Government and business in South Africa met in Johannesburg at the weekend, following their first meeting in August, and decided to establish a leadership forum, comprising all the Ministers of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster, senior CEOs, and Business Leadership South Africa and Business Against Crime.

The forum, which would be co-chaired by Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula and Business Leadership chairperson Derek Cooper, would meet bimonthly to monitor and review the progress of the four working groups that would make up the forum.

The leadership forum would also make recommendations to Cabinet and would report to President Thabo Mbeki regularly.

A joint media statement revealed that the four working groups would focus on a review of the criminal justice system, baseline effectiveness, organised crime and communication and innovation in the fight against crime.

The groups would be established within a week, and the leadership forum's first meeting was scheduled for the beginning of December.

In answer to an Engineering News Online question, Business Leadership South Africa CEO Michael Spicer said that business would be looking at how it could contirbute skills to complement government's efforts in combating crime, particularly regarding organisational change and systems management.

“We are looking at the architecture of the criminal justice system, and how it is integrated across all the different areas,” he said, adding that particular focus would be given to organised crime, the combating of which was very important to the country.

Cooper went on to say that the leadership forum would be open to innovation, and would complement what government was already doing to fight crime.

“We believe that there are areas where we can help to make South Africa a better and safer place,” he affirmed.

Meanwhile, Nqakula said that to improve government's efforts in combating crime, certain retired employees, that had specific skills that could be of benefit, were being identified and invited back.

However, he stressed that this was only applicable to those who would add genuine value.

Justice Minister Brigitte Mbandla said that the department was also looking to invite strategic retirees back, in an effort to mitigate the backlog that the Justice Department was currently experiencing.

It had identified five courts that were experiencing serious backlogs, including Port Elizabeth, which had a 70% backlog, and Pietermaritzburg, which had a 76% backlog.

The Justice Department also planned to increase the capacity at the Legal Aid Board.

When asked what business would be contributing to the leadership forum, Spicer said that it would provide information technology and human resources.

He pointed out that there were areas in the criminal justice system that still operated without computers, and this needed to change.

“Business can also help to promote cooperation and autonomy between the relevant government departments,” he said.