Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister, MECs, special delegates, and hon fellow delegates, for us as delegates from the rural provinces, normal life goes hand in hand with nature conservation and the preservation of our wonderful range of game species and their protection against ruthless criminals.
Two nights ago on the evening television programme 50/50, information shared indicated that, during the past year alone, ruthless criminals have brutally killed 75 rhinoceros to fuel their greed for illegal income from the international trade in contraband rhino horn. Particularly encouraging is the proactive efforts to curb this form of crime in our country, together with plans to nullify the profitability of the trade in rhino horn by all stakeholders.
I refer to this type of crime and the fight against it to highlight another highly distressing crime in the rural areas, namely farm attacks and the brutal murder of farm dwellers, both farmers and farmworkers. Information from the Minister's own office is that in the same period that 75 rhinoceros were killed, no less than 794 farm attacks occurred, during which a devastating 86 farm dwellers were murdered in South Africa.
One must ask what is really being done by the police to stop or, at least, reduce such murders, especially if compared with a very commendable and wide-ranging measure implemented to curb the slaughtering of rhinoceros and game poaching. Since 2006 - more than four years ago and even more Ministers ago - the DA has been urging the government to introduce a visible crime prevention unit to replace the commandos which were unilaterally disbanded and removed from the rural areas.
Many promises have since been made in regard to an increase in visible police presence and the deployment of reservists in rural areas. Of this, very little has come thus far. On the contrary, whilst cities and urban areas are flooded with police and SAPS vehicles, smaller towns and rural areas still suffer from a shortage of infrastructure and particularly crime- combating vehicles.
I often drive past the SAPS depot in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, where a multitude of brand-new SAPS vehicles have been parked for many weeks now, unmoved and gathering dust, to the point where it is no longer clear whether these were white vehicles or perhaps grey, brown or black. I am happy to today hear from the Minister that under his leadership new measures have been instituted, and we wish him well in this endeavour.
However, I must ask, Chairperson, how the Minister explains such a build-up of unused reserve vehicles in the face of a severe shortage of transport to facilitate the important work of the police in the rural areas, whilst he is embarking on increased security measures in the same areas. When will the police be properly empowered to do their work in the rural provinces, and when will we see a working solution to combat crime in our farming communities?
Whilst speaking of Mpumalanga, let me highlight another problem that is sorely hampering the effective work in that province, my province. I am referring to the moving of the SAPS provincial headquarters from Middelburg to Nelspruit. This move must, of course, be supported from the point of view of having the SAPS head office in the capital of the province, but then better forward planning would have been expected from the department. When you move a head office, you make sure that you don't have debt that you leave behind. You make sure that plans are made in the new quarters where the head offices will be housed, and you make sure that everything is in place.
My information is that the offices that were occupied in Middelburg have long leases, and they are now standing empty. In one instance, a new building was built with a 21-year lease secured by the SAPS, and it is now standing empty whilst some of the police officers in Nelspruit are working from the corridors of the offices. Estate agents tell me that they are inundated with calls from SAPS officials asking for accommodation somewhere in Nelspruit.
Let me end, Chair, by going back to the problem of rural security and refer you to a document - and I hope that the Minister has actually studied and read what I will refer to now before he embarked on his own measures. That is the strategy of the DA, as outlined by our leader, Premier Helen Zille, on 6 April 2010. In that delivery, she emphasised strategies that we proposed. You see, that is the normal reaction, but the ANC continually says that people should not criticise but come up with plans. When I put the plan on the table, a senior officer of the ANC laughs.
However, Minister, I hope that you are listening. The measures that we ask you to introduce, and please give me a minute, are measures to strengthen stressed sector policing in the rural areas, the establishment of a specialised border and rural safety division, the establishment of rural intelligence centres, the facilitation of sufficient resources for SAPS stations, rural safety initiatives and the creation of the posts of divisional commissioners to co-ordinate and lead these structures.
Time constraints have stopped me from going into the details of these, but it is available for anybody to study and, after all, Chairperson, as I said, we are not here to criticise only; we offer a solution. I hope you have read it, Minister. Thank you. [Applause.]