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Policy Speech 2001/2 for the  Department of safety
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Speeches and Media Releases
 Safety Liaison and Transport

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EASTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT
 PROVINCIAL SAFETY AND LIAISON POLICY SPEECH 2001/2
 BY MEC NEER
 6 MARCH 2001



Honourable Speaker
 Honourable Premier
 Members of the Legislature

It is that time of the financial year when we are expected as a Department to come and address the Legislature and the public on how we 
intend to improve safety and security utilising the allocated budget for the coming financial year.

Our mission is to replace a society, which in many ways has been and continues to be brutal and savage in the extreme. The society we seek 
to replace was built on the law of the jungle of the survival of the fittest.

The new society we have set out to establish is a caring one. A society that guarantees the dignity of every citizen on the basis of a good 
quality of life for everyone without regard to race, colour or disability.

An enormous challenge indeed, especially when you consider the vastness of the Province, underdevelopment and poverty. Although, I have 
described the challenge as enormous, I honestly believe that with our commitment and determination we shall succeed in our endeavour to 
build a caring society.

The challenge of reconstructing and developing society calls upon us to go out and mobilise our people to act in unison against 
underdevelopment and poverty.

One of the central features of the kind of society we seek to replace is the unacceptable levels of crime. In his opening address the 
Honourable Premier makes the point that we can never be able to provide proper service to society when the levels of crime are high. We 
have to act with urgency and deal with crime uncompromisingly. Acting together with the people, we will heighten our efforts radically to 
improve safety and security of all our citizens.

Transformation of the South African Police Service continues to be the major focus of the Provincial Secretariat in its day-to-day 
activities. In the past few years since the birth of democracy we have made significant strides in terms of racial balance at managerial 
level. A lot needs to be done to address the gender and disability balances.

With the help of the DFID we have tried to re-inforce efforts by the National Department to introduce new ways of working within the 
Service. There is still a lot to be done in this regard. The National Department did take heed of our appeals of building and upgrading 
police stations in the province especially for the Transkei part of the Province.

On the 9th and 16th February 2001 the President and the Premier respectively delivered their State of the Nation and State of the Province 
addresses.

The President in highlighting the contributions of the people of South Africa having been faced by past and present challenges had this to 
say;

"Gradually, step by step, our country proceeds further away

from its painful past. We, its citizens, who are very close to the coal face of change may not easily see the steady transformation that 
informs all aspects of our national life. The past of which I speak is well known to all of us".

"It is away from this painful past, that our country is progressing and must progress.

Our first responsibility in this regard has been the need for us to recognise the reality that as a people we do indeed share this common 
legacy.

Secondly, we had to make the determination that this was a legacy that we did not desire and were therefore committed to eradicate.

I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to all our people, both black and white, who, in the past year and before made a 
contribution, however, small, towards the new advances of our country further away from its painful past".

"... To build on these constructive efforts, we call on all our

people across the colour line to dedicate this year to build unity in action for change".

It is in this context that we call on all our people individually and collectively in defence of our democracy, through fighting crime, to 
assist the members of the SAPS in their efforts to eradicate crime from society and thereby creating a safe and secure environment.

Crime affects the quality of life of every South African. Reducing crime and building safer communities therefore must be a priority for 
all of us in this beautiful Province. To make this happen crime prevention must be initiated at community level. Because crime occurs at 
the local level, it will be necessary for local government to initiate action and engage with other levels. Crime is a deterrent to 
effective service delivery.

In terms of the White Paper the decentralisation of policing functions to the lowest possible level within the SAPS has become a core 
policy tenet, which informs national policing policy.

The requirement on the municipal councils to elaborate and adopt integrated development plans and to establish ward committees to 
facilitate regular communication between the councillors and the people are important instruments towards the realisation of the objective 
that "the people shall govern".

Because of the challenges we face at local level we have identified as a department the need to bring together key governmental and non-
governmental departments in the fight against crime so as to ensure an integrated approach thus supporting community police structures.

Presently there are other departments like Education who together with the Department of Safety and Security developed an integrated 
strategy to reduce youth violence in schools called Tirisano. Our challenge to the education department is to ensure that we adopt an 
integrated implementation strategy to ensure the safety and security of our schools. We have a joint responsibility.

