Chair, hon Minister, Deputy Minister and other Ministers, hon members, heads of the services, ladies and gentlemen, not so long ago we went into the towns and villages of our beloved country, campaigning for the elections. My organisation, the ANC, took it upon itself to emphasise the fight against crime and corruption by ensuring that in its manifesto fighting crime and corruption became one of the priorities.
The ANC in its manifesto said that -
Fighting crime and fighting the causes of crime will be a priority of the ANC government in the next five years, and there is a need to overhaul the criminal justice system, to ensure that the levels of crime are drastically reduced. Corruption must be stamped out.
The ANC government will:
. Establish a new, modernised, efficient and transformed criminal justice system to develop the capacity for fighting and reducing crime in real terms. Government will review the functioning of the police, judiciary and the correctional services to achieve integration and co-ordination.
. Actively combat serious and violent crime by being tougher on criminals and organised syndicates. In this respect, we will increase the capacity of the SAPS through recruitment, rigorous training, better remuneration, equipping and increasing the capacity of especially the detective services, forensics, prosecution, judicial services and crime intelligence.
. Establish and strengthen the new unit to fight organised crime.
. Provide greater support for the SAPS, especially to combat attacks on the members of the SAPS, including through introducing legislative measures to protect law enforcement officials in the execution of their duties.
. Combat violence and crimes against women and children by increasing the capacity of the criminal justice system to deal with such violence.
. Mobilise communities to participate in combating crime through establishing street committees and community courts, amongst others.
This was informed by the obvious increase in rural crime and crime against poor people. When law-abiding citizens are under siege from criminals and corrupt elements, they have nowhere else to run to for help except the state. When poor people no longer feel safe in their homes and women and children are abused, they look to the state for protection. A state that fails to protect its most vulnerable members will have failed embarrassingly in its role to deliver services.
The role of the Ministry of State Security, the former Intelligence Services, in this regard will be to ensure that necessary information is provided so as to forewarn the frontline departments in the fight against crime. Criminals have adopted advanced strategies, and in the past they clearly showed that they were a step ahead of some government strategies for combating crime and corruption.
As a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, I have no doubt that the committee will commit itself to ensuring that the government improves on its fight against crime and corruption.
Countries that have relied solely on technology have failed to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the intelligence gathered. Events like 9/11 have clearly taught us that there can never be a successful intelligence service that excludes members of the community when collecting information. Intelligence officials must leave their offices and walk the streets to interact with members of the community.
As the ANC, we have made a commitment to our people to fight crime and corruption by ensuring that state departments are co-ordinated and assist each other to deal with this monster. The ANC supports the budget. Thank you. [Applause.]