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SAPS Star of the year function
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Speeches and Media Releases
 Safety Liaison and Transport

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Address by the MEC for Provincial Safety, Liaison and Transport, Mr Dennis Neer, South African Police Service - Star of the Year Function: 
1998, Umtata Area, 12 July 1999

Introduction:

Area Commissioner of Umtata

Your deputies

The Area Police Management

Representative of the Area Police Board

Members of the South African Police Service

Ladies and Gentlemen

I am honoured to be here today in this occasion to witness the nomination of the "Star of the Year" of the SAPS in this area. I feel 
greatly privileged that I am addressing such a gathering for the first time after the recent democratic elections on June 2 and my 
subsequent appointment for the second term in office as an MEC for the newly established Department for Provincial Safety, Liaison and 
Transport.

I wish to thank you most sincerely for your support during the previous term and also am strongly confident that we will still work 
together as a team, for the acceleration of service delivery during this term in the area of crime prevention, fighting corruption and 
fraud, both in our society and within the SAPS. Our former President Nelson Mandela, the hero of our struggle for democracy, together with 
us laid the foundation for nation - building, reconciliation and reconstruction of our society that was torn apart by the Apartheid system 
and time has now come to consolidate that foundation and move at a faster pace to make a better life for our people.

For us to be able to do that we need to create conducive conditions for a solid, united and disciplined SAPS that will be able to face and 
overcome the challenges ahead of us in the second term of our Democratic Government.

The challenges facing us ahead:

The period we are entering led by the generation of new leadership under President Thabo Mbeki is that of accelerating the pace of 
delivery, consolidating what we have achieved previously and key to this is ensuring that we create conducive conditions for more job 
creation, investment, alleviation of poverty and strengthening our relations with the rest of Africa to rebuild our Continent and also 
playing a meaningful role in the global community.

At this juncture allow me to quote from the address delivered by Pres. Thabo Mbeki during his inauguration in Pretoria on June 16, where he 
said:

"Our days will remain forever haunted when frightening numbers of the women and children of our country fall victim to rape and other 
crimes of violence. Nor can there be peace of mind when the citizens of our country feel they have neither safety nor security because of 
terrible deeds of criminals and their gangs. Our days and our nights will remain forever blemished as long as our people are torn apart and 
fractured into contending factions by reason of racial and gender inequality, which continue to characterise our society. Neither can peace 
attend our souls as long as corruption continues to rob the poor of what is theirs and to corrode the value system, which sets humanity 
apart from the rest of the animal world".

The above statement is clearly indicative of the direction we have to move and key to this is the eradication of corruption and creation of 
a safe and secure environment for our people, so that they are able to enjoy the fruits of the freedom that we fought for.

The high levels of politicisation of our police members in this area is a cause for concern which definitely could affect our effective 
delivery to our customers, the people of this area. We need as policemen and women to rise above our party politics and see ourselves as 
servants of the people who have a mission to fulfil, that of promoting the principles of democracy through crime prevention. Let our 
political party affiliations or allegiances not interfere with the role we have to play or services we have to provide and if the opposite 
occurs, then we are faced with a disaster and police crises in this area.

While policing problems experienced here might only be related to political party manipulations within the SAPS, other areas are faced with 
racial tensions and more challenges that are reminiscent of the Apartheid era racial polarisation. We are determined to ensure that all 
these anomalies within the SAPS come to an end. There is no doubt that these adversely affect the contract that we have entered into with 
our people, that of serving them and working in partnership with them to fight crime and build a winning nation towards the new Millennium.

We have warned the Area and Provincial Management of the SAPS as well as police members themselves in the areas affected by these tensions 
and anomalies that if they do not put additional effort to eradicate them, we as Government have the will, the power and mandate to 
intervene.

We must bear in mind that change is a scientific process that is inevitable and we need to accept it and not to fear it as it brings in our 
society democratic transformation which drives us forward.

We have entered a period where we shall have to do more work than talk and this message was more evident when our President, then deputy 
president, made a strong conclusion in his elections victory speech on June 3, that we all go back to work. We need to realise that this is 
not a mere rhetoric. I want to assure all of you that more shall be done to weed out corrupt elements within the Police Service whose 
conduct has subtracted rather than added to the improving image of the SAPS. Our President, Thabo Mbeki has set a precedent which we need 
to follow that of crusading to rid our society of the scourge of moral degeneration that leads to corruption and crime. As former 
President, Nelson Mandela put it, " we need an RDP of the soul" and this is more relevant to our police members.

