House Chairperson, it is both appropriate and timely to amend the Criminal Procedure Act, Act 51 of 1977 to allow for the forensic procedures to be applied at a crime scene. Cope will support this amendment.
It is our considered view that we must do all in our power to make sure that we capacitate the police in the fight against and combating of crime. Therefore, the amendment today is a tool that is appropriate in capacitating the police in order to make sure that they combat crime and keep a database of criminals.
We all already heard that the Department of Home Affairs has 31 million fingerprints in their database. We already heard about 6 million in the National Traffic Information System, eNaTIS, which the Department of Transport has in the database. We already heard that 2,5 million fingerprints belong to foreigners. But one thing that continues to worry us is that when we talk about the database and we talk about the fingerprints, we do not continue to look at an integrated way of dealing with crime and organised crime.
We continue to be concerned about organised crime, particularly about the data on organised crime and the information that is not kept. We have in our country today many experienced and organised syndicates who come from other countries, but we don't have a database. So we believe that dealing with the amendment of this Act will go a long way in addressing that particular weakness.
Experience has shown all over the world that forensics play a central role in the combating and investigation of crime, particularly fingerprints and all other things that go with it. However, we know that in all the attempts that we need to make, there is always going to be a place where the buck stops.
We believe that the amendment of this particular Act will also begin to give the police, including the commissioner, the power to say what will happen to those who are going to be letting things fall through the cracks. This is where the buck stops. Now that we have this tool, we must make sure that it remains a tool to make sure that the police are capacitated.
Cope won't be found wanting when it comes to the issue of supporting the work of the police to make sure that the police combat and ... [Interjections.] We will not be found wanting; we are going to support this amendment Act. We have already indicated that we are supporting it.
Therefore, the only thing that Cope will not associate itself with is the rhetoric of "shoot to kill". The shoot to kill rhetoric is that one thing that we say we do not associate ourselves with.
We associate ourselves with the tools that make sure that the police fight crime and make sure that it is combated. We want to particularly raise the serious matter of serious organised crime syndicates that are operating. It is a matter that must be looked at and measures must be found as to how we can make sure that we keep a database of those particular criminals so that we are able to make sure that we combat them and nip them in the bud.
Therefore, we know that supporting this Amendment Act brings us one step closer to dealing with organised crime. We know that by supporting this Act, the police will be one step ahead in making sure that they defeat corruption and crime. Today, the debate and subsequent approval of this Act squarely puts the responsibility on you, Minister, to make sure that the work is done.
We will support this amendment. We are supporting it because we know that it is a necessary tool to fight crime and make sure that our people feel safe wherever they are. I thank you. [Applause.]