Chairperson, hon Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Members of Parliament ...
... maloko a mantle a ANC, [... honourable members of the ANC,]
SA Communist Party, Cosatu and Sanco ... [Laughter.]
Baagi naga ka bophara, ke a lo dumedisa. [Citizens from the length and breadth of our country, I greet you all.]
The Policing the Transition document of the ANC recommended that the SAPSs' capacity be strengthened through training to ensure more effective, investigative and technical skills so that our police would effectively perform their duties in the fight against crime and corruption. This position was later reaffirmed at the 2002 Stellenbosch National Conference.
In 2009, the ANC manifesto proposed that the forensic capacity of the SAPS be strengthened in order to help combat organised crime. The manifesto argues that in order to combat crime there is a need to establish a modernised, efficient and transformed criminal justice system.
This is to ensure increased capacity for fighting and combating crime, thus promoting a co-ordinated and an integrated approach to crime. In this regard, the manifesto prioritised the fight against crime and corruption. It articulates for the enhancement of police capacity through vigorous training on forensics, in particular, to capacitating detective services and crime investigation.
Similarly, the review of the criminal justice system has revealed the need to strengthen the forensic investigative powers and capacity of the police as a priority. South Africa has no specific legislation regulating the collection of fingerprints and similar evidence. There is a need to improve all the laws governing fingerprints and other pieces of law.
The Bill contributes to law enforcement policing through detections and making use of forensic evidence collected from crime scenes. This Bill is at the centre of the philosophy of partnership between the police and the community in the fight against different categories of crime.
In terms of the Bill, an expanded fingerprint capacity is an intelligence tool, particularly in crimes where detection is generally low, such as property crimes, and can lead to a significant increase in suspect-to-crime- scene matches. The Bill emphasises that fingerprints are used not only to prove guilt, but also to prove innocence.
The Bill relates directly to constitutional rights such as equality before the law; human dignity; freedom and security of persons; privacy; children; and arrested, detained and accused persons.
This Bill extends the police's powers not just by strengthening their own database collection and extending the capacity to store fingerprints of more than a limited number of convicted persons; it also enables the Criminal Record and Forensic Science Services of the police to have access to the databases of the Departments of Home Affairs and Transport.
Clause 1 amends the heading of Chapter 3 of the Criminal Procedure Act to ensure that the provisions thereto are not limited to accused persons only. The new section provides for the definitions of "authorised persons", "body prints", "child" and "comparative search".
The new section 36(B) provides for police powers in respect of the taking of fingerprints of accused and convicted persons. It provides for the compulsory taking of fingerprints from certain categories of accused persons and for the retention of such prints. Members are advised to read these amendments because of time constraints.
The Bill has a strong constitutional and political undertone. Politically it appears to strengthen forensic investigatory methods in order to promote the state's capacity to fight crime. There is a need to strengthen economic and political capacity of the developmental state in order to implement the current Bill appropriately in line with the national democratic revolution.
The state's capacity to collect and store fingerprints, body prints and photographic images is of vital importance to ensure accountability, the rule of law and social cohesion. The state's forensic power to fight crime should not suddenly be subjugated to a facilitating role, which would elevate the role of private forensics, as this often presents a risk to state power and national security due to the lack of accountability of such companies.
New scientific methods for crime fighting, information technology and confidential databases should be in the hands of the state as an institution which is accountable to its citizens. Our police must be equipped through training in forensic matters relating to the crime scene, as prescribed in the Bill, for public confidence in them to be strengthened.
In this regard, the police's existing forensic laboratories need to be strengthened and rolled out for all local police stations to have easy access to them so as to ensure that forensic services are consistently deployed at crime scenes.
This calls for community education on the forensic role after a crime has been committed to ensure that victims and witnesses of crimes do not unknowingly temper with the fingerprints, body prints and other evidential information at the crime scene.
In conclusion, this Bill is long overdue to strengthen our fight against crime. We believe that through this Bill we will be able to arrest criminal suspects, reduce court backlogs, improve conviction rates and combat crime. The ANC supports this Bill. Thank you.