The Premier in his State of the Province address had this to say;

"We can never have proper service to our people in the presence of a high crime rate. Whilst we accept that poverty and unemployment have a 
great impact on the rise of crime levels, we cannot wait for a prosperous Eastern Cape before we deal with crime. As such we are pleased 
with the strides made by our police officers and their related departments in busting criminals of all shapes and sizes".

As the President indicated in his State of the Nation Address priority areas of focus with regard to crime prevention and combating 
strategy remains:-

* high crime areas
* organised crime
* corruption
* cross border crime
* social crime prevention

Now that the Head : Crime Prevention has been appointed our work within crime prevention and specifically social crime prevention may begin 
in earnest. As per the White Paper on Safety and Security social crime prevention is aimed at an integrated and holistic approach to crime 
prevention at a local level.

We urge Local Authorities to take up the challenge of social crime prevention and to engage all stakeholders to become active and committed 
participants to ensure lasting and sustained interventions which target crime in our communities.

We commit the Department to provide the necessary support to Local Authorities in this challenge.

Honourable Speaker, members of the Legislature allow me to focus on the strategic focal areas, strategic priorities and the various 
programmes of the Secretariat.

STRATEGIC FOCUS 2000-2003

For the year ahead the main focus will be the co-ordination of our effort and monitoring of activities that will result in effective 
implementation of our crime-combatting strategies. These initiatives coupled with addressing the root causes of crime will bring about 
safer communities - communities where socio-economic development can take root and thrive. This will inturn create a springboard from which 
we can tackle the broader socio-economic issues impacting on crime.

STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

The Department for Safety and Liaison in the Province has, in line with the strategic focus above, identified the following strategic 
priorities for the 2001-2002 financial year:-

* civilian oversight and monitoring
* crime prevention
* community policing

Civilian Oversight and Monitoring

At the provincial level this is, broadly, to ensure that the government policy and national standards are adhered to, government objectives 
are achieved and that the needs of communities are addressed.

Crime Prevention

All provincial governments are tasked with the responsibility of leading social crime prevention in their repsective provinces. We must 
consolidate and prioritise social crime prevention initiatives and activities in alignment with national priorities.

Community Policing

This forms the bedrock of effective law enforcement and crime prevention. More importantly as has been demonstrated in South Africa

and internationally, problem solving oriented partnership strategies for policing produce positive results in terms of reducing crime.

To achieve this we will during the financial year 2001-2002 embark on the following programmes:

PROGRAMME 1 : ADMINISTRATION / POLICY : R5 216 000

The focus within this program is to facilitate provincial direction with regard to transformation and the monitoring of adherence to 
national standards.

This program renders support to other divisions : Human Resources Management, Provisioning, Auxilliary Services and Financial Management.

It also ensures the rendering of a communication competency within the Secretariat as well as with our stakeholders outside the 
Secretariat. A Special Programmes Unit (SPU) also supports policy implementation within this area. A particular focus within the SPU is 
transformation with respect to gender, youth and disability within the South African Police Service.

Provincial adherence to national standards

In line with human resource development, all program managers and staff will be trained in the Public Finance Management Act and other 
prescripts within the period 2001-2002. In an effort to ensure that all provincial activities are in line with national policy directives, 
various divisions within this Department will regularly liaise with National Departments and other Provinces. This will ensure that we are 
in line with what is happening Nationally.

Gender and disability focus within the provincial South African Police Service

With a particular emphasis on employment equity policies, the Department has the enormous task of monitoring the programmes which seek to 
address gender and disability inequities within the South African Police Service provincially.

(a) Policy

In the year ahead we will continue to maintain the relationship with the SAPS in order to effectively monitor them and to advise them in 
the delivery of services to the community.

Members of the Secretariat will, in the coming financial year, sit and be part of SAPS meetings at the appropriate levels so that they may 
deliberate and contribute to policy discussions within the SAPS. Our role should be seen to be monitoring through advice.

(b) Communication

Communication is central to the achievement of our goals and in so doing fulfill our constitutional mandate. The overall aim of the 
communication division is to introduce the Department to the public and promote its image and programmes.

This division will continue to communicate effectively in support of law enforcement and crime prevention strategies. By doing so we will 
be encouraging an information-based approach to crime prevention with maximum participation by the general public and governmental 
institutions.

