Speaking at his eighth State of the Nation address, in Cape Town,
President Thabo Mbeki highlighted the high crime rate as one of the
key issues that needed greater focus.
This comes at a time when the population is calling for the president to take a strong stance on the high crime rate gripping the country, and more especially after the brutal murder of internationally-recognised historian David Rattery, two weeks ago.
“Obviously, we must continue and further intensify the struggle against crime,” the President said.
He reported that government had already surpassed the targeted figure of 152 000 police officers employed in the South African Police Service and had improved its training programme.
“We recognise the fact that the impact of this is not yet high enough for everybody to feel a better sense of safety and security. While we have reduced the incidence of most contact crimes, the annual reduction rate with regard to such categories as robbery, assault and murder is still below the 7%-10% that we had targeted.” However, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon criticised government for not doing enough and said that Mbeki gave more space to crime only “because of direct public pressure”.
“When the country is crying out for empathy and passionate commitment to fighting crime, he gives us bureaucratic lists of things to be done,” Leon stated.
Mbeki called for the promotion of peace and security, “with special attention to the various forms of violence to which women are subjected”.
He added that the abuse of women and children continued at an unacceptable level.
The President acknowledged that the regulatory system in place was clearly inadequate and would be reviewed during the course of the year.
In addition to improving the work of the police, government would look to work together with the private security industry to create an environment in which the security expectations of the public, were “actually met”.
Government promised to put more effort into improving the functioning of courts, reducing in-case backlogs, and expanding the Correctional Services infrastructure.
Mbeki also acknowleged weaknesses in government service delivery and promised to improve services to the population, which derived in part from inadequate capacity and systems to monitor implementation. “As such, in the period leading up to 2009, the issue of the organisation and capacity of the State will remain high on our agenda.” In a move to ensure that decisive action would be taken to eradicate lawlessness, drug trafficking, gun running, crime and especially the abuse of women and children, the President promised, among other things, to improve the remuneration and working conditions of the police, and expand SAPS personnel to 180 000 within three years and increase the use of electronic monitoring and the evaluation system.
In addition, government would bring to full capacity the forensic laboratories which had been equipped with the latest technology, filling the vacant posts at the Department of Home Affairs, intensifying intelligence work on organised crime, building on the successes in dealing with cash-in-transit heists, drug trafficking and poaching of game and abalone.
Further, government would maximise its use of new technology provided to the justice system and generally improve management of the courts and the prosecution service, to reduce case backlog and improve analysis of crime trends to improve crime prevention and crime combating.
“In this regard, we must respond to the cold reality that, as in other countries, the overwhelming majority of violent crimes against people occur in the most socio economically deprived areas of our country and require strong and sustained community interventions focused on crime prevention.” He commended leaders of business and religious communities that strengthened partnerships on the ground, and “give of their time and resources to strengthen the fight against crime”. “Government will play its part to ensure that these partnerships actually work, and that we all act together to discharge the responsibility to protect our citizens.”
This comes at a time when the population is calling for the president to take a strong stance on the high crime rate gripping the country, and more especially after the brutal murder of internationally-recognised historian David Rattery, two weeks ago.
“Obviously, we must continue and further intensify the struggle against crime,” the President said.
He reported that government had already surpassed the targeted figure of 152 000 police officers employed in the South African Police Service and had improved its training programme.
“We recognise the fact that the impact of this is not yet high enough for everybody to feel a better sense of safety and security. While we have reduced the incidence of most contact crimes, the annual reduction rate with regard to such categories as robbery, assault and murder is still below the 7%-10% that we had targeted.” However, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon criticised government for not doing enough and said that Mbeki gave more space to crime only “because of direct public pressure”.
“When the country is crying out for empathy and passionate commitment to fighting crime, he gives us bureaucratic lists of things to be done,” Leon stated.
Mbeki called for the promotion of peace and security, “with special attention to the various forms of violence to which women are subjected”.
He added that the abuse of women and children continued at an unacceptable level.
The President acknowledged that the regulatory system in place was clearly inadequate and would be reviewed during the course of the year.
In addition to improving the work of the police, government would look to work together with the private security industry to create an environment in which the security expectations of the public, were “actually met”.
Government promised to put more effort into improving the functioning of courts, reducing in-case backlogs, and expanding the Correctional Services infrastructure.
Mbeki also acknowleged weaknesses in government service delivery and promised to improve services to the population, which derived in part from inadequate capacity and systems to monitor implementation. “As such, in the period leading up to 2009, the issue of the organisation and capacity of the State will remain high on our agenda.” In a move to ensure that decisive action would be taken to eradicate lawlessness, drug trafficking, gun running, crime and especially the abuse of women and children, the President promised, among other things, to improve the remuneration and working conditions of the police, and expand SAPS personnel to 180 000 within three years and increase the use of electronic monitoring and the evaluation system.
In addition, government would bring to full capacity the forensic laboratories which had been equipped with the latest technology, filling the vacant posts at the Department of Home Affairs, intensifying intelligence work on organised crime, building on the successes in dealing with cash-in-transit heists, drug trafficking and poaching of game and abalone.
Further, government would maximise its use of new technology provided to the justice system and generally improve management of the courts and the prosecution service, to reduce case backlog and improve analysis of crime trends to improve crime prevention and crime combating.
“In this regard, we must respond to the cold reality that, as in other countries, the overwhelming majority of violent crimes against people occur in the most socio economically deprived areas of our country and require strong and sustained community interventions focused on crime prevention.” He commended leaders of business and religious communities that strengthened partnerships on the ground, and “give of their time and resources to strengthen the fight against crime”. “Government will play its part to ensure that these partnerships actually work, and that we all act together to discharge the responsibility to protect our citizens.”
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