestowed on them.
We salute their supreme sacrifice!!
Ke a leboga. I thank you!
Issued by: Department of Transport, Roads and Community Safety, North West Provincial Government
25 June 2006
Source: Department of Transport
Title: Thibedi: Provincial Anti-Police Killing Campaign
Address by North West MEC for Transport, Roads and Community Safety, Mr Jerry Thibedi, during the provincial Anti-Police Killing Campaign held at Matlosana Stadium, Klerksdorp, Sunday
May peace and goodwill be unto you! Khotso e be le lena!
May I also say this upfront that it is once again a day of mix feelings and emotions as we are gathered here united as a front to remember our colleagues who have passed on and those who died in the line of duty.
It is with sadness to announce to this gathering that just 48 hours ago; this province has lost 14 teachers instantly in a single road accident outside Lichtenburg yesterday.
This happened in the early hours of the morning (4am).
The information at my disposal is that the teachers, all of them women, died instantly on impact when the hired minibus taxi they were travelling in collided head-on with a truck just a few kilometres from Lichtenburg town from the direction of Mafikeng.
They were, I am told travelling from Mafikeng to Madidi near Mabopane to attend a funeral.
But instead of reaching their destination and going back to their families and relatives in the same mood and condition we now have 14 more bodies to bury and 14 families without their loved ones and young learners without mentors, lost skilled educators that we so desperately need in this country and province.
What is going on?
Is this a chilling reminder that we indeed live on borrowed times.
When will the time come when we can for once stop counting bodies? Bodies of crime and victims of road accidents like the one I have just told you about and also bodies of HIV/Aid related deaths.
Is this not the time that all of us need some divine intervention? Can we only turn to God or some power that be superior to mankind for answers and comfort in this difficult time?
Ladies and gentlemen, may we at this point all rise and observe a moment of silence.
May their souls rest in peace.
Colleagues and friends, our mandate as the South African Police Service (SAPS) involves the prevention, investigating and combating of crime in general in order to ensure the safety of everyone within our borders.
The current strategic thrust for policing in our united democratic South Africa which belongs to all of us is the reduction of crime by between seven percent and ten percent annually.
We have not fared badly and I am still of the view that a war against crime is not only the responsibility of the SAPS. It is the responsibility of the society as a whole, men and women, young and old. Once we can truly achieve and cement lasting partnerships built on solid foundations of trust between police and the communities they serve, I do not believe there would be a place to hide for criminals.
I do not believe we will again have to gather in numbers to mourn and remember policemen and women who died in line of duty protecting you and me and our families.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a supreme sacrifice!
If and only if we can succeed to get communities to say:
“No to crime. No to criminals. No to the proceeds of crime.”
Every household to declare, “No criminal in my house” be it my husband, wife, son or daughter.
We would be able to wrap in no time police investigations into some of these killings including unwarranted attacks on our policemen and women.
It is important to note the startling numbers involved here. I am reliably informed that:
“Between April of 2005 and April of this year (2006) North West lost in total 87 members of its police force. Twelve of our men and women in blue I am told died in the line of duty.”
They were either caught in the cross fire with criminals who live in our own communities and sleep in our houses overnight.
Like I earlier indicated, Programme Director, some of the criminals involved in these hideous acts are our own relatives and neighbours whom we give shelter and keep watch on their behalf in case police pounce.
Surely civil society has a role to play in volunteering information that could lead to the capture of murderers, rapists and crime syndicates.
Let us revive “Operation Mpimpi.”
Today it is very correct “Go Pimpa,” bagaetsho.
It is for this reason that early this year in February, we launched the Letsema Campaign to rally communities to volunteer their services in an attempt to amplify and drive home the massage of Safety Month.
That culture of volunteerism should be encouraged to continue in all our communities to foster good relations between the police and communities and to seal bonds created by various Community Police Forums (CPFs).
We need a united front to win the war against crime and to stop blaming the police while we do not make an effort to make their task easy to apprehend the criminals.
I must mention however that we have made grade strides as a country and nation since our first democratic elections in 1994. So have our police towards this daunting task, albeit the challenges.
