Order! Hon Minister Tshwete, I have not called you yet. [Laughter.]
Chairperson, hon members, the strategic and operational plan of the SA Police Service for the next three years has been developed to focus on crime tendencies, flash point areas, threats and challenges identified in the intelligence estimate.
These include securing the local government elections and major events in our country; addressing extremist right-wing activities, urban terrorism and vigilantism; eradicating corruption; and making major inroads into organised crime relating to vehicle theft and hijacking, drug trafficking, bank robbery and the robbery of cash in transit, illegal plundering of our marine resources, money laundering, high-tech transnational crimes and cyber crime, commercial crime, illegal firearms and precious metals or stones.
Special attention is also being paid to violent crimes, including gang violence and social fabric crimes, with a specific focus on violence against women and children. The successful implementation of this strategic and operational plan hinges in the main on a tighter consolidation of the criminal justice system. That means the optimisation of intelligence-driven investigation and prosecution of crime, running hand in hand with an elaborate system of rehabilitation of offenders.
As part of this plan, a major service delivery improvement programme is being implemented to ensure that successes achieved in the short term are sustained in the medium to long term. This programme entails the development of our human resources, as well as channelling additional resources, both human and physical, to priority areas and units.
I am also convinced that improvement of the conditions of service of members of the SA Police Service will have a positive impact on the morale of members, and will ensure that we are able to retain highly skilled personnel. Discussions are currently being pursued with the relevant role- players to put in place strategies that must address and redress the overall situation in which members of SA Police Service have been operating. This is a serious matter that must be attended to with all the urgency it deserves.
Apart from a number of lateral entrants appointed to senior level, this financial year will also see the training of 1 200 new recruits. In addition, 600 civilians will be recruited to replace police officers performing administrative duties, so that these fully trained officials can be deployed to fight crime. Over and above these appointments, 600 individuals will be recruited to perform static guard duties, again releasing trained members to fight crime in the provinces. Three hundred new personnel will also be appointed to ensure the implementation of the strategy to deal with the proliferation of illegal firearms.
The majority of these members will be deployed to priority areas and within priority units to enhance the implementation of our operational strategy. We have decided that the detective service and crime intelligence will benefit most from these endeavours, since they play a major role in both our geographical and organised crime strategies.
In order to ensure operational efficiency and maximum community support, it is imperative that the SAPS must be representative of our country's demographics. The department's targets for achieving a more representative management cadre will be reached as soon as the senior posts recently advertised have been filled. In other words, 50% of all senior managers, that is director and above, will be from historically disadvantaged groups. At the level of provincial and divisional commissioner these targets have already been reached.
In the management echelons of the SAPS we now have 9% women at the level of director and above, as opposed to just 4% at the end of last year. We will continue to address gender representivity at all levels during subsequent rounds of appointments. Also for the first time in the history of policing in South Africa we have two women who have been appointed to the rank of divisional commissioner.
Since our members are also our greatest asset, we need to equip them properly, so that they can execute their responsibilities even more efficiently. We have accordingly provided for a substantial increase on the previous year's allocation for equipment. This will include the acquisition of force multipliers such as additional helicopters, scanner equipment at ports of entry and much-needed vehicles. We are providing for an increase of approximately 17%, in comparison to what we budgeted for in the previous year for the purchasing of vehicles.
All these initiatives are being reinforced by the assistance we are getting from the United States, which is training our Scorpions and middle- management police officers, the United Kingdom, where some Scorpion units are being trained, and the European Union, which is helping with funding for some of our human resource development projects. Precisely because of the nature of the enemy we are fighting and defeating, we have taken and implemented a decision, as a security cluster, to work together with the social and economic clusters, including the National Youth Commission, to ensure that learners stay in school, and that the resilience of youth at risk is improved against both victimisation and being offenders.
Again, in a shared leadership role with the Minister of Health, we as a cluster are consolidating a national multidepartmental strategy to deal with the hideous crime of rape. Our focus is on prevention, victim empowerment, investigation, prosecution, court management, offender rehabilitation and partnerships with civil society. The strategy will also impact positively on other crimes against women and children.
All these successes notwithstanding, the problem of continued assassinations and political intolerance in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, and in particular the KwaNongoma-Ulundi area, where cowboyism and lawlessness seem to be a culture of their own, needs to be addressed frontally. The police can no longer on their own be a cutting edge against that rampant hooliganism where members and supporters of political parties hoard and brandish firearms of all sorts to slaughter one another, and where members of the SA Police Service are chased away from scenes of crime. The problem cannot be simply a matter of policing. The political parties in that province, that is the IFP and the ANC in the main, will have to close ranks and together fight in the front trenches to mobilise their members and supporters against politically motivated violence and crime.
Whilst it is true that at national level relations between these two parties are good, the same cannot be said at the lower echelons. This situation must be tackled immediately, and once that is done the senseless slaughter will come to an end. Otherwise the verdict of impartial history will be extremely harsh against these two parties.
Similarly, in the Western Cape the taxibus violence will not be resolved by members of the SA Police Service. The impassioned appeal by the provincial legislature for the police and SANDF to intervene smacks of the kind of response that one experienced in the heyday of apartheid racism. The taxibus violence, which has left many people dead and children orphaned, is a symptom of a fundamental weakness in the provincial coalition. And that weakness is the reluctance of the New NP and its DP ally to cross the threshold into the new democratic era. They remain trapped in the twilight of a past in which those African and coloured townships were just peripheries of deprivation and denial.
The police have specific, clear instructions on dealing with any criminal activity in affected areas. The maintenance of law and order and the provision of safety and security to communities are the responsibilities of the police. It does not help to prattle that commuters have a democratic right to choose their mode of transport when the political parties in power refuse to level the relevant field where that democratic choice is to be exercised. Members should please help the police help the commuters. One should not plead for their deployment to solve problems that this province's government is shy to attend to.
The Independent Complaints Directorate has come of age. At the completion of its third year of operation the ICD managed to register a physical presence in all of the country's provinces. This is a source of great pride, taking into consideration the hurdles which it had to overcome to be where it is today.
The presence of the ICD in the provinces is part of a strategy to promote accessibility by members of the public to the services which it provides. Hon delegates are therefore urged to bring this information to the attention of their constituencies so that members of the public may also assist the ICD in its efforts to promote proper police conduct.
It is also the desire of the ICD to forge links beyond the borders of South Africa into the SADC region. The ICD would be ready to co-operate with these countries with regard to the concept of civilian oversight of law enforcement.
It will be recalled that the executive director of the ICD resigned at the end of April this year, thus necessitating the appointment of an acting executive director. I wish to inform the House that in the interests of transparency, the position of executive director of the ICD will be advertised shortly. The House will be informed as soon as the appointment of the new executive director has been made. The ICD is committed to eradicating existing pockets of police crime, without fear or favour. But it is also co-operating with the SAPS in the interests of assisting it with its job of transformation. One example of this co-operation is the formation of a task team for the purpose of developing a strategy for the reduction of deaths in police custody, and deaths as a result of police action. This task team comprises key stakeholders, such as the ICD, the SA Police Service and some NGOs.
In conclusion, the ICD is in the process of forging stronger partnerships with the SA Police Service, the secretariat, the Ministry and the cluster, on whose behalf I am speaking right now as a whole, and, of course, civil society, for the purpose of assisting in the fight against crime. [Applause.]
Chairperson, it is indeed an honour for me to present to you and this House the report of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development for the first year of the second democratic Parliament.
At the very outset, allow me to express my personal appreciation for the co- operation I continue to receive from all my fellow Ministers within the justice cluster, which comprises the Ministers and Deputy Ministers of Correctional Services, Defence, Finance, Home Affairs, Intelligence, and Safety and Security.
Since we were appointed last year to our respective portfolios, our collective objective as a cluster has been to ensure that we respond to matters relating to the criminal justice system in an integrated manner. Thus our work as the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has to be seen in the context of the work and efforts of our cluster.
I want to address a few issues, and the first one is globalisation. This, needless to say, is a reality. It impacts on our new democracy in a most dramatic fashion. Capital virtually moves at the speed of thought between and to those markets that are regarded as favourable or profitable.
We are, today, also confronted by organised crime, the scourge of money laundering and cyber crime, as my colleague the Minister of Safety and Security has already said. Appropriate legislation and training of our officials are required to attend to this. Needless to say, the unacceptably high level of crime and the quality of the administration of justice have a serious impact on our attractiveness as an emerging market and on our ability to attract increasing foreign direct investment. This represents our most pressing challenge yet. We are addressing some of these problems in conjunction with the international community as part of both bilateral and multilateral efforts, and, again, my colleague the Minister of Safety and Security has referred to some of the exciting work that we are doing in this regard.
The next area relates to the department itself. The department has embarked on a campaign to ensure that all head office managers visit our various offices. This will ensure that senior officials and policy-makers familiarise themselves with those issues pertinent to the efficient functioning of our courts. I will encourage this practice, needless to say.
We have also embarked on a redeployment project. The intention is to take a number of suitably qualified lawyers, magistrates and prosecutors, currently doing administrative work, out of the department and place them back in the courts in order to reinforce our delivery processes. Needless to say, we need to consider how to handle this sensitive matter because these people have, in the meantime, accumulated a lot of benefits and packages which may tend to distort the situation at the coalface if we are not careful in the way we handle it. Nonetheless, there is, indeed, going to be redeployment of personnel.
During our visits to a number of our courts, police stations and prisons, we found the physical infrastructure and conditions in which people live and operate simply unacceptable. This cannot be permitted to continue. The upgrading of our courts will therefore be a major challenge that my department will face.
In this regard, I am pleased to report that the allocation of R145 million for capital works during 1999 has enabled the department to commence with the construction of new buildings and other major works. This will take place at centres where there were no facilities at all before, and where service delivery was seriously hampered owing to a lack of facilities. Despite insufficient funding, we have developed a programme to address our immediate infrastructure needs. As a result, the largest number of major and minor building services ever is already under construction. Most of these worthy projects have been undertaken in previously disadvantaged rural areas of our country. As part of this programme, for example, I went to a launch yesterday of a court construction project at Blue Downs on the Cape Flats. This will no doubt contribute to the department's and our cluster's goal of bringing justice closer to our people.
We have previously publicly reported on the question of security within our courts. I am pleased to report that we are beginning to address this problem. We have initiated a process of outsourcing our security requirements. In this financial year alone we have invested a further R14 million to meet this challenge.
The National Prosecuting Authority has continued to make strides in major areas in the administration of criminal justice and the fight against crime, in collaboration with the SA Police Service. It has continued to strive for an efficient and effective prosecution service. The Office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions has created new national entities in order to begin to address some of the challenges facing the prosecuting authority.
Having achieved the targets it had set for itself for the past year, the National Prosecuting Authority has set itself other targets for this year.
We have already begun to see that the prosecutors are even meeting the new targets. We are already beginning to see further increases in the average court hours. May I pause here to say that whereas some time last year courts were sitting an average of only one to two hours, they now, happily so, sit for anything upwards of four and a half hours. In addition, we have seen a reduction in outstanding court rolls, an increase in the number of court cases finalised with a verdict, a reduction in the number of outstanding decision dockets, a reduction in the number of prisoners awaiting trial and a reduction in the finalisation period of matters already in the system.
I am satisfied that the National Prosecuting Authority is well on its way in establishing a prosecuting service that is representative, professional, ready to fight crime, legitimate in the eyes of the people it serves and regarded as the true ``people's lawyers''.
