Those that are responsible for air- condition; there is contingent interest here, others are getting hot flushes and others are cold now. [Laughter.] We will see how it is
handled. Let us allow the hon MEC now to participate in the debate. You may continue.
Mr T M KAUNDA (KWAZULU-NATAL MEC-POLICE): Hon Deputy Chairperson, the Chairperson in absentia, the Ministers present, Deputy Ministers, hon members of this House, special delegates who are also present, the National Commissioner of Police, Senior Management of Police, heads of various government entities, ladies and gentlemen, and the South Africans, good afternoon.
It gives us pleasure as the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government to participate in this South African Police Service Budget debate today. Let me make it plain from the onset that as the provincial government, we welcome the SAPS Budget Vote 23 as tabled by the Minister of Police in the National Assembly on the 11 July 2019.
Hon members, this Budget Vote is in line with the manifesto we presented to the people of South Africa in the run up to the general elections on 8 May 2019. In that manifesto, we called upon the people of South Africa to rally behind the ANC to grow South Africa together, to address the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality.
In making this call, we were informed by our historical mission of building a united and democratic South Africa that is non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous. A South Africa that belongs to all who live in it, as outlined in the Freedom Charter, our founding document for the progressive constitution and the National Development Plan.
Indeed, hon Minister, the plan you have presented is testament to our commitment to ensure that we reclaim our country, streets and villages from criminals who terrorise our communities. You were unequivocal in your message that this country does not belong to the criminal syndicates and drug cartels, but to all the law-abiding citizens. Your Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement also gave hope to the people of South Africa that the noble goals outlined in the National Develop Plan, NDP will be realised of ensuring that:
"By 2030, people living in South Africa should feel safe and have no fear of crime. They are safe at school, at home, at work and they enjoy an active community life free of fear. Women can walk freely in the streets and children can play safely outside. The police service is a well-resourced professional institution, staffed by highly skilled officers who value their work, serve the community, safeguards life and
property without discrimination, protect peace against violence and respects the rights of all to equality and justice".
However, we would like to caution that police alone, will never be able to achieve this vision. Therefore, the participation of the community through their crime-fighting structures is critical in this regard. It is for this reason that we will continue to call upon the people of South Africa to partner with government and the police in the fight against crime by participating in community crime fighting structures in their streets, villages and wards.
In KwaZulu-Natal, we are taking this approach a step further through a Masakhane campaign that we will soon be launching. This campaign will focus on instilling positive societal and family values. We hold a view that part of the reason why crime is so rampant in our society, is because we have allowed the erosion of family and societal values. For us to win this battle against crime, we must go back to basics and build strong family structures. Therefore, this campaign will go a long way in ensuring that our communities don't have families that continue to produce hardened criminals who rape our women and children, murder innocent people and destroy public infrastructure.
Hon members, we are encouraged by the commitment the Minister of Police has shown in tackling head-on some of the crime challenges troubling our province. You will recall that in the run-up to the local government elections in 2016, KwaZulu-Natal experienced an increase in the murder of politicians. This subsequently led to the establishment of the commission of enquiry into the murder of politicians by the provincial government. We are pleased that great strides have been made in implementing the recommendations of the commission.
One of the successes we have achieved, through the intervention of the Minister, police and the ministerial committee, is the arrest of the suspects who are implicated in these murders. We commend the police for their sterling work in arresting 174 suspects implicated in 170 cases in our province. This is inspiring and as the province, we want to make a call that police must be afforded space to discharge their responsibilities without any fear or favour. No matter whom the suspect is; be it a politician, a business person or anyone holding any high position in society, the law must take its course.
Chairperson, school safety has become a major concern in the country and in the province, and the incidents of crime we have witnessed
recently in schools are shocking and indicative of a sick society. The attack and killing of staff teachers and administrators and the violence among learners themselves are an indication that a lot more needs to be done to make our schools safer places. We are therefore pleased that the Minister has placed the issue of school safety, high on his agenda by issuing an instruction that station commanders must adopt schools and ensure that their members are deployed to such schools, especially those that have become prone to violence.
