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Departmental Policy Speech
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Speeches and Media Releases
 Safety Liaison and Transport

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EASTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

POLICY SPEECH BY THE MEC FOR  SAFETY AND SECURITY

ON THE 18TH MARCH 1999





INTRODUCTION:

The Honourable Speaker,
 Honourable Premier,
 Members of the Executive Council,
 Members of the Provincial Legislature

It is my privilege and honour to stand here to deliver the policy speech of the Department for Safety and Security for the 1999/200 
financial year.

The major challenges that have faced the department since its inception such as that of enhancing the transformation of the police, 
enhancing social crime prevention and monitoring the conduct of the SAPS in the present democratic order, still pose a serious challenges 
as a we approach the new financial year, towards the 21st Century. It is against this, that we must acknowledge that we cannot tackle all 
these challenges posed by transformation and have them resolved at one go.

The transformation process in the police along with the pressures of crime have resulted in a multiplicity of strategies and plans within 
the Department of Safety and Security. An analysis of these suggest that progress has been attained in many areas and that transformation 
of the department to achieve greater effectiveness is underway.

It is therefore a fact that these challenges posed by transformation, that we still face today, shall have to be confronted in the new 
financial year, as this is a process that changes from time to time, according to the needs and demands of our people.

Honourable Speaker, let me briefly reflect on the post 1994 period and the government’s policy agenda on safety and security. The agenda of 
our democratic government on safety and security in the immediate post 1994 period, was shaped by two objectives: firstly to rehabilitate 
the police to ensure that they become protectors of our communities; and secondly to mobilise our people to participate in the provision of 
safety and security.

Critical to this was the establishment of effective mechanisms of civilian oversight, such as the Secretariat, to oversee and monitor the 
conduct of the SAPS.

This has chiefly been the role played by the Department for Safety and Security since its inception. To complement this role, a need to 
establish other community based mechanisms of monitoring and oversight to engage the police so that they are accountable and transparent, 
was constitutionalised. Hence, the formation of Community Police Forums (CPFs).

The challenges that immediately confronted us in the immediate post 1994 era, have changed, as I have indicated above, when I referred to 
the process of transformation. It would therefore be unfair to allocate the department at this stage with the same resources/budget that it 
had been allocated during its formation in 1994. This is rather an unfair situation as we are now faced with more challenges than then.

THE WHITE PAPER ON SAFETY AND SECURITY

The White Paper for Safety and Security, released in September 1998 by the Minister for Safety and Security, Minister Sydney Mufamadi, at 
the Gallagher Estate, singles out two policy priorities. In order to achieve a safer and more secure society, the White Paper, indicates 
that intervention is required in two key areas at the moment, namely social crime prevention and law enforcement.

The provincial government has a key role to play in ensuring safer communities. In particular, the Department of Safety and Security has a 
major role to play in monitoring of the police as well as the co-ordination of a range of agencies and activities to ensure social crime 
prevention. This provides us with more work to meet the complex challenges of constantly changing the crime scenario. Key to this is our 
role to ensure the greater participation of all spheres of government in crime prevention in the province. Therefore, the realisation of 
the key objectives of this strategic document, is a great and challenging task that rests upon the department.

Such is the mammoth task of the Secretariat for Safety and Security in the Eastern Cape Province, which is only operating from its 
provincial head office in Bisho and with very limited resources and personnel, that could not even be compared to the 18 000 strong SAPS 
that is spread throughout the province and which operates in eight policing areas or regions.

REVIEW OF THE 1998/99 STATUS QUO

Honourable Speaker, it is a well known fact that our 1998/99 budget of R 4,1 million was just a mere survival budget that could not 
drastically change our situation, if one compares it to the R 7,1 million that we received in 1997/98 financial year. It is therefore a 
fact, that, when comparing budget allocations of the Department for Safety and Security in the Province, one is tempted to be outspoken 
about this and rightfully say that there has been a trend of decreasing and mercilessly slashing the budget of the department to an extent 
that we are ineffective and only existing by name.