It is now my wish to turn my attention to some of our most difficult challenges that affect our core business - our courts. There are two key challenges that face us in this regard, namely effective court and case management, and reducing the population of prisoners awaiting trial.
Our research and analysis over the past few years have shown that the only effective solution to these problems is to adopt an integrated cluster approach. We cannot respond to these challenges solely as, and within, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. The only viable approach is to address these problems together with our partners within the justice cluster, particularly with the Departments of Safety and Security, Correctional Services, and Welfare. The success of this approach is borne out by international best practice.
It gives me great pleasure to report to this House that after several years of planning and research, we are in the process of implementing an integrated justice system. Of greater significance is the fact that pilot projects to develop a docket management and event notification system between the police, prosecution, courts and prisons have been approved. The project is referred to as the Court Process Project. The tender for this project has been considered and we hope to announce during the course of next week the award of a major contract for its implementation. It is expected that the pilot project will provide us with a basis on which to address the most critical demands made on the justice system. A central aspect of this project, though, is the emphasis on change management.
A further project to address the more immediate and pressing problem of the excessive population of prisoners awaiting trial has already been piloted. I am pleased to report that this project has started yielding positive results. Indirect savings in excess of R50 million have already been made.
This afternoon, in conjunction with the Minister of Health, the Minister for Welfare and Population Development, and the Minister of Safety and Security, we launched a pilot project at the J F Jooste Hospital in Manenberg to handle victims of rape and other forms of sexual abuse with dignity and professionalism. The project comprises dedicated police officers and prosecutors, as well as Health, Welfare and Population Development officials.
These are only some of the most important projects we have initiated in this financial year. The fact that we are investing more than R140 million this financial year alone is, if anything, indicative of our seriousness.
It would be remiss of me not to comment on another topical issue. In this regard it would be useful to remember that, as a country, we embarked upon the transition and, as part of our political settlement, we chose to retain the judicial structures and personnel we inherited from our past. In fact, but for the establishment of one new court, the Constitutional Court, we chose to use such structures and personnel as the foundation for post- apartheid justice.
May I say that indeed, whilst there may be many reasons for complaint, it is advisable and indeed useful for all of us to observe that nonetheless in our courts, both lower and higher, a lot of good work is being done. I want to say, to this House and through this House, that as we were launching the project that I have alluded to, we had virtually all the structures in the criminal justice system represented. They were there to exhibit their commitment to making a contribution towards the further building of this country into a better society.
I know many people may cite all manner of statistics to show apparent bias in all sorts of directions, but I just want to say that in our own observation the complaints essentially relate to sentencing. That is why we have actually asked, as a cluster, the SA Law Commission to address this issue, and I am happy to say there is in circulation a draft working paper on this issue, which will enable all of us to participate constructively in the discussion of the issue of sentencing. Eventually we need to emerge as a country with a sentencing policy and position which allows our courts to treat like cases alike.
I can assure this House, and through this House the country, that we have the total commitment of virtually all the officials that I am referring to. As Minister over the past year I have had ample opportunity to interact with many of them, particularly those who are at the leadership levels of our courts, and at no point did I ever feel that I was dealing with men and women whose loyalty to this country we should have any cause to doubt. So indeed I am hoping that we will be able to transmit this message to our country.
Lastly, I also want to thank all the men and women in my own department, as well as in the cluster, who are assisting us in the performance of this arduous task of ours. Without their participation, dedication and tenacity, without their preparedness to do even more hours than they are required to do in terms of their contractual obligations, I am afraid we would not be able to tell what I believe is a better story about our criminal justice system. [Applause.]
Chairperson, I have noticed that my colleagues did not take their full 15 minutes at the outset. If I take more time, I am borrowing from them! [Laughter.] I am sure they will not object to that. We are a cluster, and that could be evidence in itself.
I must say that I am also honoured and privileged to present my department's case in this Budget Vote debate before this Council. In case hon members have not noticed the difference between my department and those of my colleagues here, I may have to state it briefly, but they know it themselves.
When it comes to the police, I always say that the police want to be professional, they want to be effective and they want to do a good job. The magistrates want to be good magistrates. The judges want to be effective judges and do a good job. The soldiers want to be professional soldiers and do a good job. There are 165 000 prisoners and none of them want to be there. So that is an instant difficulty. The police, the soldiers, the magistrates and the judges want to do what they do. But of the 165 000 prisoners, none wants to be there. That is an instant challenge.
I have recently come across severe criticism from human rights organisations representing the rights of prisoners for what is perceived to be a failure on my part to take decisive action to avert the impending crisis in our prisons caused by overcrowding. When I introduced the Correctional Services debate in the National Assembly on 12 May 2000 I made a passionate plea for the recognition and acceptance of the Correctional Services system as an integral part of the governance of this country. I believe that as a nation we are still trapped in the legacy of our shameful past in our understanding of the role and objectives of the correctional system.
As far back as 1923, the role and objectives of the correctional system were already well understood as articulated by Sir Winston Churchill, when he remarked as follows:
The mood and temper of the public with regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilisation of any country. A calm, dispassionate recognition of the rights of the accused, and even of the convicted criminals against the state; a constant heart-searching by all charged with the duty of punishment; a desire and eagerness to rehabilitate in the world of industry those who have paid their dues in the hard coinage of punishment; tireless efforts towards the discovery of curative and regenerative processes; unfailing faith that there is a treasure, if you can only find it, in the heart of every man. These are the symbols, which, in the treatment of crime and the criminal, mark and measure the stored-up strength of a nation. These powerful words of inspiration are from one of the greatest visionaries of our time. It is my mission, whilst serving as Minister of Correctional Services, to inculcate and promote this vision of the criminal justice system into a common vision shared by most South Africans.
As I discussed briefly in the NA, the prison crisis can only be understood in terms of the political environment in which the criminal justice system is located. In our situation, the major players representing the various special interest groups in the correctional services system are the media, legislators, the judiciary, human rights groups, labour unions, and prisoners. The relative powers and/or influence wielded by these groups, and the interests they pursue, shape the course of prison system crises.
The main functional areas of the correctional system are incarceration, care of offenders, development of offenders and community corrections. The incarceration function is mainly concerned with offender control by providing security and prison services to prevent, or at least to minimise, possibilities of escape, to ensure safe custody through good order and discipline within prison and rendering administrative and staff services. Traditionally, the incarceration function has always received the highest priority in the budget allocation. Although this Budget Vote under discussion has made some significant steps forward in transforming the allocation of resources in the correctional system, there are still areas of grave concern which require further improvement. Whilst the allocation for incarceration has increased by 15%, care of offenders, which involves the actual physical care and the health care of prisoners, has only increased by 6,7%. A marked increase of 55,9% has been made with regard to community corrections. Development of offenders received a satisfactory 14,2% increase, compared to the 0,1% decrease in the allocation for the reintegration into the community.
In line with our vision for the transformed correctional services system, we can no longer just concern ourselves with incarceration, but must also see to it that the system adequately caters for need-based developmental and rehabilitative offender programmes and the proper care of offenders. The challenge ahead of us is to work out an acceptable compromise through striking a proper balance between the competing interests of public safety and offender care and rehabilitation within the constraints of a limited budget. Incarceration is paramount with regard to offenders who have committed serious offences. It is therefore not difficult to see how a much- publicised escape or a large-scale disturbance may precipitate a crisis that is likely to result in an immediate shift of resources from the provisioning of adequate conditions to the functions of security and control. Prison security and offender control have a huge impact on our budget, as they rely heavily on manpower, equipment, IT expertise, architecture, categorisation of prisoners and routine procedures.
The overconcentration of resources on security and control at the expense of offender care and rehabilitative development programmes is an inescapable consequence of the history of where we come from as a department. As I have already remarked in the NA on 12 May, it is an indisputable fact that the vast majority of the inmates in our prison system are from the previously disadvantaged groups who are unskilled and of little value in the labour market. It is our responsibility as correctional services to see to it that they, too, are the beneficiaries of the new democratic dispensation, by providing them with the necessary basic skills to better their chances of becoming economically active by getting formal employment in the labour market, and, thus, helping to break the cycle of crime. I think hon members are very familiar with this one. Whether an ex-prisoner is skilled to do any kind of work within the community, be it carpentry, painting or whatever the skills the person has acquired from prison, immediately he steps out of prison and tries to look for work, he is already disadvantaged, because he is stigmatised. Once everybody knows, or the potential employer knows, that this person has been to jail and he acquired the certificate and the skills from prison, he is not going to employ him or her. The person goes from door to door and after three months he still does not get work. What happens to his or her children? Then the person goes back to the life of crime. After all, he was getting three meals a day in prison and he had friends who were talking and joking with him. It was all right. He gets back to the community and he is shut out, simply because he was in prison.
We cannot compromise on any of the above-mentioned fundamental areas of the department without jeopardising our core business objectives. It would therefore appear that, unless a corresponding increase is made to our total budget allocation in line with the ever-increasing population of inmates in our prisons, we are soon reaching a stage where the system will completely collapse. We are, of course, mindful of the fact that we are not the only department that is operating under severe financial constraints. Therefore, whilst insisting on increased funding, we must simultaneously focus our efforts on developing appropriate reductionist strategies to counter the problem of overcrowding and diminishing resources to enable us to meet both our constitutional and international obligations regarding the treatment of offenders and prevention of crime.
As I have outlined briefly in the NA, the problems facing the correctional system cannot be viewed in isolation from what is taking place in the other core departments of the criminal justice system. The Minister has said a lot about that.
President Mbeki's visionary intervention in June last year to establish ministerial clusters has been the single most important step forward in bringing about the much-needed co-operation between the core departments of the criminal justice system to develop an integrated, interdepartmental approach to crime prevention. Already, through the clustering approach, we have been able to formulate and embark on the following strategies to combat overcrowding in prisons. There are multisectoral teams to identify blockages and devise solutions to the awaiting-trial prisoner problem; early release of offenders who have committed less serious crimes, after they have served a minimum period of their sentences; thirdly, alternatives to imprisonment, which involve serving sentences within the community under supervision; and, lastly, fast-tracking of prison construction projects currently under way and the use of public-private partnership initiatives for the provision of additional prison accommodation.
We also intend to intensify our self-sufficiency programmes through the optimal utilisation of prison labour to augment our budget. We will reopen the debate on the retention by the prison system of income generated through prison labour, and the costing and marketing of prison products.
We also intend to take over the maintenance of facilities from Public Works to take direct control and accountability for ensuring conditions consistent with human dignity in prisons. I am saying this because, I am sure, most hon members saw the report on Pollsmoor about overcrowding and the conditions of juveniles in there who are awaiting trial. But for some of the things, we can say that we will look up to the courts, as the courts are doing that. The Minister has been saying that.
However, I am sure that after seeing the leaking taps and the conditions under which these children live, members are not convinced that another department, not Correctional Services, is responsible. I am saying that we have to take charge of that because we do budget for that type of thing, but we do so through other departments which are responsible for the maintenance of these buildings.
Chairperson, would the hon Minister take a question?
Order! Are you prepared to take a question, hon Minister?
Yes, I am.
Chairperson, yesterday we had the new commissioner in the committee and he told the committee that they were going to have negotiations with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development yesterday afternoon about the whole situation of overcrowding. The committee specifically asked the commissioner if he could give the Minister feedback on those negotiations and on whether anything was achieved.
My question to the Minister is whether he can give us some feedback on yesterday's result of the negotiations with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development with regard to what he has just mentioned now.
Chairperson, I am aware that negotiations are taking place, but I have not been informed as to where they are at the moment. However, in my speech I did say that some of these negotiations would be around what I said under the first point, that there are multisectoral teams that will identify blockages and devise solutions to the awaiting-trial prisoner problem. These include not only Justice and Constitutional Development, but also other departments which should look at the problem of overcrowding.
