It is, therefore, clear that the police must be highly trained, highly disciplined and mentally prepared to tackle this huge task, because it is not a small task. The budget must be adequate to meet these basic requirements, especially the protection of the inhabitants of the Republic. Any government that cannot protect its citizens is not worth being called a government. [Interjections.]
In the limited time allocated to me, I will deal mainly with detective services, the forensic science laboratory and crime intelligence.
The budget of R7,6 billion for detective services is not only inadequate, it is also the source of all problems in fighting crime. This is compounded by the forensic science laboratory, which is in actual fact on its knees, to put it a better way. Somebody said it is in chaos, but I want to be polite, and say it is on its knees.
A retention strategy is urgently required in this section. I know what the problems are. [Interjections.] One of the problems is that you must develop a retention strategy. If you train people, but you don't pay them enough, they are going to be taken away.
Inadequate budgets and detectives that are not properly trained affect almost all departments of the JCPS cluster. You know, the issue of the training of detectives has been talked about since the nineties. Everybody was saying that it was important for us to make sure that we have trained detectives. Even now we discover the budget does not accommodate that. I must say I welcome the statement made by the Minister now about the training of detectives, and also about the forensics laboratory.
But my question to you, Minister, is: Looking at the budget, where are you going to get the money towards this good thing that you are talking about? Because we welcome it, but where are you going to get the money to do it? [Interjections.]
The prisons, for example, are full of awaiting-trial detainees. That is a problem of not having highly trained detectives and having limited numbers of detectives. You need more detectives, you need highly trained detectives, as you have said. I welcome that. But that is urgent, Mr Minister.
Increase the number of detectives and make sure that they are properly trained. This thing of one detective handling over 100 dockets, some of them close to 400, is a recipe for disaster. We cannot have sufficient detectives if they are handling more dockets than they are able to handle properly.
It was announced during the 2009-10 Budget Speech that R5,4 billion had been set aside for spending over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework period towards the overhauling of the forensic science investigation and part of the criminal justice review. Mr Minister, this has become very urgent, like you said. Go for it, broer! [brother]! Do it now! [Interjections.]
Crime intelligence is one of the most critical agencies with regard to the combating and prevention of crime. [Interjections.]
If you don't tell them to shut up, Chairperson, I will tell them to shut up. [Interjections.]
Let me repeat this for the Minister to hear ...