Hon House Chairperson, Minister of Police, Minister of Justice, Deputy Ministers present, Members of this august House, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Chairperson, as South Africa and the world celebrates the birth month of our first democratically elected President, Nelson Mandela, we are reminded by his words that:
Our daily deeds as ordinary South Africans must produce an actual South African reality that will reinforce humanity's belief in justice, strengthen its confidence in the nobility of the human soul, and sustain all our hopes for a glorious life for all.
Chairperson, the preamble and the founding values of the Constitution assert human dignity, the achievement of equality, and the advancement of human rights and freedoms. These were not values forced on those who negotiated the Constitution on behalf of the ANC, nor was an entrenched Bill of Rights. They were demands made by the ANC as enshrined in the Harare Declaration of 1989 which provided that a new constitutional order for South Africa be based on certain principles.
These principles included the principle that all shall enjoy universally recognised human rights, freedoms and civil liberties, protected by an entrenched Bill of Rights. The department of Justice and certain entities linked to Budget Vote 21 play a critical role in the criminal justice value chain. These include: The Special Investigating Unit, SIU, which investigates maladministration and corruption, the National Prosecution Authority, NPA, which prosecutes the offenders, and the department which provides administration for the courts that adjudicate over these cases.
President Ramaphosa, in his inaugural state of the nation address made a commitment to urgently attend to the leadership issues in the NPA to ensure the stabilisation of this and other critical state institutions, to enable them to perform their mandate unhindered and intensify the fight against state capture and corruption. In this regard, a new National Director of Prosecutions, Adv Shamila Batohi, was appointed in February 2019 to lead the NPA's revival and to strengthen the fight against crime.
However, the NPA is faced with budgetary issues with the bulk allocated to compensation of employees and operations received only 10%. There is no room in its budget for additional capacity. The NPA has lost approximately 650 prosecutors since 2015-16 and has a 20%
vacancy rate among its prosecutors. This is higher in the specialised units such as the Asset Forfeiture Unit and Specialised Commercial Crime Unit.
These play an essential role in fighting commercial crime and corruption. This situation is clearly not sustainable. Without enough prosecutors, the criminal justice system will not function effectively. We welcome the establishment of an Investigating Directorate within the NPA, which will deal with serious corruption and associated offences. This reaffirms the ANC's commitment to uprooting corruption and all it manifests.
We appreciate that the department has made an amount of R37 million for the Investigating Directorate to begin its work. The President further emphasised the need to ensure that public money stolen is returned and used to deliver services and much-needed basic infrastructure to the poorest communities. We welcome the establishment of the Special Tribunal to fast- track civil claims arising from SIU investigations, which are currently estimated to be around R14,7 billion.
The Minister of Justice has indicated that rules will soon be promulgated to enable the specialised tribunal to function
effectively. Chairperson, in light of our international commitments, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognises the right of access to justice as a fundamental human right and together with the sustainable development goals see this as a realisation of other human rights.
Section 34 of our Constitution provides that, everyone has the right to have any dispute that can be resolved by the application of law decided in a fair public hearing before a court or, where appropriate, another independent and impartial tribunal or forum. Chairperson, we are pleased that the Department of Justice is making strides to increasing access to courts in previously marginalised communities.
Though with a limited budget and delays in infrastructure implementation, it will be imperative for the committee to conduct oversight in various provinces, to ensure that the department places access to justice at the forefront of its activities. The most critical aspect of ensuring the effective functioning and modernisation of the criminal justice system arises out of the National Development Plan, NDP, which prioritises the implementation of the Criminal Justice System Seven Point Plan to achieve its
vision of building safer communities, and the Minister has just described the system.
In 2018, the department reported on plans to implement an Integrated Criminal Justice Strategy, ICJS. The strategy seeks to address the silo approach of the relevant departments and entities in the criminal justice system in order to strengthen co-ordination and cooperation within the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security, JCPS, cluster.
This will further save on costs as this will result in a more integrated approach. Chairperson, women are in a state of constant fear of violence and abuse. Last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa called a Presidential Summit on gender-based violence and femicide where he declared gender-based violence and femicide a national crisis. The President also emphasised the need for the criminal justice sector to devise strategies to address this.