The pathetic state of affairs, that has been created as a result of the budget cuts of the Department for Safety and Security, is still to 
live with us.

Before I dwell any further, Honourable Speaker, allow me to briefly reflect on the address by our Honourable Deputy President, Thabo Mbeki, 
to the Paasiviki Society in Helsinki, Finland, on the 14th of September 1998. This is an attempt to capture the overall situation of the 
Department for Safety and Security.

In his address, Dep. President Thabo Mbeki cited the song of the musical, &#145;The Man of La Mancha’ where its lyrics say:

&#145;To dream the impossible dream,
 To fight the unbeatable foe,
 To bear with unbearable sorrow,
 To run where the brave dare not go,
 To right an unrightable wrong,
 To love, pure, chaste, from afar,
 To try, when your arms are too weary,
 To reach the unreachable star...
 To fight for the right without question or pause
 To be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause,
 And the world will be better for this,
 That one man, scorned and covered with scars,
 Still strove, with his last ounce of courage,
 To reach the unreachable stars!’

Honourable Speaker, nothing captures the overall situation of the Department of Safety and Security better than these lyrics.

ROLE OF THE SECRETARIAT

I wish to reflect on the mandated role of the Department of Safety and Security which is outlined in Section 206, 3 of the Constitution, 
which is:

* To monitor police conduct
* To oversee the effectiveness and efficiency of the Police Service, including receiving reports on the Police Service
* To promote good relations between the police and the community.
* To assess the effectiveness of visible policing.
* To liaise with the Cabinet member responsible for policing with respect to crime and policing in the province.

The above mandate has to be read and understood in line with the provisions contained in the SAPS, Police Act of 1995, which provides a 
legal framework for the democratic control, accountability and transparency through the creating of a civilian Secretariat for Safety and 
Security, as well as the relevant sections as outlined in the White Paper on Safety and Security.

The purpose of monitoring policing at the provincial level is broadly to ensure that government policies are adhered to, government 
objectives are achieved and the needs of communities are addressed.

Hence, The role of the Secretariat, as outlined above, becomes more relevant before, during and after the elections.

The expectations from communities out there is that this structure ensures that there is a safe and secure environment during this period. 
Hence, the role of this department will be more demanding as we advance towards the consolidation of our democracy and the renewal of our 
mandate this year.

Honourable Speaker, reducing crime is one of the leading challenges of South Africa’s democratic government and will still remain a key 
agenda in our socio - economic policies, hence, we have to keep in mind that broader socio-economic factors such as rapid urbanisation, 
high levels of unemployment and inequality between communities and disparities of service provided prior 1994, for white South Africa on 
one hand and the impoverished townships, rural areas and former homelands on the other hand, all influence safety and security.

It is therefore in this light, that crime control and prevention strategies must be underpinned by social and economic policies as outlined 
in the RDP. This is reflected by the fact that Safety and Security, is one of the key pillars of the Provincial Growth and Development 
Strategy.

The provincial government / Department of Safety and Security has the responsibility to lead social crime prevention in our province. In so 
doing, we must consolidate and prioritise social crime prevention initiatives and activities in alignment with national priorities.

Amongst a number of our provincial responsibilities in this regard, we need to initiate and co-ordinate social crime prevention programmes, 
mobilise resources for social crime prevention programmes and also co-ordinate a range of provincial functions, including health, 
education, welfare and local government , so as to achieve more effective crime prevention, to mention but a few.

It is also one of our key responsibilities to evaluate and support the social crime prevention programmes at local government level. The 
White Paper for Safety and Security stipulates that the provincial government / Department of Safety and Security should be responsible for 
rendering support to the local government in its endeavours to prevent crime.

Honourable Speaker, this is just a bird’s eye view of the challenges facing the Department of Safety and Security in the year ahead. To 
meet these challenges, the Department of Safety and Security has been allocated an amount of R 4,45`5 000 for the 1999/2000 financial year.

