Deputy Speaker, crime is part of the social ills accompanying the progress of modernity. Whilst the police have the fundamental responsibility to protect lives, especially those of the elderly, women, children and people with disabilities, other portfolios in government have a vital role to play in creating a social environment that is not conducive to criminality.
The Departments of Arts and Culture, Basic Education and Social Development, as well as trade unions and religious bodies, have a critical role to play in building a new person for a new Africa where the elderly, women, children and people with disabilities do not have to live under siege of violent crime.
Poverty, inequality and unemployment, in the context of breakdowns in family and community cohesion, are breeding grounds for the declassed or lumpen elements. The physical and cultural violence of white minority rule bequeathed the democratic state a people with a damaged psyche and social organisation.
The APC believes that we should place a sustained and vigorous focus on the social reorganisation and mobilisation of the majority to restore their full sense of being, as well as strengthening the lives of families and communities to promote respect for the elderly, women, children and people with disabilities. I thank you.