Madam Deputy Speaker, hon Ministers, Deputy Ministers, MPs and guests, the document on the reconstruction and development programme speaks about, among other things, the democratisation of society and people- driven needs.
The voters have spoken, through the inputs of the ANC branches that represent the aspirations and hopes of their communities, irrespective of political affiliations. The Budget speaks to the people's needs, the ANC's 2009 election manifesto and the government's priority programmes.
This paper will focus on crime prevention, policing and health, explaining why the appropriation is relevant. What is common in these two departments, SAPS and Health, is that they both have a high capacity for job creation, caring and patriotism, and are labour-intensive. The correlation between the two departments is that a person has to be physically healthy to join the police force.
In outlining the ANC's strategic approach to crime, in our 2009 strategy and tactics documents we state that:
The battle against crime cannot be separated from war and want ... specific mind sets and historical conditions drive elements of crime problems ... the network of crime has grown in their reach and sophistication across national boundaries - this includes syndicates that deal with money laundering, human smuggling as well as drug trafficking and abuse.
The government is addressing those issues. The ANC will never abandon its mass mobilisation towards crime prevention and protection of people, communities and their properties. The strong community policing forums, which emanated from our Stellenbosch conference resolutions, and again emphasised at the Polokwane conference, showed these effects, because the residents have such a lot of confidence in the policing forums.
This is because the policing forums do liaise with the communities and relevant stakeholders, and they are also able to detect anti-social behaviour in the communities and report them to relevant structures.
On top of this, we are strengthening this with our street committees, which actually act as a neighbourhood watch. They know who lives within the areas and in the neighbourhood; and as a result, they can easily detect criminal elements among themselves and report them to the police and the policing forums.
Through these structures, we can even strengthen the community courts. In rural areas and in villages we also need to mobilise the implementation of safety plans under our traditional leaders. The hon Minister of Police is also involved in meetings with the farmers, trying to resolve the issue of crime in that sector.
The National Youth Service Programme should involve youth in the massive programme of community policing safety, which includes night patrols to instil discipline among the youth as well as the value of serving and protecting the community and public property.
We thank the President for the appointment of General Bheki Cele at the helm of the Police Service. He is doing exactly what everybody in this House wants. He is changing the mindsets and promoting professionalism and discipline within the institution, which will earn the police the respect and confidence of the community. This goes further with proper training and the investigative eye of the police.
We should remember that re-enlistment of former senior police officers in this regard means those who are fit to do the work. One should not cry foul when members from the former police services are turned down, because we really need fit people, who will still be able to do the job. This is a very good programme. We wish that the fit, former police officers would come back and join us in the prevention of crime.
The implementation of a single Police Service is long overdue. We appreciate the announcement by the Minister of Police during the Budget Vote debate on 6 May 2010 on this subject. There should be co-ordination of police services for effective policing, under the control and management of the office of the general of SAPS.
There should be co-ordination of the criminal justice system, so that police investigators and prosecuting officers can ensure that some cases are not thrown out of court because of fragmented processes and technicallities. We should also strengthen the Independent Complaints Directorate to ensure compliance with the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act and that SAPS is doing as recommended.
There is also the integration of border controls, to ensure the prevention of transnational crime and the security of the country. The Department of Finance has to fill its 22 vacancies of the 97 964 posts, as at September 2009, in order to effectively fulfil this and its other core functions. The strengthening of forensic capacity is also recommended as mentioned in our 2009 election manifesto.
We know that we have the trio which will make us effective in tracing all those crimes through the assistance of forensic investigation and integrated Information and Communications Technology, ICT, utilisation. The intergovernmental co-operation under this co-ordination should also be strengthened in order to prevent and combat cyber crimes.
The number of posts in SAPS, as at 31 September 2009, according to the figures that we received yesterday, was 192 240; and the vacancy rate between 2009-10 stands at 3,5%. This translates into 6 869 posts. All these vacancies are at the lower levels of between one and six. These levels are supposed to be the levels at which poverty and unemployment are meant to be alleviated, as they are occupied by unqualified personnel and low-ranking police officials. It is really necessary and imperative that those people out there who are able to do the job effectively should be employed and those posts should be filled because they don't need any documentation.