Regarding awaiting-trial prisoners, there is an alarmingly high number of awaiting-trial prisoners in our custody, which at the end of April 2000 stood at about 63 964 and constituting approximately 40% of the total number of prisoners in our facilities. This figure has grown to about plus 64 000. From January 1995 to February of this year, the number of awaiting- trial prisoners increased by 158%, compared to an increase of only 15% for sentenced prisoners over the same period.
On 22 May 2000 I delivered a keynote address at an official opening of a senior management departmental workshop, in which I urged my officials to take an active role in promoting the work of the multisectoral task team set up to identify these blockages and devise solutions to the awaiting- trial prisoner problem.
The newly appointed Inspecting Judge, Mr Justice Fagan who is a retired judge, has indicated that the problem of awaiting-trial prisoners will receive priority attention from his office as well, and that he intends using his influence as a retired judge to sensitise the Bench of the problems of overcrowding in prisons, to which the Minister has also referred. He has also indicated that he intends fast-tracking the implementation of the Correctional Services Act of 1998 with regard to the appointment of Independent Prison Visitors. The implementation of the new system of parole boards is also receiving priority after a minor setback due to the unavailability of full-time and ex officio members from the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the SAPS, as required in terms of the Act, because of the budgetary constraints experienced by the two departments. As per agreement by all three departments concerned, a suitable amendment of the Act that would enable the co-option of members of the SAPS and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development on an ad hoc basis, depending on the security aspects and/or other sensitivities with regard to a given application, would be submitted to Cabinet in the near future. As is required in terms of the Act, the National Council for Correctional Services has already voiced its support for a draft amendment submitted to it for comment and advice.
The issue of alternatives to incarceration has been the subject of debate in many countries for many years. As far back as 1910, there was already a determination within the English home office to effect a reductionist policy, and the principal initiative in setting this direction was taken by Sir Winston Churchill. Similarly to our own situation, the reductionist lobby in the English prison system was a reaction to the problem of overcrowding, in that by 1908 their prison population stood at 22 000, only marginally below the certified capacity of their prison system at the time.
In a memorandum to the prime minister in September 1910, Churchill described the main problem as being, and I quote:
... the immense number of committals of petty offenders to prison on short sentences.
We have a large number of petty offenders in our prison system, especially young offenders. The 55,9% increase in the budget for community corrections sends a clear message about our intentions to use community corrections as a viable alternative to incarceration.
The use of electronic monitoring to strengthen and enhance community corrections as a viable alternative to incarceration in dealing with less serious offences has been tested and found to be a viable option as opposed to incarceration in the South African situation. As I put it in the National Assembly, we view this project as an important milestone in the transformation of our correctional system. When I delivered my keynote address at the workshop of senior officials of the department on 22 May, I gave specific instructions for the preparation and submission to me of an action plan that would guarantee the implementation of the system countrywide by the end of the financial year.
Despite the problems and crises we are facing due to insufficient resources, we have nonetheless made tremendous progress in the fight to prevent, or at least to minimise, prison escapes. As we know, even the ultimate in fortress-like prisons, such as the American prison Alcatraz, have not been immune to escapes. No doubt many of us in the eighties watched in utter amazement how in the movie Escape from Alcatraz people escaped from that fortress.
Following my direct personal intervention to hold anti-escape workshops in November and December of last year in all nine provinces, we have managed to drastically reduce the number of escapes within a short space of time. We were able to identify the main causes of escapes and acted upon them. The following areas were identified as the main causes of escapes: negligence on the part of officials; corruption, which includes aiding of escapees; old and weak prison structures; and shortage of staff.
Since January 2000 serious disciplinary steps have been taken against any official whose negligence or gross negligence led to an escape from prison. Although I believe it really is still too early to draw any conclusive deductions regarding the success of the implementation of the strategies adopted at the workshops, the following national figures on escapes are very encouraging and show that we can do something about this problem. In January 1999 we had about 39 escapes, in the same month this year, 13; in February 1999 we had 34, in the same month this year, 14; in March 1999 we had 48, in the same month this year, 26 - that is a little bit of an increase; in April 1999 we had 18, in the same month this year, 22 - another little bit of an increase. In total, in 1999 there were 139 escapes, and this year we had 75. This shows that there has been a remarkable reduction.
We have also been able to focus on and intensify the battle against HIV- Aids in prisons. I remember I was asked this question in this House last week or two weeks ago, and I think I need to answer it fully. Notwithstanding our liberal policies regarding the prohibition of mandatory testing for HIV-Aids and maintaining separate facilities for HIV-Aids- infected offenders in prisons, which is in keeping with the constitutionally protected rights of bodily integrity and equality before the law, we have managed to implement effective HIV-Aids prevention programmes in prisons. Health education on STDs and HIV-Aids prevention on admission and constantly throughout incarceration is provided to offenders. Condoms are made freely available in the event of consensual sexual relations. Gang-related incidents and activities are closely monitored and the separation of vulnerable offenders, including transfer, is encouraged.
An effective HIV-Aids prevention programme is firmly in place, with HIV- Aids focal persons appointed at each prison in order to promote awareness, support and capacity-building efforts.
There is also a provincial health co-ordinator for each province to monitor and ensure the implementation of the HIV/Aids programme. Offenders who allege to have been raped are referred to a medical doctor for examination and treatment and, depending on the outcome of the medical examination, the affected offender will be taken for counselling and also monitored for possible sexually transmitted diseases.
We are involved in a collaborative programme with Howard University in the United States in the area of policy development studies. As part of this programme, we will be cohosting a conference which will be held from 1 to 5 July 2000 in Cape Town titled ``Substance Abuse, Crime, Violence and HIV- Aids as consequences of Poverty: Strategies for Prevention, Intervention and Treatment in the United States and South Africa.''
Significantly, this conference was timed to precede the World Aids Conference to be held in Durban by just a few days. Furthermore, as a member of the International Corrections and Prisons Association which will be holding its annual conference here in Cape Town on 27 to 31 August, we have again been requested to co-host this year's conference, whose theme is ``Criminal Justice as a Career of Choice: Achieving our Full Potential.''
As one of the outcomes of the departmental senior management workshops held on 22 to 24 May, the department will submit an action plan setting out proper timeframes and targets for each of the strategies discussed above in order to combat overcrowding. The department will also plan for and hold a national symposium on correctional services to be attended by all stakeholders in the correctional services system and other key players in the criminal justice system. It is envisaged that this symposium is expected to take place at the end of July this year and that it will serve as a precursor to a fully fledged White Paper on correctional services, which will cover policy aspects relating to the management of prisons and community corrections.
In conclusion, I wish to take this opportunity to pledge my commitment to working closely with provincial and local government structures, in line with the principles of co-operative governance and intergovernmental relations as championed in Chapter 3 of the Constitution. As Correctional Services, we are mindful of the fact that the successful implementation of our policies depends on the co-operation and support we receive with regard to awareness created at both provincial and local levels to the real issues facing the correctional system.
We are part and parcel of the safety and security establishment of this country and we fully recognise and appreciate our partnership with the public to provide a safe and secure environment for all. In this regard, I take the opportunity to recognise the efforts of Prof Kambule, the National Youth Commission and others for their crime prevention initiatives, by exposing homeless children to prison conditions in order to motivate them to pursue their studies and turn their backs on crime.
Similarly, I would like to congratulate and express my sincere thanks to the KwaZulu-Natal provincial department of education for their participation in the Ncome Prison awareness campaign to discourage youth in schools from engaging in criminal activities. These initiatives are, indeed, both exemplary and noble and the Department of Correctional Services must adopt them as part of its strategy for crime prevention. [Applause.]
Chairperson, I am certain that our discussion today will help all of us, amongst other things, to better understand the objectives and processes of the criminal justice system, and its positive and negative features. Having gained that understanding, I also believe that we would be better placed to respond to urgent and important challenges this poses without getting excited.
The steps we have taken towards vigorous and practical implementation of these strategies adopted in the policies of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, the Department of Safety and Security and the Department of Correctional Services, together with the suggestions that we have made relating to the fundamental issues of democracy, good governance, the recovery of human value, and peace and stability, would constitute an appropriate response to the challenges posed by the environment in which we find ourselves.
The challenge facing South Africa's criminal justice system is to protect the rights enshrined in the new Constitution, whilst ensuring public safety. I want to agree that crime in South Africa must be addressed through a practical initiative that not only has an immediate local impact, but also influences national policy. There is therefore a need to continually evaluate our strategies and to find creative and innovative ways to deal with these situations involving the increasingly sophisticated criminals.
One legacy of apartheid is that many young South Africans do not have the skills to reform the criminal justice system and, indeed, the opportunities to acquire these skills remain limited. We cannot easily forget that historically the South African criminal justice system was very corrupt and oppressive. We are therefore again challenged with becoming our own liberators from the scourge of violence and criminal behaviour of some of the members of our society.
Governance does not mean government. It means the framework of rules, institutions and established practices that set limits and give incentives for good behaviour of individuals, organisations and institutions. Without strong governance, the danger of conflict could be a reality during our time. Trade wars promote national corporate interests, uncontrolled financial volatility, which sets off civil conflicts, and untamed global crime which infects safe neighbourhoods and criminalises politics and politicians, business and the whole of the justice system.
The fight against crime and the creation of a just society based on principles of equality and freedom are a collective responsibility of a responsible society. Crime and criminality are a menace against which all of us should close ranks, and one which we must confront head-on.
This Parliament passed the Prevention of Organised Crime Act in 1998 and, as a product of this Act, the office of the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions, together with other structures, such as the Asset Forfeiture Unit, etc were established. The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development has referred to these structures.
This was indeed a brilliant innovation by our Government. By this we sent and continue to send a clear message to the organised criminals that South Africa will not tolerate any kind of corruption, especially the activities of the kingpins of these criminal syndicates. We would like to commend the Ministers for instituting and leading a successful prosecuting regime that found a collaborative solution which helped prosecutors to lead investigations, bring cases to trial and win convictions by working with the police and communities in partnership against crime.
We stand here to commend the department for the good work it has done. We are all aware that the road has not been easy from many angles, such as the structures of the justice system, where some of the judges have shown their reluctance to implement these initiatives, because, among other things, they viewed some of these laws as draconian, and that includes some hon members who also joined forces with them, saying that some of the laws were unconstitutional.
I am indeed heartened by the uncompromising attitude of both the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Safety and Security, who are prepared to take the war to the boardrooms, bars, bedrooms and lounges of criminals. I also want to express our unwavering support to the Ministers for their principle of zero-percent tolerance for criminality in our country. Criminals must, in the words of Minister Tshwete, indeed be suffocated and allowed no space in our society.
We welcome the initiatives and strategies adopted in identifying flash point areas where there is a high level of crime and making a deliberate effort to deploy resources in those areas and flush out criminals. I am indeed happy to announce here that during constituency weeks, when I am in the province, I do visit certain police stations, talk to station commanders and ask them how we can lend our assistance in dealing with crime.
As I am talking to members, we are having a crime summit in one of the villages in Mpumalanga next week to discuss this whole question of crime. This is indeed an initiative of a station commander. We invited to this summit police, prosecutors, magistrates, political formations, local councillors, NGOs, CBOs, business, taxi associations, principals, traditional leaders and religious leaders. The purpose of this summit is to attempt to get all and sundry to discuss the crime issue, and together to find a solution to get rid of crime. We believe that this approach and others will indeed work.
