... as if you were from Mars. Already 806 victim friendly facilities that provide support to rape victims and victims of sexual offences and domestic violence were established in police stations throughout the country. By the end of this financial year that figure should increase to 881 centres.
We have the Domestic Violence and Child Justice Acts in place. The Department of Justice has established Thuthuzela Care Centres and specialised courts to deal with sexual offences. Still, crime against women and children will remain a priority on the ANC agenda.
When the Hawks were established, the doomsday choir came together and predicted that the Hawks, would come to nothing. The truth is that the Hawks in the short period of their existence, have had a significant impact on specifically organised crime. Numerous big arrests were made for drugs.
I want to mention just a few of these drug-related arrests for the period April to December 2010. In August 2010, they discovered 166 kg of cocaine in the Port Elizabeth Harbour.
In December 2010, in Durban, 316 kg of cocaine was discovered and seven suspects were arrested in South Africa with further arrests in the United Arab Emirates, with more drugs, firearms and money found in the possession of those suspects.
In December 2010, in what was the largest consignment of cocaine ever found in South Africa, 1,7 tons of cocaine, with an estimated street value of R515 million was found in Knysna and five people were arrested.
It was said that the Hawks would not be able to investigate corruption, that they would be too scared. General Dramat and his team proved their resolve to deal with corruption without fear or favour. In the same period, the Hawks, in conjunction with the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, probed municipalities and arrested 106 people for corruption - amongst them 60 public officials.
In other corruption cases, a further 165 arrests were made. Many of their cases involve senior public officials and some very prominent individuals. But equally important are the arrests the Hawks have affected in crimes that impact on ordinary South African lives. Here the example that springs to mind is the arrests this week of bogus doctors practising in areas where the poorest of the poor go for services. This is what differentiates the Hawks from their predecessors. [Applause.]
Hon President, we welcome your focus on drugs and drug-peddling during your address. Substance abuse is destroying the very fabric of our society. It is destroying the cornerstone upon which it is built, namely our family structures. We also need to look at drug or substance abuse not merely as a crime, but as a contributing factor to crime.
Substance abusers do not start out as criminals, but more often than not they become criminals, at first being involved in petty crimes and later more and more serious and violent crimes in an effort to keep up their habit.
Mr President, we call on the government to come together and to intensify and improve existing measures and implement new measures, where necessary, to ensure a holistic, integrated approach on how to deal with this. We should look at all aspects of it, the social aspects, the rehabilitation and the criminal aspects. Drug and alcohol abuse have the potential to undo the progress that we as a nation have made.
Hon President, the ANC believes that significant progress has been made in the fight against crime. There are still challenges such as a need for further improvement in the quality and quantity of our detectives. We must determine how many detectives we need and then make sure that we get that number and retain it. Training and discipline remains a challenge. Corruption within the criminal justice system needs to be dealt with with resolve.
We want to commend the Ministers in this cluster for the decisive way in which they are dealing with corrupt officials and ask them not to let go of those reins. We need to speed up the revamp of the criminal justice system, and for the parliamentary security cluster, the implementation thereof will be a priority this year.
Hon President, we believe that the ground is now fertile to start addressing those core issues that contribute towards crime. We should now focus on these issues and address them through co-ordinated programmes.
The fight against crime can never be government's fight alone. As a nation, we should also now come together to fight crime. We need to liberate ourselves from crime and the effects of crime. We need to lead from the front and not wait for the police alone to do it. As a nation, we need to come together and unite as we did during the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
Let us stand up and stand together. Become activists against crime: Do not buy a pair of sunglasses or a watch that we know can never sell for that price. Ask yourself the question about what happened to the original owner.
Let us rid our houses, the clubs and the shebeens that we frequent, our streets and communities of crime by informing the police about known criminals and suspicious activities. Let us change our own attitude to crime. Let us do what is right, the right way at the right time. We must now have the courage and the determination and the will to become the nation that we can be. I thank you. [Applause.]