Madam Speaker, Deputy Speaker, President, His Excellency, the Deputy President, hon members, fellow Ministers, Deputy Ministers, some of us did not visit Robben Island to understand what place is it. We spent some years there. We did not go there as visitors. [Applause.]
Receive our greetings this afternoon in the name of safety and security of the citizens of South Africa. In this new dawn, His Excellency, the President of the Republic of South Africa, the
hon Cyril Ramaphosa, posed a fundamental question to this august House in his state of the nation address and said; "what type of South Africa do we want?"
He furthermore gave marching orders in ushering this new dawn and said;
Talking time is over, it's time for action - let's implement.
Let's maybe try to work towards that going forward. Madam Speaker, therefore, in creating the South Africa that we want, a thorough prognosis and understanding of the current status quo is equally important in order to determine the strength of the manpower, machinery, technology and partnerships needed to formulate a convincing and realistic response to the priorities, and fundamental goals as directed by the President.
The Justice, Crime Prevention and Security, JCPS' collective approach in responding to the service delivery agreement of ensuring that the people of South Africa are and feel safe will
be intensified and operationalized to meet the target of reducing violent crimes to half in the next decade, increase police visibility, improve human capital investment, prioritize gender-based violence and femicide programmes. This is in line with the National Development Plan Vision 2030 that; people living in South Africa should feel safe at home, at school and at work and that they enjoy community life without fear, women walk freely in the streets and children play safely outside and in the gardens. Mr President, this is one priority that you made a call for, and we are determined to achieve it.
Unfortunately, I did not hear the hon member Groenewald as he was speaking about the farmers because I left the House to go and see the family at the Lavender Hill where the police was gunned down and killed at 4'o clock this morning. So, this violence that you are talking about is something that we feel everyday, it's something that we experience, it's something that we touch and it is something that we are a part of. So, we can't dilly-dally around it. We need to put all the efforts regardless of political affiliation, colour or anything because once it comes close to you, you understand it better. So, the call that
you made should be to all South Africans and not just to the ANC members and not just to the government, but to all South Africans.
In the new dawn, our policing approach will align with the new crime patterns of enhancing resources in combating economic crimes, in stabilising the troubled trucking industry in transport and the zama zamas which are notorious in mine hijackings. Last year, these zama zamas, took R41 billion out of the economy. So, it is nothing but economic sabotage and we really have to work on it and make sure that South African money goes where it's supposed to go - to all South Africans. But also, the truck hijackings, truck stoppage crime that is in the transport industry, tax industry, and all that will have to work together and harder.
The specialised focussed policing will also extend to support the specialised task teams focussing on political killings, police killings, high profile killings, high profile cases and taxi related killings. Madam speaker, the fight against corruption is currently intensified. The Hawks are making
serious inroads in economic crimes and we are witnessing significant arrests in this regard. To date, we have 1800 dockets which have been submitted to the National Prosecuting Authority, NPA for determination. They are dealing with corruption in the Republic of South Africa. [Applause.] That is why the determination will have to be made. So, we are pushing on this one.
The plans to fully capacitate the unit with sufficient resources and relevant manpower are underway. To this end, a detective academy will be established to strengthen the capacity and training of new detectives and specialized investigators. Co- operation between prosecutors and investigators through prosecutorial guided investigation will be intensified to improve the success rate of all priority cases. Moreover, the project of the establishment of specialized courts will be enhanced in order to promote the effectiveness and efficiency of the criminal justice system.
Hon members, the continuous report of alleged police corruption is receiving attention, hence we are enhancing the capacity of
the watchdog bodies in this regard. The process of the appointment of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, IPID head is currently underway. In responding directly to the scourge of gangsterism, the Anti- Gang Unit will be elevated to a national division and other specialised unit will be introduced. This unit will extend its mandate in dealing with other fear crimes that are terrorising our communities. These include murder, rape, car hijackings, house robberies, house burglaries and cash- in-transit heists.
The success rate of the 72 hour activation plan is gaining momentum. This plan mobilizes maximum resources to ensure that preliminary investigation is done thoroughly and to guarantee that no evidence is lost and perpetrators are expeditiously brought to book. This was done at the backdrop of the spike in cash-in-transit heist which dropped drastically in 2018.
Crime trends are global in nature; therefore our efforts to enhance international relations will be strengthened. Our active participation in INTERPOL Programme is yielding positive results in fighting transnational crimes and terrorism. Extensive
technological advancement in the fight against crime is crucial. The JCPS cluster departments will set aside dedicated funding to improve technology that will drastically reduce all priority crimes. Automated systems will be introduced in certain environments to improve efficiency. The world revolves around technology and no country will succeed in the fight against crime without significant investment in technology, within the spectrum of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Hon members, community participation in the fight against crime is crucial in achieving any of the set targets, as we all agree that violent crimes are a social problem. The extent of the brutality in most contact crimes such are murder and rape, abuse of drugs, alcohol and gangsterism indicates the extent of social decay that needs a collective approach to resolve.
The cluster is currently implementing the Community Policing Strategy and Communities in Blue Policing Concept, which is aimed at re-affirming the government's commitment to building safer communities through community policing partnerships, and to further operationalise the concept of community policing with
a view of stimulating active citizenry and citizen participation in the fight against crime. Crime and violence in schools is on an alarming rise and is a growing phenomenon that needs to be handled and dealt with decisively through our school safety plan with long term solutions.
Gender-based violence is unacceptably high in South Africa which inhibits women's ability to enjoy rights and freedom on the basis of equality with counterparts. The Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit, FCS, becomes extraordinarily important. There are currently 183 FCS Units which creates a specialist investigative environment to deal with gender-based violent crimes including sexual offences, with a focus on serial rape-related cases.
Furthermore, the police have established 1 047 dedicated victim friendly facilities at police stations countrywide to accommodate and assist. I heard the hon member Chirwa saying that there is no special focus on these. There is a lot hon member. We can sit down and talk and invite your input because we take this one very serious.
In financial year 2017-18, the FCS unit has achieved 692 life sentences and out of 3 234 dockets, we have sentenced those people to 30521. We are very scared Mr President, that the correctional services of South Africa will be soon be full lifers. We are putting a lot of lifers there that are in the scourge of working on abusing women.
Lastly, the question of gangsterism and criminality cannot be achieved by the police alone. We are facing a serious problem in policing when it comes to something called environmental design. I had somebody talking about a paradise Western Cape. There is no paradise Western Cape here. [Interjections.] Join me, join me, and let's go to Khayelitsha ... [Interjections.]