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Meeting of Area Commissioners and Manangement
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Speeches and Media Releases
 Safety Liaison and Transport

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 EASTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

Provincial Safety, Liaison and Transport

Address by the MEC for Provincial Safety, Liaison and Transport, Mr Dennis Neer, at the meeting of the Area Commissioners and Management, 
19 July 1999

Introduction

Area Commissioner
 Area Community Police Board
 Area Heads of the various SAPS Units and Divisions
 Commanders
 Area Management
 SAPS Members, Ladies and Gentlemen

I have honour and the privilege to address you today, marking the beginning of a new era in our Democratic dispensation, the period of hard 
work and fast- tracking the pace of delivery for a better future for all. This era which we have just entered as preceded by the June 2 
elections and the assumption of presidency of the country, by Pres. Thabo Mbeki, the peoples choice, is a very critical one in our 
democracy.

Some of us may not take this statement with the seriousness it deserves but I wish to assure you that very soon we shall feel the pressure 
upon us. The pressure will be upon us to serve our people in an efficient, effective and transparent manner that will be devoid of 
discrimination, hatred, cover up for one anothers corrupt and criminal acts as well as all other anomalies that have been the cornerstone 
of our past policing system. If we are willing to pull together as a team to advance the interests of our people and Government, then there 
is nothing to fear from this pressure for the sustenance of our democracy. However, if some of us prefer to drag backwards whilst the 
majority of us, want to progress forward, then the inevitable change shall have to be enforced from above.

Challenges ahead:

The President has already paved a way and given direction on how we proceed in the next five years of our Democratic Government during his 
elections victory speech on June 3, where he concluded his address, urging us to all go back to work. By that he meant we should pull up 
our socks as there shall be no time for playing games when our people are being threatened by criminal gangs right in their neighbourhoods 
and homes.

To give a brief overview of our aims and intention as government, let me also quote from a statement made by our new National Minister for 
Safety and Security, Steve Tshwete, during the Parliamentary Media Briefing held on June 28, 1999, in which he said "We are ready, more 
than ever before, not just to send a message to the criminals out there about our intentions, but more importantly to make them feel that " 
die tyd vir speletjies is nou verby". This message is clear. The time for playing games is not over for criminals only but, for all those 
also in our midst, who seek to undermine our efforts to stamp out crime, corruption, including police corruption and destabilisation of our 
society. We have a mission to realise and those that raise the dust must not complain that they cannot see.

Unity, morale and discipline in the SAPS:

The unity of the South African Police Service is a critical element in our drive to bring the criminals to their knees. Equally important 
is the question of raising the levels of discipline and morale within the Service. We have begun dealing with corrupt officers and we have 
resolved to continue purging the Service of all the rot that is in collusion with the criminals. It is high time that police management in 
the province is hard on enforcing discipline in the police ranks, which is totally lacking at the moment.

As our Premier, Makhenkesi Stofile, correctly put it during his inauguration speech, " there is no room for loafers, careerists and lazy 
people". Police members who continue to assist suspects to escape from lawful custody as we have witnessed in the province recently, as 
well as those police members that form part of syndicates that rob, smuggle, steal and break into households shall have to face the full 
might of the law, without any mercy. We cannot condone these criminal acts and those that seek to belittle or diminish acts of criminality 
and corruption by police members by claiming that they are petty, need some "soul searching".

The Eastern Cape is in a police crises and surely you will all agree with me that not all is well in our police ranks. We have witnessed in- 
fighting in police ranks, the cover - up of police misdeeds, undermining of police authority by junior officers with the backing of senior 
management, inconsistency in the application of rules for discipline, the list is endless.

Racial tensions in the SAPS:

The province has been plagued lately by racial tensions within the Police Service, which engulfed areas such as East London, Queenstown and 
Grahamstown, which also received wide media coverage. More of these tensions could be existing in other areas of the province and may soon 
explode like a time-bomb. We need to nap these in the bud before they destabilise our objectives of accelerating the pace of delivery, 
combating crime and creating a safe and secure environment.

The Provincial and Area Management of the SAPS need to put forward a process of eradicating these tensions and anomalies as soon as 
possible and if this challenge is beyond their capacity, I am ready as the Member of the Executive Council in Government to intervene as we 
have the will, the power, the commitment and the mandate to do that.