As a result of other innovative efforts between ourselves as politicians and communities certain fruits are being reaped by our communities. Some of the criminals have already been exposed and are behind bars and others will still be arrested.
In conclusion, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our men in uniform, as well as our women in uniform, Commissioner Selebi in his uniform this afternoon in our Chamber, Minister Maduna and his directors- general, the Minister of Safety and Security, the Department of Correctional Services, Minister Skosana and his director-general, and all our officials who have until now made us proud as South Africans. I want to say here, from the NCOP, that we are indeed behind them in all their efforts. They should please gain strength in the knowledge that millions of South Africans out there, including our neighbouring countries, are looking to them to keep our country clean and uninfected. [Applause.]
Chairperson, in the few years after and prior to the establishment of our new democracy, South Africa has experienced a tremendous upsurge in crime. Numerical factors based on historical, political, economical, social and physical causes can be used to explain this phenomenon. The intolerably high rate of violent crime and white- collar crime often seem to threaten our democratic and constitutional achievements.
At the same time that the country seemed plunged into an abyss of crime, South Africa developed one of the most liberal and progressive bills of rights in the world. The Constitutional Court gave numerous rulings in matters concerning criminal justice. The death penalty was abolished, corporal punishment declared unconstitutional and the rights of the accused in criminal procedural matters were extended. This was an indication of a commitment to human rights.
Violence and crime are usually results of inequality and poverty, and they certainly breed fastest in a society characterised by extremes of inequality and social exclusion. Ultimately, only measures that protect communities from the deprivation of joblessness, injustice and insecurity will also make them safer from crime.
The role of the civilian secretariat, inter alia, is to promote democracy, accountability and transparency in the service and to research any policing matters in regard to the Police Act.
It is common knowledge that the sociopolitical transformation and tremendous change this country has undergone and is still undergoing change since the election of 27 April 1994, together with the prevailing level of crime, necessitated a new vision and fundamental change to policing in South Africa. When the South African society conceived democracy during the negotiation process, a vigorous revolution took place within the SA Police Force. The South African Police adopted a new ``surname'', namely ``Service''. This precipitated a fundamental transformation within the SAP. A new philosophy came into being, that of community policing.
Regarding the redistribution of resources, the racial bias in public resource allocation is still a matter of grave concern to us. The delay in the building of police stations in terms of the RDP programme is also a matter of grave concern to the province, as it is affecting the effective delivery of social justice. Resources such as community service centres, or ``police stations'', are still far away from where they are needed most, where the high rates of crime are experienced on a daily basis.
Transformation in the SAPS cannot be seen as separate from the entire process of transformation of the Public Service. It should be a people- driven process and is not concerned with police management only.
Demilitarisation, deracialisation and depoliticisation in the SAPS should be treated as a matter of urgency, with emphasis on the transformation of the service into an efficient, effective and representative service which upholds and protects the fundamental rights of the people.
With regard to municipal policing, section 206(7) specifically prescribes that national legislation must provide a framework for the establishment, functions and control of municipal police services.
The National Crime Prevention Strategy and the White Paper identifies socioeconomic and environmental factors, especially in poor communities, as factors that contribute to crime. Both documents stress that economic growth and social development must ensure that the causes of and opportunities for some categories of crimes are limited.
Another focus area is to develop a social crime prevention framework for the areas which will identify interventions and focus on short-term, medium- term and long-term intervention strategies, because the seriousness of the continued attacks on rural communities, especially farming communities, in South Africa is calling for intervention.
In conclusion, I can articulate with pride that various attempts are made by the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development and the Minister of Safety and Security to restore the legitimacy of the criminal justice system. I have good reason to believe that we may eventually succeed in bringing down the high levels of crime. We must carry on the fight against crime. I can quote what a famous person, Winston Churchill, said during World War II, one of Britain's darkest hours:
We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender.
We should remember that the future belongs to those who believe in it and who are working for success. [Applause.]
Mr B M RADEBE (KwaZulu-Natal): Chairperson, I am not surprised at this. Even in my province, every time I stand up to speak there is something happening in the room, so I am used to it. [Laughter.] My MEC is also laughing because he knows that something will always happen when I rise to speak in KwaZulu-Natal. Chairperson, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak in this House. In other provinces the issue of security is priority number one, but in our province, KwaZulu-Natal, it is number one plus the stars, because KwaZulu-Natal is one of the most powerful provinces in the country. Whatever we do in KwaZulu-Natal, we make sure that we do it thoroughly. [Laughter.] So if we are engaged in a war, we fight, but if we are engaged in a peace process, we negotiate peace.
I am saying this because the Minister of Safety and Security referred to some areas in KwaZulu-Natal, Nongoma in particular. We have been praying that one day peace will come to KwaZulu-Natal. As the two major parties in KwaZulu-Natal, the IFP and ANC, we have been working on the peace process. Then there is this issue of demarcation which also caused tension in KwaZulu-Natal, but our leadership met and discussed it. Now there is the problem of Nongoma, and I think the Minister of Safety and Security must take extraordinary measures to deal with it.
As one of the co-chairpersons of the provincial peace committee in KwaZulu- Natal, I just want to give members a brief history of that province. We had a conflict in my township, Mpumalanga - not the Mpumalanga of Bab' uMabona [Mr Mabona] - the real Mpumalanga. [Interjections.] On 27 November 1989, from 3:00 to 3:15, 68 people were killed in 15 minutes. I am trying to emphasise the point that it is crucial that the national Minister does everything in his power to make sure that the area of Nongoma is contained.
Secondly, while we were surprised by the gunning down of the mayor of Nongoma, tensions started to rise. So in KwaZulu-Natal we are not just talking about criminals, we are talking about political criminals, and a process in which IFP cadres are used to destroy and attack other parties, and in which ANC cadres are used to attack other parties. So most of what is happening in KwaZulu-Natal is more criminal in nature than political.
Furthermore, we believe that unless we deal with the political violence, particularly in our province, there will be no peace in this country. When the conflict started in KwaZulu-Natal it involved the IFP and the ANC. Full stop. We fought for four and a half years in my township and we lost more than 3 000 lives. Then after the former premier of the province, together with the former leader of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, now the Deputy President of this country, told the structures of the ANC and the IFP that there was somebody perpetrating that violence, the violence shifted to Gauteng.
In KwaZulu-Natal the conflict was between the IFP and the ANC. Full stop. In Gauteng it involved Zulus and Xhosas, and not so much the IFP and the ANC. When the leadership of Gauteng stood between the IFP and ANC and said that there was a third force element involved, the violence shifted to the mines. [Time expired.]
Mr M R MZOBE (KwaZulu-Natal): Chairperson, the province of KwaZulu-Natal forms an integral part of the Republic of South Africa. Fighting crime is becoming more complex and more challenging. Criminals operate with very little regard for national boundaries. As organised crime becomes increasingly globalised, foreign criminal groups are extending their operations, and South Africa is no exception to this tragedy. For these reasons, the SA Police Service is faced with new challenges, with the international crime arena becoming increasingly sophisticated and technologically advanced.
In order to fight criminality from a position of strength, we need to develop our human resources in terms of our ability to meet the challenges of constantly changing criminal strategies.
It must not only be acknowledged, but also fully accepted that police officers in South Africa have a greater chance of being victimised by violence than society itself. It will be recalled that during the liberation struggle the apartheid regime did not use the then SA Police for law enforcement purposes only, but also used them to achieve and accomplish their hidden agenda which morally, socially, politically and otherwise affected the oppressed black masses of South Africa who were engaged in the process of freeing South Africa.
It would be recalled, again, that subsequent to the old order's ulterior motives, the police were declared, considered and viewed by the people of South Africa as the ardent enemy of humanity and democracy. This culminated in the most unprecedented animosity between the police and the citizens of South Africa. The end result was that the police were systematically targeted for assassination. It is therefore my strongest contention that the police cannot work effectively and efficiently without the co-operation and assistance of the community on the ground. The police must be supported and assisted so that they can achieve high levels of delivery to the public.
It looks as though some of us have lost sight of the commitment and huge sacrifices being made by thousands of policemen and policewomen. We need to appreciate and encourage the efforts of the police officers who go beyond the call of duty to ensure the safety of their fellow citizens.
To combat further deterioration in human ethics, the Government is hereby requested to collect all the unlicensed firearms that are currently circulating in our communities. I am very heartened by the fact that the sister Ministries, with their Ministers, are engaged in combating crime. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers, hon members of this House, I wish to thank you for the opportunity to reflect on certain critical issues concerning the criminal justice system in our province. However, before I do so, allow me to congratulate the Ministers of Safety and Security, Justice and Constitutional Development, and Correctional Services on the outstanding achievements in transforming our criminal justice system from the main bastion of protection of white minority rule into one that is responsive to the needs of the majority of our people.
What makes their achievement even more remarkable, is the fact that this transformation has been achieved against great odds, such as limited resources and opposition from the conservative, pro-apartheid officials who refuse to accept change.
These people who refuse change do want the Government to protect them, but on the other hand, they violate human rights to the worst extreme. It is time that they do some introspection, take out what is wrong in themselves, and retain and implement what is right. By so doing they will make it easier for the Government to eradicate quite a number of cases.
I am pleased to say that the positive changes made at national level have filtered down to our province as well. These changes presented us with the opportunity to reduce crime and to ensure that the people in our province enjoy greatly improved levels of security in line with our Government's commitment to a better life for all. Allow me to say that farmworkers do not enjoy this. Their living conditions are still terrible.
The Northern Province covers a vast area and has a population of approximately 6,1 million. It is divided into four policing areas and has 91 police stations, with a total staff complement of 8 094 police members and 883 civilians. Our provincial government plays a key role in initiating and co-ordinating social crime prevention strategies through the Department of Safety, Security and Liaison. The department has identified a number of programmes and activities through which it hopes to prevent social crime. It is currently drafting a manual for community-based crime prevention in the province. The aim of the manual is to assist local authorities to design their own crime prevention plans.
The province takes its monitoring and oversight role over the police very seriously. To this effect it has established community policing forums at most police stations in the province. Through these forums the provincial government is able to monitor adherence to Government policies by the police. These forums also provide the province with a platform to establish community needs in terms of safety and security.
The police's rural protection plan is aimed at the protection of farms and smallholdings, and all other rural communities. The reality, however, is that police take little cognisance of other rural communities and their need for protection against crimes such as stock theft and the theft of water equipment, which are major problems in some of our rural communities.
Given the rural nature of our province, as well as the current distribution of police stations and resources, it is suspected that a large number of these crimes never get reported due to the inaccessibility of the police to such areas. This naturally affects the quality of life of our people living in these remote rural areas.
Our experience with witchcraft violence has shown that awareness campaigns and rallies remain the most effective way of reaching the community to convey the message to stop participating in this form of crime. We can unequivocally state that the occurrence of witchcraft violence has abated in the province. A new scourge has now reared its ugly head in the province, namely that of domestic violence, which has been the cause of most murders reported during 1999. The Department of Safety, Security and Liaison is morally obliged to go out to the communities to add its voice to that of the provincial legislature and the Commission on Gender Equality to stop this crime in the province.
It has also solicited support from the Social Services Cabinet Committee to encourage agencies involved in development projects on behalf of Government to obtain court interdicts where persons are found to be interfering with or damaging development projects, and to encourage development agencies to lay formal charges at the nearest police station should theft or damages occur at these development projects.