We are thus expected to meet these enormous challenges with this impossible budget. How are we then expected to monitor an 18 000 strong 
Police Service in the Province alone which has R190 million budget, based in 205 police stations that operate in eight policing areas, with 
this meagre budget that has drastically dropped from R 7,1 million for 1997/98, to R 4, 45 million for 1999/2000.

Allow me then, Mr Speaker, to show how impossible such an exercise will be in this vast and rural province of ours by elaborating on the 
various programmes and activities of the department.

PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION / POLICY R3 745 000)

This programme has four core focus areas, namely, to ensure that provincial departmental activities are in line with national policy, 
ensure that communication is rendered within and outside the department, ensure that there is a gender focus within the provincial SAPS and 
also police training.

For this coming year departmental activities will centre around the following projects:

PROJECT 1: ENSURING THAT PROVINCIAL DEPARTMENTAL ACTIVITIES ARE IN LINE WITH NATIONAL POLICY:

Under this project, the various divisions of the department will regularly liaise and meet with the national level as well as the other 
provinces to ensure proper co-ordination and that all activities are in line with national policy directives. This is especially crucial 
when one considers that the South African Police Service is a national Service. An amount of R 277 000 has been set aside for this project

PROJECT 2: TO RENDER INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION

Communications forms the backbone of every successful organisation, hence, it is an area that cannot be undermined by any institution. The 
Communication division of the department focusses on both internal and external communication. In this regard the following activities are 
expected to receive attention this year:

A. INTERNAL COMMUNICATION:

Activities under this project will centre around the implementation of the already adopted internal communication strategy. The chief 
objective of the strategy is to improve internal communication and relations between staff and management in the department so as to ensure 
better service delivery.

B. EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION:

Honourable Speaker, it is crucial that activities and policies of departments and the government as a whole, be communicated to the public. 
It therefore for this reason that we have a communication division in the department, whose major activities for this year will include, 
projects to launch an extensive publicity campaign to enhance the department’s public image and to ensure that information regarding 
departmental activities, is communicated effectively to communities.

A structured process to provide communication support to the major Programmes of the department will also be put in place. This activity 
will link with the publicity campaign in the sense that it will ensure that information of all departmental programmes will be communicated 
to the community.

C. MONITORING COMMUNICATION WITHIN THE SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE SERVICE:

Monitoring communication of the SAPS so that it is in line with the expectations and demands of the present democracy is an area that the 
department’s communication division is highly involved in. This process has culminated into a survey to determine the state of 
communications within the SAPS, which then led to recommendations that are soon to be implemented to address SAPS communications.

To take this process forward the activities of our communication division under this project during this year will focus, amongst other 
issues, on formulating and implementing a clear monitoring plan with regards to internal communication of the provincial police. An amount 
of R 75 000 has been allocated for this project.

Honourable Speaker, due to budgetary constraints the following intended major activities with regards to Communication have to be 
abandoned:

The publication of an external newsletter (focussing on communicating information of the department to its external stakeholders);

A Community Policing awareness campaign for the province; and

The publication of information brochures focussing on areas such as the department’s location, contact numbers, service standards and so 
forth.

Such is the present status and situation as far as communication is concerned.

PROJECT 3: ENSURING A GENDER FOCUS WITHIN THE SAPS

In line with our RDP policies, the SAPS needs to place emphasis on gender representation as far as appointments and career advancement is 
concerned within the Service.

To determine whether this is being adhered to in the Police Service, the department will, under this project, focus on the following:

A. THE DRAFTING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A GENDER POLICY FOR THE PROVINCIAL POLICE:

Some of the intended activities under this project relate to conducting a comprehensive audit of the gender distribution within the 
provincial police, ie. the number of police men versus women, their comparative ranks and their distribution within units of the police, 
drafting of a provincial policy based on the audit results to ensure the advancement of women within the provincial Police Service and also 
monitoring the implementation of the policy.

Honourable Speaker, the required funding to kickstart this project alone is, R 110 000.