That is why we do not talk of the South African Police (SAP). We speak about the South African Police Services (SAPS) because it is a service we render to our community rather than policing it.
Just eight days ago, Friday, 16 June, was Youth Day, marking the 30th anniversary of Soweto Student Uprisings. The historical significance on that day is common a knowledge.
The point I want to illustrate is who would have thought prior to 1994 that we as leaders in the democratic South Africa and civil society, would assemble and unite in song and in grief, side by side with policemen and women in uniform, remembering their dead colleagues and in the same vein remembering the casualties on 16 June 1976 and beyond.
Thirty years ago and beyond police would both be chasing and ‘sjamboking’ us in the streets. Teargas would fill the air and many youths including innocent people who happen just to pass by would be rounded up in police ‘casppirs’ and vans and thrown in jail.
Being declared a criminal by the unjust laws of the apartheid government!
Apartheid police were enemies of the people they were supposed to serve but the police in the new South Africa are there to provide a service help defend our democracy and constitution.
They are part and parcel of the people, hence our hard working CPFs are in place.
It is therefore a very sad observation that if indeed 12 or even more policemen died in the line on duty in a particular time and period, we must ask ourselves this important question:
‘Where was the community that aught to have protected them?’
I do not suggest communities should take the law in their own hands and hunt down the suspects. But they must inform us. Communities must inform law enforcement structures we have established.
The danger is you could break the law by your actions and be the one to be arrested.
The most valuable help we need as police from our communities is information.
Tell us where the criminal syndicates operate and hide; tell us the whereabouts of the persons whom you know committed murder.
Tell us where the murder weapon is hidden and tell us where the body of Constable Francis Rasuge is? And all those selling drugs to our innocent learners at our schools?
Turning to the Rasuge case.
I have had the privilege to follow this case closely more so that it also attracted huge media interest across the country.
Whenever I tell my colleagues in government that I am proud of our police investigators, I always mention the success we had in the Rasuge case.
Success in that we secured a conviction in that we know now that the 27-year-old Rasuge was murdered and the culprit, William Nkuna is serving a life sentence.
But this has not brought closure yet for the Rasuge family because the body has not been found yet. They deserve to bury their loved one.
We deserve to bury our colleague in honour. We deserve that!
Surely, apart from Nkuna the murderer there must be somebody out there in the community who has a clue about Rasuge’s body.
Why are you silent? O didimaletse eng?
In spite of your silence we as the police will leave no stone unturned; we will not rest until we find that body no matter how long it takes.
I believe we in this country have a police service with the necessary skills and capacity to effectively take the war against the criminals at any given time.
But any effective strategy requires a good set of tactics for it work because as members of the SAPS, we have to always be on our toes, never to be out manoeuvred by criminals who also learn new tactics with the times to achieve their deeds.
It is therefore imperative that in our case we believe that we have to deploy our resources both human and material in such a way that such resources become a well co-ordinated vehicle for service delivery to our people on the ground. By now that government has envisaged a restructured police service, deemed necessary as a way forward to better policing and improved services.
This would result among others using the local police stations as live wires and nerve centres and ovens of service delivery.
It would not matter whether the local police station is situated in the remotest rural area of our beautiful province, in the township or an up market suburb.
Through this new initiative we will ensure that police community bond and trust is enhanced, morale among the SAPS should also improve. In short what this mean is:
More resources will be devolved to various police stations as part of the station empowerment strategy.
This will result in the elimination of wasteful duplication, improved service delivery on the ground, improved command and control of all resources, improved interaction, communication and participation and a quicker response to the needs of the communities.
This is our aim and objective.
In conclusion, Programme Director, to the families of all those policemen and women who died in line of duty, your sons and daughters, husbands and wives have sacrificed in their own way their lives protecting the citizens of this country and the gains of our democracy.
They gave their own lives in order to safe and protect mine and your life. They stood their ground, never blinked and never died as cowards. They will remain our heroes worth all the honour bestowed on them.
We salute their supreme sacrifice!!
Ke a leboga. I thank you!
Issued by: Department of Transport, Roads and Community Safety, North West Provincial Government
25 June 2006
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