Thank you, Chairperson. I'm told I must behave. I am no longer a chairperson but a Deputy Minister, and I will behave.
Hon Chairperson, hon Minister of Police, my comrade Tat' uMthethwa, all Ministers and Deputy Ministers who are here to support us today, my chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Mrs Sindi Chikunga, the National Commissioner of Police, Ntate Cele, and your team and all your provincial commissioners, Members of Parliament, ladies and gentlemen, I am filled with a sense of gratitude to deliver my maiden remarks in my capacity as the Deputy Minister of Police.
It could not be more appropriate than during this year when our President, the honourable Zuma, declared government's commitment to job creation.
As a Ministry that is indirectly responsible for job creation, we will play a vital role in ensuring that we create an enabling and safe environment for businesses to flourish and for South Africans to feel safe and secure, irrespective of where they are. This is our commitment and our vision.
We are cognisant of the fact that crime networks have grown in their reach and sophistication across national boundaries. To us as South Africans, the 2010 Fifa World Cup event once more confirmed our belief in collective effort in the fight against crime.
The challenges and negative perceptions that were peddled by some negative prophets of doom, those who sought to discourage people of the world by claiming that South Africa would not succeed in hosting a secure tournament, have failed. There was never a Plan B, Plan C, or even a Plan X or Z. We did it. We had a very successful soccer tournament because of the men and women in blue.
We understood their concerns about crime, but we kept our eyes and minds focused on the challenge at hand. When we began in earnest with our preparations, we did not ignore these concerns, but ensured that we did not get distracted and remained firmly focused.
In order to attest to that, the outside world believes that South Africa, the people or the community of South Africa, are safe because of the kind of men and women we have providing security in the country. The fact that National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele will be leaving tomorrow for Equatorial Guinea with a high-profile delegation of the Security cluster members, where they are tasked with providing security for the heads of state during the African Union summit that will be held there within a month from today, shows the confidence the world has in us as South Africa. [Applause.]
A number of complaints, especially from widows of police who passed away, have been received about the delay in pension payouts. The National Police Commissioner has undertaken to reduce the period of finalisation to three months; they used to wait for more than four years for the payout of pensions. Work is already under way to remove the current bottlenecks in the value chain of pension payouts. This involves other key role-players like the Government Employees Pension Fund and the SA Revenue Service, which will assist in the forward integration of systems to expedite pension payouts.
The department, through the leadership of the National Police Commissioner, also approved an increase in the stipend payable to entry-level police trainees, from R1 600 per month to R3 175 per month, with effect from 1 October 2010. This substantial increase in the stipend is aimed at improving the quality of life of police trainees and at offering an improved incentive to prospective applicants to the SA Police Service.
Yiyo loo nto xa sisamkela abafundi abafuna ukuba ngamapolisa sijonga ukuba umfundi uphuma kwikhaya elinjani na ngokwesimilo kwaye uphila njani na nabahlali ekuhlaleni. Ubupolisa ayingomsebenzi nje, lubizo olufuna ukuzinikela emsebenzini. Olu bizo lufuna amadelakufa, amadoda nabafazi abanyanisekileyo nabazinikeleyo ekukhuseleni ilizwe lethu. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[That is why, when we approve applications of students who want to be police officers, we look at the kind of family in which they were raised, in terms of respect and the way she or he interacts with the people in her or his community. Being a police officer is not just a job, it's a calling which needs dedication at work. This calling needs bold, honest and dedicated men and women to protect their country.]
As agreed to by hon Groenewald, that is the kind of police officer we need. We are committed as the department and the Ministry to making sure that we have the best police officers in the country.
The SAPS strives to make being a police officer a career of choice and excellence, not just another job. The SAPS is focusing on moving away from being a single-point decision-making authority towards involving the community in recruitment through structures such as community policing forums - as my chair has said here - the relevant NGOs, schools, churches, etc. The reason we mention schools, churches, etc, is because when we decide that we are taking so-and-so as a student into the Police Service, we need to consult with all these stakeholders to make sure that we are not recruiting a criminal.
During the 2011-12 financial year, the SAPS will appoint 6 168 entry-level police trainees and 1 452 administrative support personnel. The focus of these new appointments is to address capacity shortages of analysts, detectives, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations environment, and to address backlogs in investigations and to improve service delivery. The recruitment of these personnel members will focus specifically on quality, not just quantity.