In achieving our communication objective, as stipulated in the previous year’s policy speech, the division has initiated for eg. the 
"Criminal Justice System Educational Campaign" to better inform our clientele about the criminal justice system processes.

One of the challenges facing this division is to strengthen the good working relations which have been fostered with the local and national 
media. This division will further strengthen internal communication so as to empower staff members through effective information management 
and thus improve the quality of decision-making.

(c) Special Programs Unit (SPU)

This unit was established in August 2000. The SPU is responsible for the monitoring of the implementation of youth, gender and disability 
programmes within the Secretariat as well as within the SAPS in accordance with the national policies. The SPU will focus on the following 
as the priority areas for 2001/2002 financial year:

Gender : Monitor the implementation of programmes that address gender needs within the Secretariat and the SAPS, with particular focus on 
the development of real opportunities for women in these environments. In pursuit of this objective the unit will increase its liaison with 
established gender units/desks of the SAPS (where they exist) and where not in existence, to campaign for the establishment of such 
units/desks both at a provincial and area level. The Department will continue to engage the SAPS Broad Transformation Team to ensure 
improvement in the status of women within the SAPS.

Disability: Like in the case of gender a similar approach is necessary. Units or desks must be established so as to enable effective 
monitoring of the adherence, or lack thereof, to National Policy. The SAPS Broad Transformation Team will here too play an integral role in 
the establishment and implementation of these units.

Youth: Our youth is the group most at risk of offending and, to an extent, becoming the victims of crime. It is with this knowledge that 
the Secretariat will liaise very closely with the Youth Desk already in existence within the SAPS, at provincial level. The purpose of such 
a liaison will be to implement the youth policy and to establish programmes that will result in constructively engaging the youth. It is 
again envisaged that these desks be cascaded down to Area levels - a step closer to communities.

Transformation: In recognition of the fact that women and especially Black women remain within the lower levels of employment in the South 
African Police Service the Special Programmes Unit will monitor transformation issues and policy that impact on, amongst others gender and 
disability. Affirmative action, affirmative training and employment equity will form the cornerstones of this monitoring role. There is 
currently, monitoring of the SAPS appointments and promotion processes to ensure that representivity and equity targets are met.

Hiv/Aids: The HIV/Aids pandemic continues to threaten the workforce of the country and the Department is no exception in this regard. It 
will be necessary to monitor the implementation of Hiv/Aids programmes and policies in the workplace within the Secretariat and SAPS. A 
SAPS provincial structure is already in place and will be the Secretariat’s point of entry into addressing this national concern.

Domestic Violence: The scourge of domestic violence continues to threaten our society with women and children remaining the most affected 
parties. A Steering Committee on Domestic Violence and Victim Empowerment is already in place within the SAPS at a provincial level. It is 
the role of the SPU to monitor progress here.

(d) Support Services

This division will continue to render a support service to the MEC and the rest of the secretariat and in so doing enable them to discharge 
their responsibilities effectively. They will play a role in identifying locations for the district offices within this financial year.

An important feature that will occupy this division in the forthcoming financial year will be the implementation of the Public Finance 
Management Act (PFMA). A PFMA implementation Plan for the department has already been drawn to ensure the smooth implementation of the PFMA 
as from 1st of April 2001.

The Secretariat is in the process of developing the Fraud Prevention Plan which will assist in the fight against fraud and corruption in 
government.

On the human resources front the Department has developed a Human Resource plan that addresses key issues viz. staffing needs, proper 
skills matching, career-pathing and improved productivity. In addition to the HR plan the Performance Management System (PMS) will be 
implemented shortly. It is envisaged that the PMS will chart a course for improved service delivery by focussing individual effort toward 
common departmental objectives. Human Resources is in the process of developing a skills development plan within the new financial year 
which will contribute to a culture of skills development within the Department and ultimately impact positively on service delivery.

PROGRAMME 2 : OVERSIGHT AND MONITORING - R325 000-00

Community Policing has been adopted by our democratic government as the tool to advance the transformation of the South African Police 
Service. The Secretariat is tasked with the key responsibility of civilian oversight of the police service to ensure public accountability 
and respect for human rights by the police in carrying out their duties. Effective discharge of oversight responsibilities will be enhanced 
by establishment of district offices. This will result in closer engagement of the SAPS.

