MEETING BETWEEN DEPUTY PRESIDENT ZUMA AND A DELEGATION FROM BUSINESS AGAINST CRIME

Issued by: Office of the Presidency

30 January 2002

Deputy President Jacob Zuma today met with a delegation from Business Against Crime, at the Union Buildings, Pretoria.

The purpose of the meeting was to:

• Brief the Deputy President about the work and programmes of Business Against Crime (BAC) over the past year;
• Share perspectives on the fight against crime;
• Better co-ordinate and synergise the respective efforts of government and business;
• Strengthen the partnership between government and BAC and talk about ways of improving the partnership on a continuous basis.

The meeting noted that there have been notable successes as a result of the partnership between government and the business sector.

These include:

• The camera surveillance systems in the Johannesburg and Cape Town central business districts, which have led to rapid responses and arrests of perpetrators of crimes such as hijackings and murder.
• Co-operation on priority crimes such as organised crime and vehicle syndicates.
• Improvement of service delivery trough mechanisms such as the provision of technology and management skills to the various components of the criminal justice system.

Deputy President Zuma said the work of BAC was a practical example of the spirit of voluntarism and called for an extension of this spirit to other sectors and spheres of South African society. He said the partnership between BAC and government showed that something concrete was being done to fight crime in the country, and called for this pro-active initiative to be replicated.

The two parties agreed that there is a need to accelerate moral regeneration in the country, and for all South Africans to take part in the movement as a critical contributor to the fight against crime.

They also called upon all South Africans to contribute to the fight against crime and for this task not to be seen as the responsibility of government alone.

Both parties expressed a need for the interaction between government and BAC to take place on a regular basis.

The BAC delegation comprised the following:

• James Fitzgerald, Chairman.
• Willie Scholtz, Chief Executive Officer.
• Wendy Lucas-Bull, Director.
• Doug Band, Director.
• Eric Ratshikhopha, Director.
• Matt Gennrich, Chairman Business Against Crime Eastern Cape.

Inquiries:
Ms Lakela Kaunda
Spokesperson/Chief Director: Communications
Office of the Deputy President
Tel: 082 782 2575
Fax: 012 326 3010