The department will embark on a process of identifying role models within the community, who can assist the SAPS in communicating specific messages to the broader community relating to the Police Service's strategic priorities. One way of achieving this would be for communities to provide information on criminals to the police and vice versa in order for the police to be proactive in investigations. The government has been clear in its gender and equity representivity requirements, as alluded to by Minister Nathi. To this end, the SA Police Service will, as part of its transformation drive, advance its women empowerment programmes. Continued efforts will be made to promote gender equity by developing and appointing women to management posts. As we have seen, that has already been done by the National Commissioner by appointing two strong women to high-ranking posts within the Police Service.
In addition, we will endeavour to achieve the 2% target of people with disabilities. Some time ago, when I was still a chairperson, I visited the Northern Cape, specifically their 10111 centre. I was impressed to discover that 90% of the people responsible for the 10111 service were disabled people. I hope that we all copy that province and do the same. [Applause.] Improving the gender ratio has been prioritised by the National Police Commissioner and his team. He has instructed top management at all levels to ensure continual improvement in the gender equity ratio as a matter of utmost priority. As the leadership of the Police Service, we believe there are lots of capable women within the department, and we shall continue to drive women advancement through the SAPS Women's Network.
We also need to take this opportunity to highlight the SA Police Service's endeavours to move towards having 50% women representation in leadership. Currently, we are at 32,3% with regard to women in leadership positions, and we are striving towards 50%. As the Minister pointed out, we need to ensure increased representation of women in operational and specialised environments. This is a duty that must be carried out by the management of this department. As the leadership, we remain confident that it will be achieved.
In order to ensure collaboration amongst departments in the justice, crime prevention and security cluster, the SAPS must continue to ensure active participation in the interdepartmental forums which have been established across various spheres of government. To mention but a few, Police Service teams are active in task teams dealing with child justice, sexual offences, child care and protection, child labour, human trafficking, domestic violence, restorative justice, victim empowerment, social crime prevention forums and community safety.
The SAPS is finalising a youth crime prevention manual which will guide police stations on the partnerships they need to engage in to ensure that young people build resilience and are resistant to crime. We are expecting Members of Parliament to visit police stations in their constituencies, instead of them running around and getting obsessed with the National Commissioner of Police.
The partnership between the Department of Basic Education and the SAPS continued in the course of 2010-11 and resulted in a draft protocol between the two departments being developed. The school safety programme requires that we go to the schools, have a look at those programmes and forget about Bheki. Bheki is doing what he is supposed to be doing. [Laughter.] The school safety programme addresses both the immediate safety concerns of school communities and provides a platform for the SAPS to contribute to education as a long-term investment in safe and sustainable communities.
New offences such as those relating to sexual activities of consenting under-age children, grooming of children, engaging the sexual services of adults, and trafficking for sexual purposes are examples of matters that require consolidated efforts. We also need to know that the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development is also considering reviewing the relevant legislation on the issues I have mentioned because of ukuthwala. We know that in some areas of this country, there are children as young as 12 years old, who are raped by men who say bayabathwala, ngabafazi [they are taking them as their wives.] You can't have an umfazi [a wife] who is 12 years old. Continued support will be provided to the Department of Social Development for the drug-demand reduction programme. This programme involves all departments and targets communities, parents, young people and other networks of support to people who are vulnerable to the abuse of substances. It is aimed at reducing drug and substance abuse. For example, we support the call by the Minister of Social Development, the hon Dlamini, to increase the legal age for liquor consumption from 18 to 21.
The SAPS has signed a memorandum of understanding with Business Against Crime SA, Bacsa, which focuses on service delivery improvement at community service centres and 10111 centres. Other business communities continue to assist the Police Service in the fight against crime by sponsoring crime- related projects, for example crime reporting boards, Soul City, Primedia, Vodacom, etc. I also acknowledge the fact that we have two high-ranking gentlemen from Vodacom, who have come here to support us during this Budget Vote debate. We all have an obligation to deal with the perceptions of crime and build a positive image of South Arica.
Likewise, since the 2010 Fifa World Cup, communities now believe that we have the ability to deal with crime in South Africa. These positive perceptions by our people, especially in rural communities, are supported by the consistent decrease in many areas of crime, including murder and aggravated robbery.
We, as the SAPS, need to speak to the crime statistics, patterns and tendencies and decreases in crime in the context of where communities live. We can no longer dare to generalise about crime levels as if South Africa is unsafe, no matter where, as communities, we live or travel. It is very funny that we say we are not safe in South Africa, but the world out there feels very safe to be guided by South Africa with regard to security. We must provide speedy reaction ...