B. ADDRESSING SEXUAL HARASSMENT WITHIN THE PROVINCIAL POLICE:

There is a developing trend to ignore sexual harassment of women in the SAPS, assuming that police men and women enjoy the same status 
within the Police Service, if one considers the nature of their duties. However, the truth of the matter is that women in the SAPS are 
still victims of discrimination. In order for us to determine this and also address it, we need to engage in this project. Intended 
activities under this project were:

To conduct a survey amongst female police members to determine the extent and nature of sexual harassment in the provincial Police Service 
and whether the Sexual Harassment Policy is being adhered to;

To make recommendations regarding the findings of the survey and to implement measures for monitoring the provincial Police Service’s 
adherence to the Sexual Harassment Policy; and

To successfully kickstart this project, an amount of R 115 000, is required, however, due to the present budgetary constraints none of 
these Gender projects can be continued with.

PROJECT 4: POLICE TRAINING

Our monitoring role as the department will fall short of achieving its objectives, if we do not play a role in the field of police 
training. The department successfully kickstarted this project in the last financial year by conducting a comprehensive research project 
into the police training facilities and needs in the province. We therefore need to sustain this project this year, by focussing on:

Monitoring whether the recommendations of the above mentioned research project are successfully implemented; and

Ensuring that a Provincial Training Committee is established to focus on the needs of police training in the province.

An amount of R 10 000 has been committed to this project.

Honourable Speaker, I need to highlight that once Personnel Expenditure has been deducted from our budget, only an amount of R 362 000 
remains for the programme on Administration and Policy, which has a number of projects to implement, as alluded above.

PROGRAMME 2: MONITORING / OVERSIGHT (R229 000)

Monitoring and oversight forms the key pillar and backbone of the activities of the Department for Safety and Security, hence, it has to be 
given serious attention.

Whilst all the activities of divisions within the department have a role to play in monitoring and oversight over the SAPS, a need to have 
a division specifically assigned this pivotal role, cannot be over-emphasised if one takes into account the size of the department vis-a-
vee that of the Police Service.

The Monitoring and Oversight Programme has identified two core projects for the 1999/2000 financial year, namely Monitoring of the SAPS and 
Community Policing.

PROJECT 1: MONITORING OF THE SAPS

Let me briefly reflect on the project, involving Monitoring of the SAPS. During this financial year, activities of this project will centre 
around monitoring the policing Priorities and Objectives. In this regard the police are set nationally approved priorities and objectives 
and the current five priority areas are: Crimes involving fire-arms Criminal organisations Crimes against women and children Corruption 
within the criminal justice system Crime prevention (targeted visible policing)

These five priority contain over 100 key performance indicators and taking that this division is only staffed by one individual, it is an 
impossible task to monitor all 100 key performance indicators. Taking this into consideration, we have therefore decided that although all 
priorities and objectives will be considered, special focus will be placed on five key performance indicators that have special relevance 
for the Eastern Cape. Some of these will be: Escapes from police custody, loss of police fire-arms and securing illegal fire-arms.

Amongst other areas that the Monitoring/Oversight Division is expected to focus on this year is, internal police priorities, such as Victim 
Empowerment which aims to enhance a victim support approach by the SAPS, Employee development and affirmative training which aims to 
continuously develop all employees and eradicate disparities in skills levels, continued monitoring of the Redistribution of Vehicles in 
the SAPS, on-going monitoring of the implementation of Affirmative Action in the provincial Police Service through the participation in the 
Affirmative Action Task Team and continued monitoring of appointments in the SAPS.

An amount of R 44 000 has been set aside for this specific project.

PROJECT 2: COMMUNITY POLICING

Honourable Speaker, there is no doubt that Community Policing, as an adopted style of policing in South Africa, has to be strengthened. The 
role played by Community Police Forums in advancing Community Policing needs to be strengthened with other effective means to ensure that 
we sustain this style of policing that has ensured the participation and involvement of our communities in policing, for the first time in 
the history of our country.

The Monitoring/Oversight Programme of the department is expected, amongst a number of other functions, to focus on:

Monitoring the activities of the various Community Policing structures of the Province, ie. The provincial Community Policing Board, the 
Area Boards and the Community Police Forums (CPFs);

Rendering assistance to Community Police Forums in terms of support, capacity building, etc; and

Liaising and participation in the British Department for International Development, (DFID) Community Policing Programme.

