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Response to Premier's state of the Province speech
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Speeches and Media Releases
 Safety Liaison and Transport

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EASTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

SPEECH OF THE MEC FOR PROVINCIAL SAFETY, LIAISON AND TRANSPORT, MR D NEER

IN RESPONSE TO THE PREMIER’S STATE OF THE PROVINCE SPEECH

15 FEBRUARY 2000



Mr Speaker
Premier
 Honourable Members

Allow me to great you all in this new millenium and new year, 2000. In the last years of the last century of the 2nd millenium, after a 
long period of conflict and hopelessness, the people of South Africa had reason to be positive about their future. The note we began the 
new year seems to confirm the correctness of the last six years’ optimism of the people of South Africa. Opening Parliament in Cape Town 
President Mbeki was very positive about the economy and the response of the markets to his opening address was very good. Our Premier last 
week, opening the Provincial Legislature was also in harmony with the mood of the period. The basis for an economic recovery is in place.

We must definitely give our thanks to the good policies of the government led by the African National Congress. The anarchic conditions we 
inherited from the apartheid government are being turned around. Even some of the doubting Thomases who could not believe that a democratic 
government with a black majority will be capable of handling the difficult conditions are today singing praises to the ANC leadership and 
are saying there is a bright future for this country.

Of course, we still do have problematic areas that need to be tackled head-on as they may have the potential to block the entry of 
investments that will bring desperately needed jobs. Crime is one of those areas of concern. The image of South Africa, not only to 
outsiders, but also even to ourselves as citizens of this beloved country, when it comes to crime levels, is very bad. This is not only a 
threat to economic development, but also a threat to social stability and the process of reconstruction in general. Crime statistics 
continue to show that the crime levels in our Province are in actual fact going down.

The importance of continued sharpening of the instruments we use in our efforts to combat crime cannot, therefore, be over emphasized. It 
is because of this reality Mr Speaker, Premier, Honourable Members that today at the Bisho Police College we were launching the Special 
Delivery Improvement Programme A programme of the SAPS that is concerned with the quality of service delivery. This is a programme that 
seeks to identify our weaknesses at the station level with an aim to improve and develop our performance at the lowest level of the police 
structures. It is addressing that contact point of the police and the most ordinary members of our communities.

As the department of Safety and Security, and the Police in particular, we therefore, accept that we too have a role to play in the 
demanding task to ensure that an environment conducive to economic and social stability is created. It is our strong belief that in order 
to be able to achieve the above, we must first make an introspection of ourselves, look at areas like management at station level, 
utilisation of resources, police morale, absenteeism, issues of internal transformation, improved communication, and service delivery. We 
cannot deliver a good service to the public and our communities if our internal house is not in order. This is what the SDIP is about.

The Service Delivery Improvement Programme (SDIP) goes a long way in addressing this issue and will strengthen internal management at 
station level. It will enable the police to manage by clear objectives ( SO SMART) and work in a more planned and consistent manner. The 
programme will also go a long way in building internal relations between police members at station level. This is of crucial importance, 
because it is no secret that we face many divisions and barriers, which negatively affect our daily interactions and communication with one 
another. The programme will afford members the opportunity to start working as a team and to build trust and co-operation. This will be 
reflected in service delivery on the outside.

The beauty of the programme is the fact that stations are taught how to improve service using the resources that a station has at its 
disposal. Such an initiative will help towards bringing back respect of the police by the communities. The members at station level will be 
used as change agents thus helping towards the transformation of the service.We started the programme with 57 stations. We have just 
launched the second phase with 32 stations



TAXI VIOLENCE

At the end of last year there was an eruption of taxi violence around the East London-King William’s Town area that spilled over to Fort 
Beaufort. The East London - King William’s Town area is normally a passage of this kind of violence from Umtata to Port Elizabeth. We were 
able to contain and confine the violence to the area and crushed it with the introduction of the Scorpion whose sting was devastating.



SPATE OF ROBBERIES IN SCHOOLS

At the beginning of the school year we witnessed the robberies of schools. We are happy to mention that the police have made arrests, some 
of the cases are already appearing before the courts. The Department has had discussions with the Department of Education and reached an 
agreement that no monies should be handled at any school premises during registration. Parents are going to be advised that they must 
deposit money for school fees at a bank with the school account, where this is possible.



CONCLUSION

In conclusion Mr Speaker, Premier, and Hon. Members, the Department of Provincial Safety, Liaison and Transport is determined to continue 
to build on the platform of our previous successes and hound criminals from what ever corner they may hide, get rid of crime from our 
society and be of service to all our communities. We heard and we shall abide with the call of the Premier to vigorously fight corruption 
this year, by first reviewing our present structures and strengthening them where necessary



I THANK YOU

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