The Eastern Cape scenario:

The Eastern Cape Province is facing a very tough challenge of fighting crime, not only in society, but within the Police Service. It is 
here where we shall have to test the power of the battery of anti - crime legislation which was passed by Government last year, which 
strengthens our hand in the fight against crime. The recent arrest of police members for suspicions of being involved in crimes ranging 
from housebreaking, armed robbery and assisting suspected criminals to escape in our province, indicates that we have a virus in our midst 
that we need to eradicate which will soon contaminate every member of the service, like the HIV virus and AIDS is to society.

We need to fight this police involvement in crime and corruption with the same determination as we are fighting HIV/AIDS. The present anti - 
crime legislation will ensure that our criminal justice system is harsh on offences committed by law enforcement officials or as part of a 
syndicate. The message from this is clear.

Team work, discipline and Unity:

Our Government is looking forward to accelerated, effective and efficient service from the SAPS and this cannot be achieved if we do not 
emphasise on need for high levels of productivity, work discipline, managerial responsibility, accountability and responsiveness to the 
public interest. All these elements should become the hallmark of those who work in the SAPS and the criminal justice departments.

We must build and strengthen teamwork amongst members of the departments whose work have a bearing on the efficiency of the criminal 
justice system. In line with the National Crime Prevention Strategy, we have to strengthen the integration of our activities, systems, 
processes and information.

In his speech on his inauguration, the Premier of the Province said " There is no room for loafers, lazy people and careerists." In deed, 
it is true that there is work to be done and it must be done from now on.

Unity, discipline and team work is very crucial if we want to make a positive impact in combating crime. Police Management has the 
responsibility of ensuring that we have a Police Service that works in unison with other departments in the criminal justice system such as 
Correctional Services and Justice.

Escape of suspects in police custody:

The Department needs to pronounce strongly its condemnation of the continued escapes of suspects in police cells in the Umtata Area and 
this has become without doubt, an alarming issue that is undermining our efforts as Government to ensure a safe and secure environment for 
our people. Whilst understanding the fact that most of these

escapes are due to poor infrastructure, there are a number of other elements besides these that also contribute and these include 
deliberate negligence and failure to perform duties on the part of our police members.

We shall have to be harsh on these issues, as they have brought about a negative image of our department in particular and the police in 
general in the Eastern Cape Province. We can no longer continue to talk about what we are going to do to curb the escapes but instead we 
but we need to act now.

Restoration of moral values:

We need to emphasise the strengthening of values of morality as they occupy a prominent place in preventative measures against crime. We 
must join hands, as police members who are in partnership with our community in community policing, to campaign against the degeneration of 
moral values and moral decay. There are a number of ways how we can advance this process in partnership with various stakeholders. The 
capacity to mobilise for this also lies within political parties, trade unions, the non - governmental popular organisations, the media and 
the public. This is also an effective element of crime prevention which as long - term effects.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, I wish to commend and salute members of the Umtata Murder and Robbery Unit for the successes they have scored in the past 
few weeks in a number of serious and sometimes very violent crimes. Here I wish to mention the arrest of Sergeant Mtirara of the Child 
Protection Unit for allegedly assisting suspects to escape during an armed robbery at broad daylight, the arrest of suspects in the 
abduction/kidnapping of a prominent Umtata businessmans daughter, the arrest of suspects in the murder of Serg. Ngqalo of the Tsolo Police 
Station, the discovery of arms caches,.......the list is endless. These are the dedicated police members we need, who despite operating in 
difficult circumstances, coupled by a shortage of resources and personnel, sacrifice their lives to serve our people.

I also wish to pay tribute to all other members of the SAPS who are making Herculean efforts in the fight against crime, often exposing 
themselves to great personal danger. I wish to pay homage, in particular, to those police officers who paid the supreme price in the course 
of duty, such as Serg. Lulama Ngqalo of the Tsolo Police Station who passed away after being shot dead by criminals at work in the past few 
weeks. We salute these patriots and may their souls rest in peace.

Lastly, we have the fullest confidence in the majority of police officers who toil to ensure the safety and security of the citizenry. To 
those who have been nominated to receive awards today, I encourage you to remain a good example as dedicated and committed police members 
who have entered into a contract with the people. To the rest of you, let us go back to work so that:

we accelerate the pace of delivery;

we fight crime with more determination and commitment;

we create a more safe and secure environment and

we work together, in partnership, with the people for a better life and towards the African Century.

I thank you

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