Reference has been made to corruption, and the strategic plan of the Department of Police is indicating that the prevention, detection and investigation of corruption within the departments will be a major focus. I do not dispute the fact that the Public Service Act has shown that many of the suspended cases have gone long beyond 60 days, and this has led to fruitless expenditure in the department. Hon Minister, this really needs proper attention.
Under health, hon members, I will be talking about what the Freedom Charter says concerning health for all. It commits the government to promote the health schemes under the state, free medical care and hospitalisation, with special care for mothers and children. We are focusing on primary health care.
It should be noted that in South Africa, the first and most significant policy for health promotion appeared in the ANC's health policy document. It recognised the power of health promotion in promoting the lives of South Africans and in its vision for primary health care. It was endorsed by the White Paper and the National Health Act of 2003 as a strategic approach for ensuring an accessible, affordable and efficient health system with full community participation and intersectoral collaborations.
We have seen achievements towards that, with health facilities closer to communities. There are still areas without basic facilities, but with the human settlement programmes, at last services will be where the people are. The use of mobile clinics in remote areas should be seen as an interim measure, as it has already proved to be unreliable.
Through the establishment of clinic committees, hospital boards and public education, the communities will understand the importance of attending local health care centres and clinics instead of going to hospital for minor and chronic treatments. Instead of waiting for death to occur at any public institution and then running to the media, let us all make it our duty to address our constituencies and our political parties about the importance of attending local health centres.
This is where the Millennium Development Goals on reduction of child mortality and improvement of maternal health starts. It starts right at the clinics. Many of the deaths relating to these two goals happen due to the lack or sometimes underutilisation of resources, which include HIV/Aids and mother-to-child transmission.
The ANC-led government is actively addressing the issues of inequality in health systems, improving quality of care, public facilities and human resources. The Declaration of Alma-Ata committed members of the participating countries to health for all by 2000. One of the principles of this promotion was to emphasise primary health care. This means providing appropriate services to the people where they are and within the communities. HIV remains a threat in our country. The ANC has committed itself to working hard towards the target of cutting new HIV infections by half by 2011 and ensuring that 80% of those infected have access to ARVs. We salute President Zuma, the hon Minister of Health and others for leading by example, when they confronted all perceptions and stigmas attached to the pandemic. The ANC will continuously mobilise the people to practice safer sex.
With the involvement of faith-based organisations, we will definitely achieve what we want to by making sure that the moral fibre of the community is upheld.
The South African National Aids Council, Sanac, has been revived and is looking at the strategies that will address the fight against Aids. HIV prevention is well-resourced within the government departments, for example, the Social Services Developmental Co-ordination Programme addresses, with other departments, the HIV prevention programmes.
I can only mention the caregivers' programmes, which are under the Expanded Public Works Programme, and others focusing on HIV awareness, condom distribution and male circumcision.
The Comprehensive National Insurance Plan will address the review of hospital revitalisation, and will be looking at the maintenance of the existing facilities. Human resources development is an issue. We are hoping that the departments will come up with a human resources development programme that will address the high vacancy rates. This will include the opening of nursing colleges.
We all know that, as a profession, nursing was associated with poverty alleviation, because students used to receive salaries whilst training. This then had a positive economic impact on their families.
We have all the oversight tools to make sure that the budget is going to be used for the purposes that it is intended for. The Constitution expects all of us to call for accountability. The people out there know what they want, but depend on us to get it. Let us not fail them.
As a committee we debated so well today, which shows that all those members of other parties who attended the hearings of the Standing Committee on Appropriations understand exactly what we want.
We are inviting members from the FF Plus to attend one day. They should understand that we are here for equity and not just to promote one sector of the community. The ANC's aim is to transform the imbalances of the past. Let us all agree that everybody should get a better life. With the assistance of everyone here, we are going to achieve whatever we want - equity and equality for all members of the South African population.
With these words, we invite all those members who took part in the debate today and supported the budget to please attend the committee hearings so that they can understand what the Standing Committee on Appropriations stands for; or they should at least ask for the documents containing the terms of reference of the committee. The ANC supports the Bill. I thank you. [Applause.]