As the Department of Community Safety and Liaison in KwaZulu-Natal, we have partnered with the Department of Education in a number of initiatives to fight this scourge. Amongst those initiatives is to convene a summit to deal with violence in schools, which will be held in September. Some of these initiatives are also aimed at ensuring that we mobilize committees to take ownership of the schools so that they are able to protect those committees that exist in those schools. One of the initiatives is to attach crime prevention volunteers to schools so that they too can assist in alerting the police on time if interventions are needed, before any incidents escalate into violence.
Hon Chairperson, the proliferation of illegal firearms, drugs and alcohol are major drivers of violent crime in our communities. The
murders that we continue to witness in our communities are committed by illegal firearms. In most cases, drugs and alcohol are at the centre of rape and gender-based violence that bedevils our communities. We therefore commend the Minister for taking practical steps in ridding our communities of illegal firearms. As the KwaZulu-Natal, we are fully behind the move to approach Cabinet to consider a firearm amnesty period with a view of reducing the number of illegal firearms and provide firearm owners with the opportunity to hand in their unwanted firearms.
Hon chairperson, as we introduce all these measures to fight the scourge of crime in our communities, we must be mindful of the fact that criminals are also having sleepless nights, pondering and orchestrating fight back strategies, as Thomas Sankara had this to say:
"You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future"
Therefore, as we embark on this journey to create a crime-free society, we must remain focus and be combat ready. Our people expect
nothing else from us as public representatives but service delivery, guided by the new spirit of Khawuleza, we must move with speed to respond to the needs of our people.
Hon members, as the ANC, we strongly believe that fighting crime requires a holistic approach that takes into consideration the socio-economic conditions of our people. It is a matter of public record that South Africa is one the most unequal societies in the world as the majority of its people were excluded from participating in the mainstream economy. We are pleased that in his Budget Vote, the Minister has introduced measures to support youth and women- owned businesses. This is in line with our radical socio-economic transformation programme.
Chairperson, since the advent of our democracy, we have spoken of socio- economic transformation in all our plans from the Reconstruction and Development Programme, RDP, Growth Employment and Redistribution Strategy, GEAR, to the National Development Plan, NDP. Today, we are talking about accelerating the pace of transformation across our society, but most importantly in the mainstream economy. We are saying the state must use all its levers, including its buying power or procurement, to increase the involvement in the economy of the majority of Africans in particular
and blacks in general. More than before, we are resolute and unapologetic in our determination to ensure that our economic participation reflects the demographics of our country.
In the Department of Community Safety and Liaison in KwaZulu-Natal, we have transformed the lives of workers who were providing cleaning services through a service provider. The department assisted them in registering as a co-operative and they received a certificate which confirmed that they can provide the service on their own. The department outsourced the cleaning service to these women through their co-operative.
Therefore, we would like to commend the Minister for opening up business opportunities for women and youth in areas such as vehicle, maintenance and food arrangements at police holding cells. This initiative will go a long way towards improving rural and township economies. It will also contribute in addressing the issue of youth unemployment in our country.
Hon members, the world is undergoing massive digital transformation and as a country we must be at the centre of this Fourth Industrial Revolution. We therefore support the commitment by Minister of
Police for setting aside dedicated funding to improve technology that will drastically reduce all priority crimes.
In KwaZulu-Natal, we are planning to host a crime colloquium that will feature academics among others. This colloquium will discuss crime challenges guided by academic research and other evidence- based knowledge institutions. We are also going to use this platform to explore the use of technology in the fight against crime to align ourselves with the developments brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
As the provincial government, we are also investing huge financial resources in improving environmental design by upgrading our road infrastructure, particularly in rural and township areas for better policing. Chairperson, fighting crime is a collective responsibility. Therefore, let us all put hands on deck to fight the scourge of crime and build a safe, peaceful and prosperous country. I thank you. [Applause.]