Although our provincial department is trying very hard to ensure that the people in our province enjoy adequate levels of safety and security, we do experience some problems, including an inadequate level of funding. In spite of these problems, the department remains committed to carrying out its ... [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Chairperson, in recent World Bank research among 325 big South African businesses, 94% of the respondents indicated crime and violence as the biggest stumbling blocks in the South African economy. When the man regarded as the world's most influential emerging markets investor, Mr Mark Mobius, President of Templeton Emerging Markets Group of the United States of America, says that the negative image of South Africa, which the high levels of crime has created abroad, scares his investors and board of directors, we cannot only sit up and take note. We have to act, and act effectively, in order to drastically reduce the totally unacceptable high levels of crime.
I wish to congratulate Commissioner Selebi and all police officers and members with their recent successes with Operation Crackdown. I am also encouraged by the fact that at long last the police now have a three-year strategy which will primarily focus on the approximately 140 station areas where more than 50% of the serious violent and organised crimes occur. It is, however, important that capacity be built to deal with management of crime, not only in these police areas, but at all police stations, so that the criminals do not just run from one area to another. The work of the police is, however, being seriously hampered by the shortage of at least 7 000 trained personnel, 7 860 vehicles and other equipment to the value of R85,2 million. This situation is totally unacceptable and I have written to the Minister of Finance in this regard, requesting that the amount of R928 million be made available to the police immediately to enable them to address these shortages.
The murder of police members has become a national disaster which simply cannot be allowed to continue. There should be no doubt that the uncertainty created by the new section 149 of the Criminal Procedure Act has contributed towards this, even though it has as yet not been implemented. In this regard, I am glad that my written request last year, through the then Secretary for Safety and Security, asking that the new section not be implemented in August 1999, was complied with. I now ask that the second part of my request, namely that the section be referred back to Parliament, should also be complied with as a matter of urgency.
The situation in respect of the salaries and other benefits of police members is totally unsatisfactory and should be addressed immediately. In this regard I would appreciate it if the Minister of Safety and Security could give us details of how the salaries of members of the SAPS compare with the salaries of the municipal police of Durban, for instance, and with that of the Scorpions at entry level and for comparable ranks.
I now wish to deal with Correctional Services and Justice. We clearly have a national crisis of major proportions on our hands in respect of the overpopulation of our prisons. The accommodation capacity of our prisons is 100 384 prisoners, and the current number of prisoners inside our prisons is 172 271. In other words, this is an overpopulation of 71,61%.
Sixty-three thousand, nine hundred and sixty-four are awaiting-trial prisoners. A prison like Pollsmoor is 180% overpopulated. The Western Cape Bureau of Correctional Services even threatens to close all prisons in the Western Cape if the crisis in respect of overpopulation is not addressed immediately.
Although awaiting-trial prisoners are, by law, the responsibility of the management of the Department of Justice, the Department of Correctional Services is responsible for keeping them in custody and, therefore, must have a definite and clear plan of action to deal with it. This is clearly a problem for both these departments which calls for urgent and extraordinary measures. What is more, if the police are going to continue to be successful in arresting many thousands of criminals with Operation Crackdown, then the number of prisoners in our prisons is going to increase dramatically. Apart from the massive overpopulation, correctional services also has a serious staff shortage. It was indicated that there will be a shortage of 7 437 members in the 2000-2001 financial year. From the report received from the Department of Justice, it appears that they have succeeded in achieving a decrease of 10% in the number of awaiting-trial prisoners.
In considering the reasons for the large number of awaiting-trial prisoners, it is acknowledged by the department that basic things are simply not being done correctly, and that this is mainly due to the lack of training and experience of prosecutors. The costs associated with unsentenced prisoners are estimated at R1,3 billion per year. The number of prosecutors trained by the Justice College unfortunately dropped substantially from 1 610 in 1997-98 to only 450 in 1998-99, as a result of budgetary constraints.
In some regions, persons with no prosecuting experience or training had to be appointed. This situation is unacceptable. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Mr Chairman, I love this country, I am proud of our democracy and I recognise that things are easier said than done. But my heart goes out to the Ministers concerned, because we want them to succeed. We understand very well - my colleague has mentioned it - the linkages between crime and business confidence, crime and investment, and crime and tourism.
I want to talk to members briefly today, not only about crime - the understanding of which is vital - but the causes of crime, if we are going to deal with the matter effectively. I was pleased to hear the Minister say that he was talking to the Minister of Education and to the Minister of Health about rape, and that he was liaising with his colleagues.
But I want to alert the Ministers to a potentially devastating link between crime and Aids. Currently, there are 200 000 Aids orphans in our country; and, by the year 2005, 1,5 million children will have lost their mothers to Aids. Now I want to tell the Ministers that Aids, in my view, has been a vital and important contributory cause to the dysfunctional state of collapse, lawlessness and civil violence in the countries of central Africa. There has been a loss of markets, an assault on the stabilising structure of family life, a loss of skills to the economy, but, most importantly, the psychological impact on society in general and the effect upon lawlessness and crime, and upon an individual's sense of self-worth. A kind of desperate short-termism comes into the equation.
If one is unemployed, orphaned, or dying, one can become reckless and desperate. I wish to request Ministers, seriously, to institute a commission or urgent study to research these links, or to get a university to research these links, between Aids, crime, and social disintegration, and to see what can be done about it.
A study by Barings Bank shows us that by the year 2006, 26% of our economically active population will be HIV positive. Life expectancy will drop from 60 years to 40 years by the year 2008. Only 50% of people alive in South Africa today are going to reach the age of 60.
I believe that these realities have already had, and are likely to have, a major impact on our poor behaviour and crime, and increasingly so. An urgent study on this aspect of things needs to be done so that possible corrective action can be taken and behaviour understood. [Time expired.]
Mr Chairman, I would like to quote.
One of the central features of the brutish society we seek to bring an end to, is the impermissible level of crime and violence. Acting together with the people, we will heighten our efforts radically to improve the safety and security of all our citizens.
These words were uttered last year, on 25 June, just about a year ago, by the President of this country, Mr Thabo Mbeki.
When I listen to the contribution made by the three very critical Ministers - when I say critical, I mean that of the clusters that the Government has created, their cluster is the single most important - I get the impression from the Ministers that there is less of a sense of urgency with regard to their cluster than what the President said last year already. And yet the situation is considerably worse than it was last year, and all the statistics are there to prove it.
National Commissioner Selebi said just yesterday that, as a result of Operation Crackdown, he is going to force upon the Justice department 200 000 dockets in one year. Currently, the single biggest logjam in the criminal justice system is the inability of the Justice department to process dockets. The Minister has said that there was an improvement in the processing of documents, but what he neglected to do was to back it up with statistics.
Every single court in this country says otherwise. My visits to courts tell me that, in fact, we are not processing more dockets; we are processing fewer cases. What is happening is that more and more cases are being withdrawn at police station level, because the police officers say: ``We cannot investigate these crimes because we do not have the capacity to do so,'' and they give one a case number so that one can make an insurance claim. Even in the case of serious crimes, this happens. I had a case yesterday in which a doctor phoned me. His wife is also a doctor, a physician. She was robbed in her surgery, together with one of the patients. Armed robbery in the surgery. He phoned to tell me six hours later that the police had come to take a statement and they said that they were not sending fingerprint people because it really was a useless case. That particular case, may I say, is now subject to an investigation by my department. But that is what is happening at the moment - fewer and fewer cases are going through the process, because people have given up trying to process them.
Then they go to the public prosecutor. The public prosecutor, still with the greatest respect, is so overworked at the moment that, on the slightest technicality, or maybe an inconsistency with regard to a statement, those cases are being withdrawn.
In fact, if the Minister sees an improvement, I hope that the statistics that he has quoted and the inference he is giving to this Parliament that the situation is improving, do not include cases that are being withdrawn, because with regard to the cases that are being withdrawn, where previously they might have been the indication of efficiency, they are now an indication of inefficiency. And this can be proven.
The President went on to speak about a whole series of actions that the Government is going to take to try to improve safety and security - the constitutional role of this country - to create a safe and secure environment with regard to human resource development; and Minister Tshwete has alluded to human resource development.
The most significant human resource development that is taking place at the moment is with regard to a unit that Minister Tshwete reported on now. It does not even reside in his portfolio, but under the Minister of Justice, the so-called Scorpions Unit. Legally, it does not exist. It is still ad hoc. There is no legislation to allow it to exist. [Interjections.]
That is the truth, unfortunately. However, I have no problem ... [Interjections] ... No, I am not going to take a question.
Order! I beg your pardon, Mr Minister, but I must actually ask the member on what point he is rising. I must ask him. I must give him a chance. We cannot just make a presumption. Could you tell me on what point you are rising, hon member?
Thank you for protecting me, Chairperson. I wanted to ask if the hon member would ...
On a point of order, Sir: He is out of order.
Order! I beg your pardon, hon member I have not recognised you.
He is out of order. He is out of order, Sir. [Interjections.]
Order! Continue, Mr Moosa.
Thank you, Chairperson. It looks like we have forgotten about procedure in this House. I wanted to ask the hon member a question regarding whether ...
He is out of order. He is not asking a question. [Interjections.]
Order! I have not yet recognised you. [Interjections.] Mr Moosa, could you please ask your question?
I wanted to ask the hon member how he ...
Order! Mr Wiley, are you prepared to take a question?
Mr Chairman, I hope that I will be dealt with impartially in this House. When the hon member on the other side stood up, I immediately said I was not prepared to take a question. [Interjections.] Nothing has changed, and I hope that Mr Moosa's delaying tactic is going to be taken into account with regard to my speaking time.
Order! Hon Wiley, are you prepared to take a question or not?
No, Sir, I am not.
Order! Please continue with your speech.
The tragedy is that while small politics are being played in this Chamber, this province ... [Interjections] ... the Western Cape Province, had 47 murders last weekend, 45 attempted murders, 129 armed robberies, 362 thefts of motor vehicles and over 70 or 80 women raped, and that is about 10% of the truth. [Interjections.]
The question that has to be addressed to the Minister of Safety and Security, because he said that the taxi violence is as a result of racism and a lack of understanding of democracy in this province, and that this is the number one crime province according to their own police statistics, is: Can he tell us in what way, other than with urban terrorism and now during this taxi violence, has this province been assisted with numeric supplies and other resources, as it is required by law, in order to safeguard the citizenry of this province? [Interjections.]
Since 1995 we have been given 112 new police recruits. I am currently training - because the question was asked where I was, 150 police reservists in an intensive training programme in Oudtshoorn, for which my department pays and which I am not actually allowed to do. I trained over 250 police reservists last year. I found sponsors and we increased the police numbers in this province by 257. [Interjections.] I will increase the police numbers in this province by another 450 during the course of this year, and this is being paid for by sponsors and the public sector at the moment.
I would like to bring to the attention of this Parliament something which is going to increase even more.
Nog misdaadslagoffers eis vergoeding van die Regering. Feit van die saak is, meer en meer mense voel onveilig in hierdie land van ons. Meer en meer mense voel so. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[Still more victims of crime are demanding compensation from the Government. In fact, more and more people are feeling unsafe in this land of ours. More and more people are feeling this way.]
I would have hoped that the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development would have read some of the Hansards. Four years ago, I said to Minister Omar, ``Please, investigate the lay magistrate system practised in the United Kingdom.'' There are 28 lay magistrates. We have the tribal system in this country. We have the lekgotla system just across the border. There are other systems, such as the chiefs system, which we have in this country. Having those legitimised - and it was on our agenda for discussion previously - we can reduce the case-load in our courts almost overnight, as long as those people do not demand a high payment, as the Minister said in his statement only yesterday when he turned the turf for a court in Delft.
