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Challanges facing the Department of Safety Liaison
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Speeches and Media Releases
 Safety Liaison and Transport

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EASTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT
 SPEECH BY THE MEC FOR PROVINCIAL SAFETY, LIAISON AND TRANSPORT
 AT THE EASTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURE
ON THE 13TH OCTOBER 1999

ADDRESSING CHALLENGES FACING THE DEPARTMENT OF PROVINCIAL SAFETY LIAISON



Honourable Speaker
 Honourable Premier
 Distinguished Guest
 Members of the Provincial Legislature

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 challenge as 
we approach the next millennium. 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 and we will need assistance from whatever quarter.

It is a fact, therefore, that these challenges posed by transformation that we still face today shall have to be confronted in the next 
millennium 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 objective, 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 to the establishment of an effective mechanism of civilian oversight, namely 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 (CPF).

Honourable Speaker, reducing crime is one of the leading challenges of South Africa’s democratic government and will still remain key in 
our agenda in socio-economic policies, hence, we have o 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 had 
and the impoverished township, 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 underpinned by social an 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 few. It is also one of our key 
responsibilities to evaluate and support the social crime prevention programmes at local government level.

At the level of law enforcement, amongst challenges that are facing us are programmes that could help us hasten the process of changing our 
police personnel who had been trained in the past in a manner that was not meant to service the majority of our people but were made to be 
an instrument of repression of the previous government.
 The imbalances of the past are still confronting us especially when we look at the former so called homeland areas and apartheid South 
Africa in terms of infrastructure, training and transport.

These imbalances influence the kind of service provided to our various communities and undermines our democratic achievements. We have made 
appeals for assistance and our appreciation of the help being provided by the European Union and DFID is known. The challenges are still 
there and more assistance will still be appreciated from any other quarter.

Mr Speaker, I have a number of times raised the problem of a very tight budget that has inhibited our ability to do an effective monitoring 
of the very much in need of funding for our programmes and further development of our organogram.

Honourable Speaker, despite the difficulties our Department is doing its best to see to it that the people of our province are provided 
safety and security.

I Thank You

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