This is part of a donor programme of assistance to the department to improve policing in the Eastern Cape which culminated into an 
agreement that was signed between the DFID and a consortium of NGOs in November 1998, to improve community policing in the Eastern Cape 
Province. The department is closely involved in this project.

An amount of R 12 00 has been committed to this project.

 PROGRAMME 3: SPECIAL PROGRAMMES (R218 000)

The Special Programme for the Department for Safety and Security this year, will focus on three projects, namely, monitoring of the Service 
Delivery Improvement Programme (SDIP), monitoring of Victim Support Centres and monitoring of Infrastructural Development Projects of the 
SAPS

Once Personnel Expenditure has been deducted from this programme, only an amount of R 34 000 remains to sustain the programme.

PROJECT 1: MONITORING OF THE SERVICE DELIVERY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME (SDIP)

Under this project, our activities will centre around the following on-going monitoring of the 60 police stations that are currently 
engaged in the Service Delivery Improvement Programme (SDIP). Areas that will be concentrated on this year will include, amongst other 
issues, :

Providing support to police stations from both area and provincial level, convictions per dockets closed, Community Service Centre work, 
ie. The number of error-free dockets opened, morale of police members at police station level, absenteeism rate and availability of police 
vehicles, for all police service units.

An amount of R 20 000 has been set aside for their project.

PROJECT 2: MONITORING OF VICTIM SUPPORT CENTRES

Honourable Speaker, the issue of support and empowerment to victims of crime, particularly those that relate to rape, child abuse, domestic 
violence and abuse of women in general, forms a priority in the agenda of the department.

It is for this reason that the department along with a number of other departments and NGO that play a role in the field of welfare, health 
and counselling of rape victims, etc, undertook to kickstart a process of empowering such victims through the establishment of Victim 
Support Centres where people would be able to receive professional help in various disciplines under a single shelter.

There are presently two Victim Support Centres in the Province located in Port Elizabeth (Ncedo Care Centre) and East London (Mdantsane 
Victim Care Centre).

Under this project, the Special Programmes for the department will this year still continue to monitor the services provided in these 
institutions, especially with regards to treatment of victims and training of detectives in the management of rape, women battering and 
child abuse. This project will this year also continue monitoring and facilitation of the establishment of new Victim Support Centres for 
Umtata and Queenstown.

An amount of R 8 000 has been committed to this project.

PROJECT 3: MONITORING OF INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS OF THE SAPS

Honourable Speaker, the development of infrastructural projects, ie., the repairing, renovation and construction of buildings, is one of 
the projects that received a priority within the department. The need to develop these projects was necessitated by the disparities that 
existed between the former South African police stations and those located in the previously disadvantaged areas, namely, the rural, 
townships and former homelands. It was imperative that the legacies that we inherited as a result of Apartheid, in terms of distribution of 
resources and conditions of police stations, had to be addressed rapidly.

It is against this background that this project has to continue monitoring the construction of the Centane Community Safety Centre, and the 
Butterworth and Sulenkama Police Stations. An amount of R 6 000 has been allocated to this project.

PROGRAMME 4: LEGAL ADVISORY SERVICES ( R 263 000)

This Programme focusses on the following issues:

Liaison with SAPS Legal Services;

Developing a Human Rights Culture within the SAPS;

Developing provincial legislations; and

Monitoring and channelling community complaints against the police.

Honourable Speaker, due to budgetary constraints no new activities can be engaged in, under this programme. As such, the focus will be 
directed towards continuing and strengthening existing projects that we focussed on the previous financial year.

PROJECT 1: LIAISON WITH SAPS LEGAL SERVICES

Under this project, the following will receive attention:

Improvement of relations with the SAPS Legal Services through:

Training of legal officials;

Facilitating in the human rights activities and training of police personnel;

Better information management; and

Better distribution of legal instruction on a rotational basis.

An amount of R 18 000 has been set aside for this project.