I sincerely hope that by turning that turf, the people that will be funded in order to safeguard that court will not be police officers, because on any one day in this province 400 police officers have to be deployed in order to safeguard courts instead of being out on the street. I have to train them in order to put them out on streets as visible police officers. [Interjections.]
Currently in this province 37% of the prison population, which is now over 150% full, is awaiting-trial prisoners. Many of them are being incarcerated under intolerable and inhuman conditions at the moment, because they cannot get into the court system. Many of them are there because they quite simply cannot afford bail for having stolen fruit or something of that nature. Surely, what we need to do ... [Interjections] ... I cannot pay their bail ... [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Chairperson, hon Ministers, hon MECs and hon members, a perception is being created that the rate of violence against women and the abuse of children have increased since the ANC took over Government. Those who perpetuate this perception want us to believe that apartheid prevented violence against women or that the end of apartheid has led to the increase of violence against women. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Since 1994, there has been increased awareness of the seriousness of child abuse and violence against women, not only as critical societal problems, but also as crimes. In addition, there is increasing recognition of the often long-lasting psychological effects on children who witness violence, whether or not they are the actual victims. As a result, there has been an increase in the use of criminal and civil processes to address violence and the abuse of children and women in our country.
The Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development, in conjunction with the other Ministers in the criminal justice system, was instrumental in this process. Under the leadership of the current Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development and his predecessor emerged a policy and legislative environment which promote the safety of women and children and which protect their rights to freedom from violence. This never happened during the apartheid era. In fact, prior to the ANC taking over the Government, few South African women had access to the judicial system in the manner that they do today.
Under apartheid, victims of women and child abuse were expected to wait in the same area as the accused. Prosecutors rarely consulted with victims before the trial, and the reasons whether to prosecute a case or not were not clearly explained to victims. On the whole, the apartheid courts and their processes were inadequate and entirely unsupportive to victims. The police themselves were not cognisant of the impact which their responses had on victims of domestic and other types of violence. Their actions were marred by a myriad of reasons for nonintervention, including lack of resources, lack of transport, difficulties in securing convictions and a belief that women themselves were responsible for being abused.
It was only after the ANC came to power that these problems began to be addressed. Magistrates, prosecutors and members of the police were sent on special training courses to sensitise them to the needs of women victims. The judiciary has been transformed to ensure greater participation by women on the Bench and special courts were established to deal with sexual offences involving children. Police stations have become community centres where female members of the police are specifically trained to deal with child abuse victims and women who have been violently abused.
The ANC has made a commitment to eradicate violence against women and children, and we have backed up this commitment with laws and institutions which promote the rights of and protect women and children. However, we also understand that neither the criminal justice system nor the social service system alone can prevent violence against women and children. Based on our increasing understanding of the experiences of victims of domestic violence, we know that meaningful strategies of enhancing the safety of women and children require a co-ordinated response in which entire communities must be engaged. It is up to each one of us ... [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Chairperson, Minister of Safety and Security, Minister of Correctional Services, Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I thank the House for the opportunity to present my speech on this very important and useful occasion.
Firstly, I just want to say something in relation to what the DP, especially the hon Wiley, has said. It is very unfortunate that the people who were privileged in the past simply kept quiet when black, coloured and Indian people were murdered in this country. [Interjections.]
Chairperson, I do not believe Mr Wiley has joined the DP. [Interjections.]
Order! Hon member, on what point are you rising?
Chairperson, on a point of information: I do not believe the hon MEC has crossed the floor yet. [Interjections.]
Chairperson, on a point of order: There is nothing in the Rules that indicates that a member can stand up on a point of information. There is no such Rule. [Laughter.]
Order! Thank you, Mr Moosa. Please continue, hon MEC.
Chairperson, I am in charge of safety and security in Mpumalanga and I make sure that when people phone me to tell me that a doctor and his wife have been raped by criminals, I stand up and give instructions. I wonder why Mr Wiley does not do that. The public must ask themselves why this is so. We are all aware that policing has been one of the subjects for speculation during the whole period of the old dispensation. This came from a background in which service delivery was not an issue as long as specific ideological objectives were fulfilled.
The new dispensation brought about a turning point in these processes and service delivery became a priority. The police service was expected to conform to different norms in order to ensure that service delivery is a success. In order for the police service to be able to conform to these norms, various legacies of the past were supposed to be eradicated, and this we have done. This process has, indeed, taken place, but old tendencies and habits which still exist leave much to be desired. These tendencies and habits are born of the old culture which can only be changed through a process. It is the effectiveness and the practicability of this process which put service delivery to the test.
The following subjects have a practical bearing on the whole question of service delivery. The first subject is the budget. A unilateral approach has characterised the culture of allocating the budget in the service. Although there are certain factors which are taken into account when allocating the budget, there is no fixed national formula. In addition to this, a central bargaining structure where all provinces can bargain for their share does not exist. The application of the factors against the national allocation is also done without the participation of provinces, something which gives national Government the power to make adjustments unilaterally.
What has also become a disturbing factor in this process is the fact that several components chop and change between the national and provincial levels. This makes the historical data unreliable. Although the provincial allocation for Mpumalanga has not yet been given, we are convinced that it shall be far below our requirements, just as has been the case in the previous financial years. But we must also bear in mind the national considerations.
The second factor is human resource and related problems. Human resource- related problems cover the greatest area in the SAPS. The following are a few subjects covered in this area. The first subject is promotions. A promotions policy was drawn up at the beginning of the new dispensation, but has to date not yet been completed. An interim policy has been used throughout the process, but its disadvantage is the fact that it is characterised by various moratoriums and several conditions. The absence of this policy has completely hampered human resource development and continuity in leadership. The organisation is currently experiencing a concentration of ranks at certain levels, especially at the level of inspector.
An audit for promotion according to the different ranks is not really available in the SAPS. The number of promotions to be effected is always determined by the size of the budget and is only known when applications for those who qualify are called. This is an area which has the greatest impact on service delivery, because it has caused a high state of demoralisation amongst the workforce. How can a person render effective service if he or she is not promoted because of the lack of an effective promotions policy? However, I must say that this is a question that the national Department of Safety and Security is addressing.
The second subject is discipline and racial conflicts. It is also an indisputable fact that discipline in general has deteriorated in the service. One of the contributory factors to this is transformation. Many individuals, especially leaders, earned automatic respect which was created through subserviency to the system. The command language of the leadership of the SAPS also changed and unions also came in to test the negotiation skills of the SAPS managers, including their diplomacy and professional leadership in general.
Leaders and members, in general, are now expected to conform to certain norms, ethics and standards in order to earn dignity and respect. [Interjections.] It has therefore become clear to every member in the service that the Constitution has removed all barriers attached to the system, and they have begun to exercise their rights. Leaders who still relied on the advantages of the system and those who led through command and control began to lose power.
Tension was created between general members and the leadership, which was also fuelled by the advent of the unions. Many of the leaders resorted to command and control for survival and supported their stand with negative discipline.
Having stated the above, we wish to commend the decision by national Commissioner Jackie Selebi to devolve disciplinary powers to the station commanders on the ground. We are confident that if all rules are properly applied we shall get discipline back to all our members. However, we need to caution that one should guard against racially motivated disciplinary action.
Regarding resources and restructuring, the distribution of resources is one of the prominent priorities of the transformation and covert in the dimension for restructuring. The complexity of this subject goes back to the introduction of the new dispensation, when the different agencies were amalgamated. This process was nothing but a flocking of blacks from black areas to former white-dominated areas. This also amounted to a shift of resources from these areas to white-dominated areas.
Mpumalanga is a good example of this, since both the provincial headquarters and all three areas are in the former SAP's F region, all in towns such as Middelburg. No establishment was put in the Kwa-Mhlanga and Mbuzini areas, only small stations. I wish to report that, as the administration is in the process of moving the Highveld headquarters from Middelburg to Kwa-Mhlanga, certain unions, who are obviously still stuck in the past, have declared a dispute against the SAPS. This is really unacceptable. Other quarters have raised business concerns and suggested that moving from Middelburg to Kwa-Mhlanga might prejudice the business prospects of Middelburg. What type of people are we to put more weight on business prospects than on the interests of our people, who were previously disadvantaged and are now desperately in need of policing? [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Chairperson, I am Mokonyane, not Monkonyane, for the record. I also wish to indicate, with the Chair's permission, that sometimes it is very irresponsible of those who are given executive authority to engage in debates of this nature without showing any serious responsibility in terms of the responsibilities that they have been given. [Interjections.]
I believe, not only as a member of the ANC but as a South African, that we really have to appreciate that there is still much that has to be done. Unfortunately for the people of the Western Cape, everyone in this country has been talking about the serious issue of taxi-bus conflict, but it is not seen as a priority. [Interjections.] Also, the investment in terms of the training of reservists is seen as the domain of an individual rather than a utilisation of public funds. [Interjections.]
On that basis, I believe cheap politics can never prevail, especially when it amounts to a dog barking at a moving car. The car will continue to move irrespective of whether the dog barks or not. [Laughter.] Even if the dog continues to bark at other vehicles, that car will know its destiny, and will never be distracted by a barking dog that does not have a vision. [Laughter.]
I think we also need to appreciate that when millions of people of this country went to the polls last year in order to cast their votes, they had many choices in terms of who to vote for. But, many of them decided to give the ANC a huge mandate to govern this country, because they believed in our policies as well as our strategies. I believe that as this Government we are on track in fulfilling that mandate, despite criticism from various quarters, particularly from those who are sitting in the castles they have created over the years.
The demographics of our province, as well as those of our country, are likely to change within the next five years, and this will require a different approach with regard to crime prevention, both on the side of the SAPS and of various Government departments. This requires all of us to come up with different interventions, based on our local priorities, that will deal with breaking the cycle of violence.
In order to deal with crime effectively, we have identified key priority areas which will be implemented during the current financial year: Violence against women and children; youth crime prevention, which includes the use of firearms and substance abuse; co-ordination of the criminal justice system and liaison with various role-players; the building of good and sound community-police relations, as well as the mobilisation of our communities; ensuring the implementation as well as co-ordination of social crime prevention initiatives, both at provincial and local level; and monitoring police performance and assessing the effectiveness of visible policing in the province. These are the priorities that we have identified and the executive authority has actually taken responsibility.
I really find it quite disgusting that sitting here today are other members of executive councils who want to abdicate the responsibility of introducing social crime prevention strategies, and make that the responsibility of the police while projecting that all is lost in this country. I believe members also have to come to this House and account as members of executive councils. [Interjections.]
Our plans are still based on policies as well as legislation that have been passed by both national and provincial parliaments. During this financial year Gauteng has already started implementing various interventions which will lead to the co-ordination of crime prevention initiatives. We are already complementing efforts developed by the SAPS by mobilising the public at large to play an active part in crime prevention initiatives. We are not just getting telephone calls, but we are with the people where they actually encounter problems, and together with them we are trying to find solutions.
I believe that at both the national and provincial levels we have developed a comprehensive plan not only to deal with the containment of crime as a short-term strategy, but also to enable us to prevent crime and to deal with it in the long term.
I think that all members will agree with me that the active involvement of our communities in working with different law enforcement agencies is of critical importance. We have made and will continue to make appeals that Government and the SAPS alone cannot and will not deal with crime on their own. It is therefore imperative for various communities, irrespective of political affiliation, as well as individuals to get involved. We will continue to come up with new ways and methods of ensuring that the men and women in uniform receive maximum support from the public.