We welcome the Department of Justice's inclusion of Femicide Watch in its Annual Performance Plan, APP. The Femicide Watch will ensure that there is accurate and comparable data collection on femicide and this data will assist law makers and government officials to tackle femicide through targeted prevention and investigation
resources. Our committee will therefore closely monitor that all the departments within the criminal justice sector develop strategies to render efficient services and effective support to survivors of gender-based violence in all provinces in South Africa.
Chairperson, we must restore the confidence of our people in our institutions by taking strong and decisive action against those who act contrary to the law and the Constitution. The ANC condemns any act of criminality by any members of the law enforcement agencies, more so those committed by senior SA Police Service, SAPS, and justice officials.
We expect senior officers and officials to lead in the fight against crime. We welcome ongoing efforts by law enforcement agencies to deal with corrupt officials in their midst, but we need more urgency and decisiveness. The Department of Police Vote 23 has a budget of R97,5 billion with at least 51,1% of the budget being allocated to visible policing. Visible policing is critical at this time in South Africa, when the country is facing extreme instances of gangsterism, drug abuse and the use of illegal weapons.
Nyanga in the Western Cape remains the murder capital in South Africa with 308 murders having being reported in 2017-18 which
represented a 9,6% increase from the previous year. To address this in the Western Cape, in November 2018 the antigang unit was established and the President, this month, agreed to deploy the SA National Defence Force, SANDF, to the Western Cape Province to address the upsurge of gangsterism.
SAPS has also identified 30 crime hotspots as the Minister have alluded in his budget statement in order to meet the Presidents challenge to halve crime within 10 years. These 30 high crime weight stations include 16 in Gauteng, seven in the Western Cape, five in Kwa-Zulu Natal, one in Mpumalanga and one in Free State Province. In addressing crime within our communities, SAPS has to work with communities and particularly, the Community Policing Forums.
It is only through working with communities that criminals and gangsters will be identified and arrested. We do not take our oversight responsibilities lightly and will ensure that SAPS progressively minimises crime over the next five years. In achieving these priorities, the department has to ensure that it is effectively resourced.
SAPS is aiming to achieve a police-public ratio of 1:220. The department has also indicated that the 5000 police trainees that
were enlisted in the 2017-18 financial year, will complete their training in December 2019 for deployment to the operational environment, primarily at local policing level. In 2019-20, an additional 7 000 police trainees will be enlisted to capacitate the operational environments.
The committee welcomes these developments in the Department of Police as it is evident that SAPS is taking the task of halving crime in 10 years seriously. However, the department needs to ensure that all police officers are adequately trained and resourced and, in particular, that SAPS officials have the necessary vehicles on a provincial basis to ensure that it is effective in fighting crime. We are encouraged that the department is dedicated to making the police professional and increasing community participation as these are critical cornerstones in policing and in realising the NDP goals.
Chairperson, the committee had the opportunity to engage the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, DPCI, or more commonly referred to as the Hawks. The 2019-20 budget allocation to the DPCI is R1,7 billion. The Hawks are instrumental in addressing corruption and ensuring that those responsible for engaging in corrupt activities are arrested and subsequently prosecuted.
To ensure a sense of financial independence, the funds of the DPCI are ring- fenced in the Appropriations Act, meaning that funds must be exclusively used for the functions of the DPCI. Chairperson, in tackling corruption, we need our departments to be well resourced, independent and well functioning. More importantly, we need all the relevant Departments to work together to tackle corruption. The select committee will consistently conduct oversight to this end.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate, IPID, contributes to building safer communities as outlined in the National Development Plan and ensures that all people in South Africa are and feel safe. The IPID received a main budget allocation of R336,7 million in the 2019-20 financial year. IPID has intensified the fight against corruption, fraud and maladministration conducted by the members of the police service.
IPID has achieved significant success but encounters many challenges, which includes amongst other things, inadequate funding and resources. Chairperson, despite these challenges we welcome IPID's commitment to working with the NPA and their continued investigation of high impact cases. IPID's successes include securing 91 criminal convictions, having referred 1 989 cases to the NPA for prosecution and securing 207 disciplinary convictions.
We look forward to our continued engagement and oversight over this critical directorate. In conclusion, Chairperson, we welcome the commitment of these departments to ensuring that their programmes are aligned with the NDP goals, the state of the nation address priorities and the fight against corruption within the criminal justice sector. The select committee, having considered the Budget Votes 20, 21 and 23 supports the budget and recommends that it be approved. [Applause.]