PROJECT 2: DEVELOPING A HUMAN RIGHTS CULTURE WITHIN THE SAPS:

This project will focus on:

Strengthening relations with external donor organisations, such as the Raoul Wallenburg Institute (Sweden) and the UNESCO Oliver Tambo 
Chair of Human Rights (Fort Hare University) to continue aid in providing Human Rights Training for SAPS members;

Sensitivity Training Programme for all SAPS members initiated between the department and the SAPS Social Services; and

Developing and presenting a training programme on Human Rights for senior police management in the province.

An amount R 12 000 has been committed to this project.

PROJECT 3: DEVELOPING PROVINCIAL LEGISLATION

In this project, research and drafting of provincial legislation in line with the new White Paper on Safety and Security, will be completed 
this year. An amount of R 8 000 has been allocated for that process.

PROJECT 4: MONITORING COMMUNITY COMPLAINTS AGAINST THE POLICE

Under this project, the continued monitoring and channelling of community complaints will be emphasised, such that an amount of R 5 000 has 
been set aside for administering this process.

PROGRAMME 5: CO-ORDINATING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NATIONAL CRIME PREVENTION STRATEGY IN THE PROVINCE (R000)

It is important to note that in the original budget that was submitted for the department, this project was budgeted for as a separate 
Programme, due to its importance and the fact that it is a national mandate. Funding was, however, not approved and a separate programme to 
deal with the matter could therefore not be created. At present, no funding for the NCPS therefore exists in the departmental budget 
allocation and no staff can be appointed. If one looks at the requirements of the new White Paper of Safety and Security, this has 
extremely serious implications.

In terms of the original budget submitted, the department’s intended actions for 1999/2000 with regards to this programme were as follows:

PROJECT 1: LOCAL GOVERNMENT CRIME PREVENTION INITIATIVES:

The strategic importance of local government involvement in crime prevention is one of the issues contained in the White Paper for Safety 
and Security and therefore needs serious attention. Under this project, the department plans to arrange the following, in taking forward 
this initiative in the province:

A workshop with the Department of Local Government and Housing to discuss the implications of the new White Paper of Safety and Security;

A workshop with each of the provincial District Councils (total 6) on the implications of the new White Paper of Safety and Security;

A Crime Prevention Summits in five District Council regions (one Summit has already taken place for the Wild Coast District Council region 
during 1998/99).

Under the same project, we also need to facilitate a planning session with each District Council after each Summit to, amongst other 
issues, :

Compile an action plan based on the Summit resolutions and identified crime prevention projects;

Agree on support and monitoring mechanisms between the Department and the District Councils; and also

Arrange regular updates and report back sessions to indicate progress.

Honourable Speaker, the required funding for this project is R 500 000.

PROJECT 2: CONTINUED ADMINISTERING OF THE PROVINCIAL CRIME PREVENTION STRATEGY (PCPS) CO-ORDINATING COMMITTEE:

The intended activities for this project were:

To arrange and oversee a Strategic Planning Session for the Committee to map the year’s crime prevention focus and activities;

To compile an action plan for the Committee with time frames and costings of projects;

To submit the action plan to the Executive Council for approval;

To arrange and oversee a capacity building workshop for the members of the Committee to broaden their understanding of the National Crime 
Prevention Strategy and crime prevention in general;

To oversee the activities of the PCPS Communication Sub-Committee (tasked with communicating information on crime prevention in the 
province to all stake holders); and

To Liaise and interact with all the Sub-Committees of the PCPS Co-ordinating Committee.

The required funding for this project is R20 000.

PROJECT 3: COMMUNITY BASED CRIME PREVENTION INITIATIVES:

The intended activities for this project were:

To regularly liaise and interact with the following organisations currently involved in crime prevention projects: Eastern Cape Council of 
Churches Business Against Crime

To liaise and interact with Community Police Forums involved in crime prevention projects.

To initiate and oversee new crime prevention projects in conjunction with community based structures and organisations.

The required funding for this project is R80 000.