Transformation of the SAPS:

As we advance, we need to reflect on our past achievements, failures and shortcomings so that we formulate a clear advance plan for our 
movement forward. We cannot pretend that all was well and went according to plan during our last term in office. It would also be a fallacy 
to allege that we completely failed to score any victories or successes during that term.

We have to mention the fact that the transformation of the Service still remains, as it were, a priority in our agenda during this term. We 
have resolved, as Government, to transform the Service at all levels, so that it becomes, in the words of the President, the pride of the 
nation.

Representativity will be pursued on an on - going basis so that by the end of the year, as the national minister has put it, we shall have 
attained a 50 / 50 representativity index in key management areas. We in the province assures the Minister that we will stick to this 
objective. This is just one of the transformation issues that will continue to dominate our agenda as the department this year.

Strengthening Community Policing, Crime reduction and the NCPS:

The challenge is on us to further strengthen structures that are involved in Crime Prevention this year in line with our Community Policing 
philosophy so that the responsibility to fight crime remains a collective response, spearheaded by the SAPS and the Community Police 
Forums. I need to call upon the police management and all other police members to refrain from undermining these government and community 
structures that have been mandated by our Government to compliment the work of the police in crime prevention.

Time has also come that we involve our communities through these structures in our crime prevention plans as guided by our Priorities and 
Objectives. We have to educate our communities so that they understand and are able to interpret our priority crimes, the rate of crime 
reduction, crime statistics, etc. Management at area level must see to it that this happens at every station.

Reducing the overall crime rate in our respective areas should be our top priority and we need to find ways at area level of co - 
ordinating our activities with other role - players in the criminal justice system such as Correctional Services and Justice, in line with 
the National Crime Prevention Strategy, so that we do not duplicate the crime prevention roles and activities. This should also be aimed at 
avoiding unnecessary clashes amongst our respective departments and sending out conflicting messages to the public because we are all part 
of a single and united government.

General Policing problems:

I want to emphasise once again that there is a dire need to apply stringent and strict measures to enhance discipline in our members, 
particularly in the light of police involvement in corruption and crime. We need to put more efforts to strengthen our security measures 
around holding cells so that we are not seen to be lax in guarding suspects. These are some of the challenges we have to confront this 
year. The high politicisation of our members has become a cause for concern and this is beginning to stifle police servicing to our 
communities in a number of areas, particularly in the former homelands and certain areas of the province.

We need as progressive elements in the Service, to devise means and strategies to counter these destabilising tactics. We have valued 
information at our disposal to support our belief that some of our police members in these areas are involved in destabilisation to meet 
certain reactionary objectives and we shall not rest until we have exposed, crushed and rooted out this element from our midst. The battle 
lines have been drawn.

Police confidence:

We have however, the fullest confidence in the majority of our police members who work tirelessly to ensure that we achieve our objectives, 
by putting the interests of the majority of our people ahead of their personal agendas. At this juncture, I also need to salute all those 
committed members who sacrifice their lives under dangerous work conditions to serve our people, our sympathy and solidarity also goes to 
all the families of those that have lost their beloved ones who died or were murdered in the course of duty in service of the country. May 
their souls rest in peace.

The success rate that has been achieved by the detectives services and other police units in the Umtata and Queenstown areas has to be 
lauded. These police members, some working under adverse conditions with inadequate resources have to be commended for the following 
successes:

the arrest of suspects involved in the kidnap of the daughter of the Umtata businessman, the arrest of suspects in the murder of Inspector 
Ngqalo of Tsolo, the arrest of suspects in the murder of the department of welfare official, Mr Kinana, the arrest of Insp. Mtirara for 
alleged involved in armed robbery, the recovery of arms caches, stolen livestock in the past week, the list is endless. We need to take off 
our hats for these patriots and assure them of our unwavering support as the department.

Conclusion:

You must as from now on all go back to work as there is more work to be done. We have to pull up our socks, roll our sleeves and go back to 
serious business. Let us together work for accelerated delivery, for improved crime prevention and for a better future towards the new 
Millennium, the African Century.

I thank you

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