COMMUNITY POLICE

Structures

Now that the Community Policing structures have been established the Secretariat will vigorously continue to ensure that the partnerships 
between the police and community are maintained through regular training of Community Police structures and awareness programmes for the 
broader community. Dispute resolution skills have been identified as a weakness within Community Police structures. Presently the 
Department is developing a dispute resolution manual which will be used in the training of members of Community Police structures. This 
process will roll out during the forthcoming financial year.

Funding for Community Police remains the biggest challenge in the forthcoming year. For the past few years the Eastern Cape Province was 
assisted financially by the the Department For International Development (DFID) for the training of Community Police structures. However 
the DFID will be moving out of the Province at the end of March 2001.

To ensure that these structures do not collapse funding has to be found to ensure their sustainability. Despite being legislated structures 
CPF’s have never been allocated budgets neither Nationally nor Provincially.

The Department has identified traditional leaders as one of the key stakeholders in implementing Community Policing in rural areas. 
Consequently my office together with the police has requested "U Managing Conflict" (UMAC), a non-governmental organisation, to do research 
in the Eastern Cape with regard to the role of traditional leaders in community policing. This research programme will commence shortly.

Because of the challenge that we have identified at a local level we see a need to ensure that Community Police Structures are fully 
representative of the various sectors of society eg. business, religious fraternity, educationist etc.

Community Safety Fora (CSF)

The local focus of community policing structures presents difficulties when attempting to impact on the Criminal Justice System as a whole. 
Community Safety Fora (CSF) attempt to address the aforementioned gap. CSF operate on the basis of forming an integrated group of key 
government departments and non-governmental structures who together will work toward changing and improving the quality of people’s lives. 
The Provincial Community Police Board in which my office actively participates is presently piloting the Community Safety Fora concept. The 
CSF concept aims to bring together key departments like:

* Justice
* Correctional Services
* Welfare
* Local Government
* SAPS
* SAPS Provincial Community Police Board
* Secretariat
* Business Against Crime

to a forum where strategies are discussed as to how best test the feasibility of a multi- disciplinary approach to the fight against crime 
and an integrated approach to the operation of the criminal justice system. A Provincial Steering Committee has already been established 
and has identified three pilot areas where the CSF concept will be tested. These municipal areas are Mhlontlo (Tsolo/Qumbu), Lukhanji and 
the Nelson Mandela Metropole.

Local Steering Committees for these areas will be established in the new financial year. To ensure buy-in from all departments the 
Provincial Steering Committee of the CSF project intends making a presentation to all provincial departments so as to ensure an integrated 
and holistic approach to crime prevention in the Province. I want to encourage departments mentioned earlier to continue to participate in 
the CSF initiative so as to realise the government’s vision of an integrated approach to bringing about "a better life for all". I believe 
the CSF concept may be an effective strategy for reducing and/ or preventing crime.

PROGRAMME 3 : CRIME PREVENTION : R2 172 000-00

This newly established capacity will drive the processes of implementing

the National Crime Prevention Strategy and particularly social crime prevention. The Department has allocated sizeable financial resources 
to this programme in an attempt to speed up delivery of a holistic approach to crime prevention.

The National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS)

The National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) has introduced and confirmed government’s clear intent to effectively engage all stakeholders 
in crime prevention. The vision of the NCPS is to:

* Create an environment of peace and safety for the people of South Africa
* Obtain the support and co-operation of our fellow citizens in crime prevention
* Create an environment conducive to local economic development including international investor confidence and particularly to boost the 
tourist trade

The White Paper on Safety and Security takes the aforementioned notions further by introducing Social Crime Prevention as a framework to 
address crime in a holistic integrated manner.

To achieve the vision and challenges posed by the NCPS and the White Paper the challenge for us as a department is to introduce and 
implement the NCPS at local level ie within our communities. The challenge further is

to empower local government structures to drive the processes at a local level.

The Department has, in recognition of these challenges, dedicated itself to creating a vehicle or operational strategy for the processes of 
implementation and co-ordination of the NCPS activities within the Province of the Eastern Cape . We have developed this vehicle and begun 
the consultation process to ensure sustainability, buy-in and impact of the strategy.

