Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, hon Ministers in our midst, hon colleagues, members of the SA Police Service, officials from the Department of Police, fellow citizens, good day.
In honour of our forebears, who in June 1955 defied the powers that be by gathering in Kliptown in an unprecedented democratic assembly, the real congress of the people, that has brought into existence the Freedom Charter, we are enjoined to translate the clause, "there shall be peace and stability", into reality.
In the place of the undemocratic dispensation of the past, we have established a people's government. The previously voiceless cannot be silenced now. Organs of the people's power are operational and effective. Today policing is not only the sole concern of the powers that be, but a joint venture of the community and government.
Allow me to move from the general to the specific. Since its inception, the ANC-led government under the able leadership of different Ministers of Safety and Security - it is now named the Ministry of Police - have come up with progressive interventions.
In his state of the nation address, President Zuma emphasised the necessity to reduce crime within the framework of this budget. We note that the ANC Reconstruction and Development Programme, RDP, introduced new thinking in the sphere of policing. The RDP derives its strength from the philosophy and principles of the earlier work as evident in a document called Policing the Transition. It is in this document that crime prevention continues to gain popular dominance at present.
Later in 1996, government departments adopted the National Crime Prevention Strategy and the White Paper of 1998 affirmed preventative measures with regard to crime. Crime prevention strategies require the members of the police to be visible in local communities to ensure that crime does not occur.
Our budget as a political instrument for policing must ensure that the number of police officials on the street continues to increase. The past 15 years is marked by enormous progress in the area of crime prevention. The question is: How best can we sustain quality policing services?
In answering this question, we are saying as the ANC that the budget must ensure appropriate infrastructure and police stations, an increase in the number of police officials to patrol the streets, adequate numbers of police vehicles which are in good condition and that other forms of police patrol must be encouraged and sustained.
However, the longstanding view of the ANC is that crime prevention cannot succeed without the involvement of communities. It is not just the number of the police officials alone that can help combat crime. It is with this background that the ANC identifies the centrality of the community in crime prevention.
In the debate on the President's state of the nation address, Minister Nathi Mthethwa said:
We have an ongoing responsibility to improve our capacity to prevent crime before it is committed. However, no police organisation can be everywhere every time, nor is there a police service that can predict every possible incident of crime.
The partnership momentum emanates from the fact that effective crime prevention requires co-operation between the police and the community, because crime cannot be prevented by the police alone, as I have already stated.
This reasoning of the ANC recognises that communities are responsible mostly for the successes of criminal prosecution. Crime prevention and combating should be seen as a partnership between the police and the community. It is community members who act as witnesses in the community at crime scenes, lay charges and make statements at police stations, testify in courts and assist the police in the execution of their functions and duties. The ANC's thinking has to pervade policing and government practices and commitment on crime prevention.
The second programme is visible policing, whose purpose is -
To enable the police to institute and preserve safety and security and provide for the specialised intervention and policing of South Africa's borderline.
The police received a bigger chunk of the budget, with crime prevention receiving the biggest share of the chunk. Considering the budget allocation for the programme and its subprogrammes, the department's target of reducing crime by 7% to 10% is quite reasonable.
The process of implementing sector policing in 169 high contact crime police stations began in 2002. Since then, only 78% of these police stations have sector policing being fully implemented. On average only 13% could be achieved in each financial year. What mechanism does the department have in place to ensure the implementation of the remaining 22% in the remaining few months - that is before the end of the financial year?
The ANC manifesto has identified crime and corruption as priorities in the next five years. It has a specific focus on certain categories of crime such as violence and contact crimes. The 2008 police statistics have shown that crime levels have declined in relative terms. It is, however, noticeable that some contact crime tends to take on a violent form. In this regard, law-enforcement agencies and community policing need to be strengthened, as suggested by the ANC's manifesto and later affirmed by the President's state of the nation address on 3 June this year.
According to the manifesto, among others, in the next five years government should put more emphasis on mobilising communities to participate in combating crime through establishing street community courts and establishing community police forums, mobilising young people against crime implementing and visible policing programmes to recruit more police. It is through these multidisciplinary approaches that we can succeed in the struggle against crime in a manner that is preventative and measurable.
Judging by the complexity of the problem, community involvement becomes central in the prevention of crime. There is a need to strengthen community police forums with the view to promoting community involvement in order to accommodate the needs of victims, witnesses, parolees and the police. There is noticeable progress in partnership momentum, but, as evidenced in the department's current financial year, some police areas still need functioning community police forums. Perpetrators of violent contact crimes are known to their victims, hence it is necessary to emphasise community involvement against crime with particular emphasis on youth activism against crime.
The ANC's 52nd national conference called for the need to expand the role of community police forums and community safety forums to empower them to play a meaningful part in the safety and security of communities; to establish uniform constitutional regulations for the community police forums; to legislate the establishment of community safety forums; and to ensure equitable distribution of police resources between the townships and suburbs and between urban and rural areas - including training and literacy programmes intended to upgrade the skills of members of the police.
Communities are witness to crime in local areas, hence we need to prevent crime and expose criminal networks. In order to deter criminals from crime, community and police partnerships should be strengthened and this implies the integration of effective policing. The ANC supports the budget. I thank you. [Applause.]