Of course we also want to pose a challenge to the cluster that those men and women in uniform also deserve to be given the rewards that they deserve, because we appreciate the risks that they are faced with. We believe that they cannot be treated like any typist or receptionist in the Public Service. Their remuneration must be linked to the risks that they are exposed to. [Applause.] We have witnessed the disruption of schools in areas such as Alexandra and KwaThema in Gauteng, and this is of great concern to us, because children are the future leaders of this country. But we are not going to be intimidated by a small group of unruly elements. Together with the Department of Education, we are already implementing various projects aimed at ensuring that we restore the culture of learning and teaching. Our primary aim is to mobilise students, parents, teachers, the SAPS, as well as the entire community to jointly find solutions.
Crimes against women and children are of great concern to each and every member of the public. Our assessment of the impact of the Domestic Violence Act has shown that there is a need to train members to further co-ordinate and allocate new resources within the criminal justice system. Improved service delivery by the SAPS to communities is of importance and should be encouraged at all times so as to build public confidence. Quality service delivery can be realised if business and other institutions can commit themselves to assist with resources that are lacking.
The groundwork that we have done so far in Gauteng with regard to the implementation of municipal policing will also greatly assist us in speeding up the processes once the demarcation processes have been finalised. Through this programme we will ensure that we reclaim our cities and make them viable for business purposes.
The transformation of the SAPS is one of the major issues. The transformation process that we want to see should be able to deal with issues such as representivity, business practices and the new organisational culture within the SAPS.
The process of co-ordinating activities within the various units of the criminal justice system at provincial level will further ensure that we are project-driven and able to talk to one another from time to time.
The challenge facing our national Government and the provinces is dealing with public perceptions and, unfortunately, perceptions regarding those who hold public office, particularly with regard to the inability of the police to deal with crime. We are also faced with the problem of how to ensure that developmental programmes take on board the social crime-prevention issues. What matters most to us are the people from disadvantaged communities, those who have been victims of the bus and taxi violence here in the Western Cape. [Interjections.] Most of the people in these areas do not have access to information and, therefore, our education programmes must reach them. [Interjections.]
I want to reiterate that we have to address the conditions of employment of members of the SAPS, as well as the wages or allowances granted to them, in accordance with the sacrifices they make and the risks they take. I also wish to urge this House to put politics aside if we really want to make sure that we succeed. [Interjections.] All is not lost.
We will give support to the cluster and, more importantly, to those men and women in uniform. [Applause.]
Chairperson, hon Ministers, members of executive councils and members, this review debate is of great significance because it involves three Ministries whose area of responsibility and performance affects every person living in our country.
Although politicians and academics may abuse statistics to portray a situation to suit their individual purposes, it is no secret that our country is racked by crime, our judicial system is choked by backlogs, our prisons are bursting at the seams, and that our police force is underresourced and appears to be demoralised. Certainly, an honest assessment of the underlying causes of these problems is necessary, but the time for workshops or talk shops with no action has passed.
The hon the Minister of Justice made a vague statement today that magistrates are now working upwards of four and a half hours. Perhaps he will tell us what the actual average is. However, aside from wrangling over what the hours are, we need to ask: How did the situation arise? What is being done to correct it? How can we justify what is being spent on magistrates' courts if they only work slightly more than half a working day? Is the public getting value for money?
There were reports in the media yesterday that two alleged murderers walked free from a court in Pretoria as a result of bureaucratic bungling. The SA Press Association reports that the prosecutor could not find the docket and withdrew the charges. [Interjections.] The police now have to launch a manhunt to rearrest these people. In these circumstances it is not difficult to understand why the police are demoralised. These incidents and facts undermine the confidence of the public in the judicial system. The mere fact that organisations such as Mapogo a Mathamaga exist at all shows how far down this road we have already travelled. [Interjections.]
The standing of the courts was further undermined when an official of the ANC, Mr Smuts Ngonyama, accused the Supreme Court of Appeal of racial bias in the Boesak case. For the second time in a relatively short period the Chief Justice and President of the Constitutional Court had to rush to the defence of the judiciary.
Ironically, the Department of Justice has to grapple with fraud, corruption and criminality within its own ranks. The latest Auditor-General's report on the Department of Justice, for the year ending on 31 March 1999, revealed that R2 545 170 worth of warrant vouchers were fraudulently acquired and traded. This could not have been accomplished without the collusion of members of the Department of Justice. What needs to be done? Firstly, corrupt officials need to be rooted out. The country cannot afford to play the ANC's own particular brand of musical chairs, in which a corrupt official is merely transferred from one post to another or, after a few months out of the public eye, shows up in his old post as if nothing has happened.
Secondly, hands-on management is required. The department's problems will not be solved by simply throwing money at them. The Minister has to ensure that the money is being used for the purpose for which it is intended. There is no room for squandering and waste. The short-term, medium-term and long-term goals of the department must be attained. The Minister has to ensure that discipline is restored to the department. Magistrates and prosecutors must fulfil their duties diligently. Court backlogs must be brought under control. The public's confidence in the judicial system must be restored as quickly as possible.
In the briefing by the Department of Correctional Services we were informed that most of the escapes from custody occurred ... [Time expired.]
Chairperson, hon Minister of Safety and Security Mr Steve Tshwete, hon Minister of Justice Mr Maduna, hon Minister of Correctional Services Mr Ben Skosana, MECs and special delegates from provinces and fellow colleagues in the National Council of Provinces, I am, indeed, honoured to be participating in this debate this afternoon.
After the Ministers had spoken, I tried from the point of view of being a member of the ANC, to get words of wisdom from our fellow members on the other side, that is, the opposition, but I really drew few lessons. I heard some sense in what Mr Kent Durr said today, at least. All the others have been teaching us about statistics. They have been telling us about the failure of the Government, and have been singing the praises of criminals, telling the public out there that criminals will continue to hold this country to ransom because the Government is weak. I think we must not allow ourselves to be intimidated by the attitude of those hon members.
Allow me to join others in echoing my support for the Ministries, the departments and the Government at large for a job well done in re- engineering the criminal justice system to meet the challenges of making our beloved country, South Africa, a crime-free society.
Our support for the Ministers will never be complete if we do not equally give accolades to men and women in the Police Service, the justice system and Correctional Services who, under the most difficult circumstances, are unwavering in their commitment to making our country a crime-free society.
Indeed, the successes of this Government against crime must be attributed equally to the increasing support that the police continue to receive from our communities, from ordinary men and women in the streets of our townships. Accordingly, for millions of our people who were subjected to social deprivation for many decades, a new season of hope has dawned because, for the first time a child can report an indecent assault, for the first time a mother can report all forms of abuse, even by her spouse, and an ordinary citizen can report any form of corruption committed by any officer in the Police Service or justice system.
I do not think it is my duty to remind some of the speakers, particularly Mr Lever and company, that there never was a criminal justice system in this country before April 27, 1994. [Interjections.] What we had in this country before that particular period was a system of policing which was based on racism, a system that was based on the oppression of the black majority of this country. We are undoing this. In this process, the selfsame creators of the same institution come back and tell us that we are not doing enough. I do not think that we should be intimidated by this chorus of hopelessness.
Quite clearly, a culture of silence against crime, engineered for many decades of colonial rule, has been broken down in six years' time. It has been built over more than 40 years, since 1948 when the NP took over. In six years we have broken that culture of silence. People are able to report criminal offences to the police and relevant authorities.
The renewed confidence in the criminal justice system has not been brought about by speeches. I think we need to understand that and the MEC from Gauteng has alluded to it. It has been brought about by the concerted effort of our Government in partnership with our people. That is very important and critical - it was achieved in partnership with our people. We are engaging everyone, those who agree with us and those who do not agree with us, to say this is the line we want to take in terms of creating a South Africa which is free from crime. I am inviting the fellows from the Western Cape, in particular Mr Wiley, to join us in that particular march. [Interjections.] Whilst the prophets of doom continue with their chorus of hopelessness about the inability of Government to bring the levels of crime down in this country, our Government and our people are firm and unflinching in their resolve to combat crime.
Allow me to highlight some critical initiatives that the provincial government of the Free State is unleashing to maximise the capacity of the South African Police Service in combating crime in the province, through a provincial policing plan which is in line with the national plan. This plan entails the following critical action areas. The first is combating organised crime. The second is combating crime against women and children. Thirdly, the aim is to combat serious violent crimes. In the fourth place, the aim is to combat provincial priority crimes. In the fifth place, the aim is to enhance budget and resource management. Other aims are enhancing human resource management, enhancing basic service delivery to all communities, and enhancing transformation.
Having enumerated these programme areas, allow me to join the MEC from Gauteng to once again challenge the Western Cape delegate to tell us what it is that he is doing to combat taxi violence that is rife in the Western Cape. [Interjections.] What is it that he and his government are doing to ensure that there is no crime in Gugulethu and Nyanga, and that there is no crime in the entire Western Cape? [Interjections.] We want to benefit from that.
Whilst energy and resources continue to be harnessed against crime, the problem of the colour line remains an issue to be resolved by this country, particularly in the police service. This relates to the mind-sets and attitudes within the police service, the composition of the management structure, and their common commitment and loyalty to the country's ideal of a nonracial, transparent and efficient police service.
Whilst we appreciate the difficulties underpinning the transformation process in the police service, it should, however, be noted that the implementation of affirmative action is taking place at a very slow pace and this matter must receive attention. I would like to refer the Minister to a case at Bloemspruit Police Station next to Bloemfontein, where a junior black official arrested a senior white official for corruption, and this official was simply released on the directive of an area commissioner who happened to be white. I am not playing cheap politics here, I am relating a fact. [Interjections.] I am saying ... [Time expired.] [Applause.] [Interjections.]
Chairperson, I see knobkerries coming this way ... [Laughter] ... but I know it will be knobkerries of education, and not physical ones. First, just to respond to one or two points, and because I do not have much time to do that, there was a question on the meeting between the Directors-General of Correctional Services and Justice. Now I am informed ... The questioner is not here, so I do not know whether I should continue with this. I will do it for the sake of the House. I am informed that the meeting is ongoing and that it will continue next week, but the essence of the meeting which the member was asking about, was in fact to look at the possibilities of finding alternative accommodation in order to house those children who are in Pollsmoor and to transfer them to a place of safety, so as to alleviate the overcrowding there.
I am also informed that today at 14:00 there was a meeting between the Director of Public Prosecutions, the President of the Regional Court, the regional head and representatives of SAPS and Correctional Services, who also met with the MEC responsible for welfare in the Western Cape, just to look at how to implement the above efforts in order to mobilise assistance and resources. I must also add that it has become imperative that these efforts are replicated in other provinces where the plight of children and overcrowding are also in existence. It is not only in the Western Cape that this happens, and therefore this ought to be used as a pilot project to do so in other provinces.
Secondly, I want to respond to the question of understaffing or inadequate staffing. Yes, I mentioned that, that when it comes to escapes, one of the causes of those escapes is the inadequate staffing in some of our prisons. So we do suffer that problem which the other member mentioned. The question of overpopulation and overcrowding sometimes reminds me, especially when the criticism is levelled at us, of when I was growing up. Older boys would sit next to the road, and when one passed by, they would just call one and ask why one was so ugly, and then start slapping one around and hitting one for being ugly. Or sometimes one would stare in their direction and they would say ``What are you looking at?'' I am sure a lot of people have experienced that. Then they would slap one around just for looking in their direction.