A key ingredient that will affect the success of Crime Prevention will be the involvement and co-operation of all provincial government 
departments. Some departments have been very supportive of the process whilst others have, perhaps, not seen their role as yet. We 
encourage departments to embrace crime prevention as a leading initiative. The positive impact and success of effective crime prevention 
strategies will ultimately be shared by all.

The focus of crime prevention, with respect to the National Crime Prevention Strategy, in this forthcoming budget year will therefore be to 
enhance the functioning of the Provincial Co-ordinating structure which will be charged with the responsibility of:

* Establishing an effective integrated Provincial Crime Prevention Strategy
* Facilitating capacity-building within Local Authorities with respect to crime prevention
* Evaluate projects currently in operation with a view to enhancing their effectiveness

Support the piloting of the Urban Renewal Strategy and the Community Safety Fora concepts within the framework of the Provincial Crime 
Prevention Strategy as

Crime Prevention and the SAPS

The SAPS continue to play an integral role in crime prevention. Again it will be the responsibility of the Secretariat to continue its 
support for effective SAPS crime prevention strategies. A strong tenet of our interaction with the SAPS will be to, on a continuous basis, 
establish "what works and what does not". We will evaluate crime prevention programmes of the SAPS with a view to maximising their output 
and impact coupled with "value for money" considerations.

We therefore will:

* Evaluate the SAPS Provincial Crime Prevention approach
* Assess the resource distribution within the SAPS Crime Prevention component and programs
* Encourage Social Crime Prevention capacity (within the SAPS) and projects
* Assess and evaluate victim support services

District Offices

In order to maximise and enhance the Department’s activities throughout the Province a need for district offices became clear. The eight 
policing areas have been grouped into clusters of two. In keeping with this clustering the district offices are to be located in 
Grahamstown, Cradock, Umtata and Queenstown.

The process of establishing the offices is already underway. The search for office space has been initiated coupled with purchasing of 
office equipment to resource these offices. A job evaluation of the office managers (assistant directors) has already been undertaken and 
its results are awaited from Job Analysts

PROGRAMME 4 : SPECIAL PROGRAMMES : R284 000-00

This division is entrusted with monitoring service delivery of the SAPS.

The division’s focus areas for the financial year 2001-2002 are as follows:

1. Monitoring the 195 police stations that are engaged in the Service Delivery Improvement Programme (SDIP) . The following aspects will be 
monitored for improvement:

a ) Convictions per SAPS docket closed,
 b ) Community Service Centre (CSC), that is, the number of error-free dockets opened in CSC
 c) morale of members at station level
 d) Absenteeism rate
 e) Enforcement of discipline by Station Commissioners over their members.


2. Continue to monitor Victim Support Centres in Umtata, Queenstown,

Port Elizabeth and Mdantsane. The following aspects with regard to victim support will be monitored:

a) The handling of victims by the police
 b) Training of all SAPS members in the management of rape, women battering and child abuse cases.
 b) The SAPS adherence to the national instruction on Domestic Violence.

3. Continue to monitor the infrastructural programme, that is, the construction of , Butterworth, Port St Johns, Mdantsane NU 13 police 
stations and the Centane Community Safety Centre. These will be monitored through regular liaison with the technicians as well as with the 
project managers of SAPS.

Conclusion

I will be failing in my duty if I do not acknowledge the sterling efforts of Mr Piet Biesheuvel, the regional representative of the DFID in 
the Province. Mr Biesheuvel has made a substantial contribution to promoting transformation in the areas of Community Policing, Human 
Resource development and resources re-distribution. Unfortunately Mr Biesheuvel is leaving from the Province at the end of March 2001. We 
will definitely miss the expertise of an experienced and talented advisor on policing issues.

An indication of his commitment to bring about change in our part of the world is confirmed by his redeployment to Malawi.

We hope that as the people of the Eastern Cape we have made an impact on Piet by infusing in him our belief of an African Renaissance and 
we trust that he will spread the word wherever he goes.

Honourable Speaker let me close with the following:

That partnership goes to the heart of what is meant by community safety. To reflect this let me quote the former President Cde. Nelson 
Rohlihlahla Mandela in his address to Parliament in February 1996:

"Dealing with crime, violence and corruption requires a new morality for our new nation. Indeed, it requires a new patriotism among 
communities, the public and private sector, and the security forces - so that at the end of each day, each of us can answer in the 
affirmative the question : Have I done something today to stamp out crime ?"

I thank you.

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