PROJECT 4: PARTICIPATION IN THE MANAGEMENT OF THE INTEGRATED JUSTICE PILOT PROJECT:

This project will be started in April 1999 and will focus on reducing awaiting trial prisoners in the province to ease the burden on the 
criminal justice system. It involves an integrated approach focussing on the role of the SAPS, within the Department of Safety and Security 
and the Departments of Justice and Correctional Services.

The project will also serve to increase co-operation and co-ordination between the three departments. The project is one of three pilot 
projects in the country (the other two are based in Gauteng and Kwazulu-Natal) and is funded by Business Against Crime.

The total funding required for this programme is R 600 000 (excluding Personnel Expenditure).

Due to the limited budget allocation to the department, (having literally no money or staff for the implementation of the NCPS), most of 
these intended projects have to be abandoned or at least placed on hold. The department can therefore realistically only concentrate on the 
following areas:

Engage in an active drive to find funding for the implementation of the NCPS in the province;

Request for assistance from the Executive Council and the D/G;

Request for Supernumerary staff to be seconded to the department to assist in crime prevention projects (due to the budgetary restraints, 
the department is not in a position to engage additional staff. At present, the department have no staff to deal with the NCPS);

Participate in policy meetings with national and the other provinces (every two months) so that the department can at least stay in touch 
with the latest developments around the NCPS; and

Participate in the management of the Integrated Justice Pilot Project due to the fact that funding is provided by Business Against Crime.

CONCLUSION

Mr Speaker, I think it has become clear from this input that the department can at present not fulfill its mandate due to budgetary 
constraints. The following need to be addressed as a matter of urgency:

REVIEWING THE DEPARTMENT’S ORGANOGRAM:

The organograms for the Provincial Secretariats for Safety and Security were drawn taking into consideration amongst others the size and 
level of the National Secretariat. The present organogram of the department cannot cope with the strengths of the SAPS, hence, it needs to 
take into account the capacity of the SAPS in the province as well as the rural nature of our province.

The White Paper on Safety and Security clearly sets out monitoring of the SAPS and crime prevention as the key focus areas for the 
Department. However, it does not limit its functions to only those two areas.

The Department is responsible for strengthening community policing throughout the province, acting as a catalyst for transformation within 
the South African Police Service and performing any other functions as listed in the Police Act.

All these functions require a lot of travelling through the length and breadth of the province. The functions in themselves amount to a 
mammoth task demanding a Herculian effort. Added to this is a crises relating to faction fights, stocktheft violence, etc., that we are 
always required to attend to.

Notwithstanding the above, the organogram for the Secretariat provides for 35 posts. All these posts are based at the Provincial Head 
Office of the department.

By any degree of imagination this organogram can never be adequate and appropriate to discharge the responsibilities assigned to the 
Secretariat. Some programmes are run by one person only, an impossibility indeed considering the demands of the work to be done as well as 
the vastness of the province. It is not humanly possible to render a service to every corner of this province, single handedly.

The organogram is therefore being reviewed as a matter of urgency unless the secretariat is being set up for failure. This is also done to 
create space for the recruitment of the supernumerary staff, subject to the approval of the Executive Council. We also plan to recruit in a 
focussed manner, in line with the demands and responsibilities of the department, beginning small and expanding gradually.

REVIEWING THE PRESENT BUDGET ALLOCATION:

Honourable Speaker, once Personnel Expenditure has been deducted, the department is left with a mere R 495 000. The department’s 
Administrative expenses come to an average of R 40 000 per month, ie roughly R 480 000 for the year. It is therefore clear that the we 
cannot possibly survive on the present budget allocation. The present budget allocation therefore needs to be reviewed as a matter of 
urgency.

In conclusion: on 28 September 1998, addressing the African Renaissance Conference, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki said: "A few days ago, I 
had the privilege to meet a delegation of a section of the leadership of the Afrikaner youth of our country to hear their views about the 
future of our country. During the course of that meeting, they made a statement pregnant with hope as it was elegant in its rendition. Here 
is what they said: &#145;Yesterday is a foreign country - tomorrow belongs to us’".

I thank you

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