Now, I want to say to hon Mr Wiley that the police have arrested people, and there is a figure of 37% of overcrowding in the prisons in the Western Cape. The police are arresting people. They are doing their job, arresting these people, and that member's police are doing that, which is a good job, and the courts are also processing these people. They must go to prison. I am responsible for prisons and therefore they are coming to prisons. I cannot tell the police not to arrest people now because the prisons are full. I cannot say to the courts not to do that to juveniles or children. I can only ask where there are other places where we can keep these people, but if they are supposed to go to prison, they go to prison, where we are responsible. I feel that sometimes I am simply being slapped for being ugly. The prisons are overcrowded and I am now responsible and slapped for being ugly. [Laughter.] [Time expired.]
Chairperson, I want to start with hon Mr Wiley. [Interjections.] [Laughter.] That hon member reports to this Chamber that a friend of his and his wife, both doctors, experienced a particular happening, a burglary in their surgery, and the police were not keen to take up the matter for investigation and, ultimately, prosecution.
According to what that hon member said, if we heard him properly, the matter is in his department. This is a typical example, of a man who has been given responsibility by this coalition of theirs here, to look after the safety and security of the people of this province.
There are constitutional structures that are in place, and that are supposed to be dealing with cases of the nature he was reporting for political gain in this House. There is the Independent Complaints Directorate, which is the appropriate body - not that little office of his - to deal with cases of insubordination and dereliction of duty on the part of police officers. He does not do that. He did not go to the ICD to report that this police officer had told his doctor friend that he was not going to take the case forward. [Interjections.] He did not go to the ICD. That is a constitutional structure that is supposed to be dealing with cases of misbehaviour in the Police Service. He did not do that, because, at heart, he is not interested in the proper policing in this province, and he has never been, from 1948. His obsession, right up to when he lost power, as a party and even himself as an individual, was to see massive deployment of soldiers and police, true to type of the NP in the apartheid era. That is what they believed in.
They never created any basis for proper policing in this country. They never did, for many years. He talks here with passion and makes a lot of noise about policing that he knows nothing about. He has never been associated with any culture of policing. [Applause.] It is for the first time ...
Madam Chair, I wonder if the Minister will take a simple question? HON MEMBERS: No!
Order! Minister, could you take your seat? You are not the Minister, hon members. The Minister will answer whether or not he will take a question. That is the Rule. Minister, are you prepared to take a question?
Madam Chair, I am answering the questions which have been asked in their major interventions. I am not going to answer any question right now, I am going to maul him, right now. That is my business. [Laughter.]
Order! I do not know if I will allow mauling.
Chairperson, he has never been, at any given point in time, associated with any culture of policing - himself, as an individual, and his party, as well. They do not have respect for the SA Police Service and they do not pay allegiance to it. They are using the issue of crime as a matter of salvaging the dying fortunes of their party. That is what they are trying to do.
He went further to say that he was recruiting, and that they are going to increase the police in his province here. Again this is pigeonholed and circumscribed to this little province, and he is saying that he is going to increase it to so many thousands. That is fine. At the end of the day, the policing in this country - and even the recruitment of the police - is the responsibility of the National Commissioner of the SA Police Service, the custodian of the SA Police Service; not the wiry Wiley somewhere in Cape Town. [Laughter.] That is his responsibility.
Even if the Constitution did allow him to do that and even if he had all the will to do it - to finance, as he is saying, from his own pocket and from the pocket of his party, that party is going to die before the end of this year. [Laughter.] That party has become a very fertile poaching ground for the DP.
What is going to happen to these thousands that he is financing? He is creating a situation similar to the one created by one of his friends in the Transkei, the UDM leader. He is misleading the police into believing that he is the person. And when he is gone, before the end of the year, what is going to happen to those thousands? They will be marauding around, creating problems. [Interjections.]
He has been asked a specific question here: What is he doing to resolve the bus-taxi problem here? He, again, wants to create criminals out of that situation. He was quoted in the media as saying that the police have been appealed to by the national commissioner's head office in Pretoria to go ``softly, softly, and softly'', because he is being used, and he has not denied it. He should have denied it because it was in the media, but he has not said a word to the effect that that was not what he said. In fact, he should have said it when he was making his major intervention here. He is interested in that massive deployment which was typical of the erstwhile NP. That is what he wanted to do, and to criminalise all those bus drivers and taxi drivers in that situation; and then he comes back to say that crime levels are rising here. He must not dare raise dust and thereafter complain that he cannot see. [Interjections.]
The problem around the bus-taxi issue is a political problem. [Interjections.] He is refusing to attend to it politically, because it is not in the nature of his party, and himself as an individual, to seek political solutions. It is not at all in his nature to do so. [Interjections.] And he is saying here that there is less urgency on the part of the three Ministers in dealing with these issues. Again, that is an indication of the mind of a person who is a total stranger to the truth. [Laughter.] A total stranger to the truth.
In June last year, the President said that we must create an elite crack force to deal with specified types of crime. Within no time, that force was established, and a piece of legislation giving it legal backing will be enacted before the end of this year. That is urgency. However, as a party they have been in power for more than four decades, but it never crossed their little minds that we needed, like other civilised countries have, done, a specialist unit to deal with cases of a particular nature, because all they were interested in was kitskonstabels [special constables], De Kocks, and the rest of them, to fight against people who were fighting for liberation.
Those kitskonstabels [special constables] are the very same people he was complaining about in our Minmecs. [Interjections.] What is he doing about these 30 000 people who are functionally illiterate? And he conveniently forgets that that is his own creation. They, as a party, recruited those people.
Order! I beg your pardon, hon Minister. Yes, Mr Wiley?
Madam Chairperson, the hon the Minister is misleading this House.
On what basis are you making this statement?
The Minister is accusing me of having trained or deployed kitskonstabels [special constables]. I had nothing to do with them. [Interjections.]
Order! Minister, will you continue.
And the issue of numbers in modern policing is not the issue. The issue, as Mr Wiley and his ilk should know, is technology. That is the issue today. They are still trapped in the twilight of the past. They are cheeky and they do not want to move out of that past. It is not numbers. In any other field that we are talking about, we are talking about technology.
It is precisely on that score that this Minister, the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development, and I went to the United Kingdom to explore ways and means of upgrading, technologically, the investigative capacity of the members of the SA Police Service, because it was never in the NP's scheme of things to introduce that when it was in power. All the NP gave them were these sjamboks ... [Laughter.] All they gave them were guns to skiet and donder [shoot and assault]. That is all they gave them. [Laughter.]
We are in a new era all together. Six years down the democracy line, we are talking about the transformation of the entire fortunes of the SA Police, including the manner of investigation and docketing. That is why we have the secretariat and the Independent Complaints Directorate today. It is because of the demands of the objective scientific situation in which we find ourselves today.
Numbers are not an issue. At any rate, even if we were to take the issue of numbers into account and project it to the fore, which is the NP's main obsession, South Africa is still fairing and comparing very well. We saw the statistics at our Minmec meeting which indicate the ratio of one police officer per the number of people in other countries and in South Africa. We are doing pretty well in so far as those numbers are concerned. We are going to strive to stabilise the SA Police Service at around 127 000 members, and there it shall remain. What we are going to do is step up the scientific and technological advancement of the members of the SA Police Service.
Unlike the Western Cape MEC, we rely on people, just like the MEC from Gauteng and, of course, other MECs. Even if he had a million men and women to police the Western Cape, he would still contend with the problem of crime, as long as he is not mobilising the one major resource against crime, and that is the people of this province. The MEC does not have the capacity to mobilise them because he has antagonised them for a long time. He cannot go to Langa, Khayelitsha, or Mitchells Plain and mobilise those people, because his party is a skunk, it smells, and it is repugnant in the nostrils of the people of the Western Cape. [Laughter.] That is why he cannot place any reliance on mass mobilisation against crime. He cannot do that which is an open sesame to a successful vanquishing of crime.
He should mobilise the people and the schoolchildren against drugs. He should mobilise the communities against buying stolen goods and thereby turning themselves into lucrative markets for thieves. He should mobilise the people. However, it is not in the NP's nature as a political party to mobilise the people. He should just forget about it.
Furthermore, even his friend is poaching their people. He is gone now. [Laughter.] [Interjections.] Oh! there he is. He belongs to the DP which has become the dumping pit for all elements that cannot accept change or transformation in this country. [Laughter.] They find their way into the DP, which is an abbreviation for dumping pit. [Laughter.] He is making a statement ...
Order! Hon Minister, could you take your seat, please.
Chairperson, on a point of order: when referring to all animals, is the Minister talking about the people or citizens in this country? Who is he referring to when he says ``all animals''? [Interjections.]
Animals like you.
Order! Hon Minister, it is not parliamentary to refer to members as animals.
Madam Chair, I said an animal like him, not that he himself is an animal. [Laughter.]
Order! It is not parliamentary. Please withdraw the remark and do not use it again.
I withdraw the remark.
Are you withdrawing?
I am not. [Laughter.]
Order! The Minister withdrew his remark. You should have been listening.
Chairperson, his friend says that the SA Police Service is demoralised. He is another stranger to the truth! He is living somewhere on the moon, not on this planet. If the SA Police Service ever enjoyed a moment of high morale, that time is now. We are with them day and night, in the rain, in the heat, and they are there. That is why the numbers of arrested criminals has risen to a point where that Minister has to contend with the problem of overcrowding in prisons. It is precisely because of the high morale among the members of the SA Police Service.
The NP and the DP want to demoralise them. They are shouting in this House and in the other one that there is demoralisation in the ranks of the SAPS. That is a blatant untruth. There is nothing of the kind. Their morale is high, and those parties are not going to succeed in demoralising the members of the SA Police Service. There they are in the gallery. [Laughter.] [Applause.] They are not going to demoralise them. They want to demoralise them, because they are waiting anxiously in the wings for a moment when we will not be able to overcome crime in this country. Every success that the police officers are achieving is driven right down to the bottom of their hearts like an iron nail, causing their ventricles to bleed profusely. Every time there is a major breakthrough, they become worried because they have nothing to say - they have no politics. There is no demoralisation in the SA Police Service. That is ... [Inaudible.] [Interjections.]
The issue of the underresourcing of the police started with them. The state of police stations in Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha and Motherwell in PE - that colonial setting - was created by this vociferous loud-mouthed NP we hear today. [Laughter.] They created that over a period of 40 years, consistently doing that kind of thing. They think that within six years - only six years - we can magically turn around the situation. We cannot do that. It is said that any mule - like the NP - can break any door anywhere, but that it takes a good carpenter to repair one. We are the carpenters. [Laughter.] [Applause.] We are repairing the doors that they broke. We have in place a budget of approximately R995 million to attend specifically to those colonial shacks that they left when they lost power in 1994. We are rebuilding those police stations.
In the course of last year alone, over 30 new police stations were built in this country. [Applause.] We are in the process of building those police stations, and we are going to ... n[Interjections] ... How many did the NP build in over 40 years in power? [Laughter.] They built nothing. They left nothing. We are starting from scratch. In fact, we are not starting from scratch, but from a total zero. Scratch is better because there is something that one can call scratch. [Laughter.] There is absolutely nothing. It is a void. We are starting from a void.
Order! I am afraid your time has expired, hon Minister.
It is a pity. [Laughter.] [Applause.]
Order! Well, I am pleased to see that the Minister was able to revive the members of the NCOP into some life. [Laughter.] Mr Ackermann, the debate on this Vote has been concluded.
Chairperson, on a point of order: Corporal punishment is unconstitutional. The Minister threatened my MEC with a cane. [Interjections.] I want your ruling on that. [Laughter.]
Order! That is not a point of order. [Laughter.] Could I have some order in the House, please. Could hon members leave in an orderly manner. You are disrupting the proceedings of the House.
Debate concluded.