Chairperson, hon President, hon Deputy President, hon members, it is, to use his own words, simply shocking that in his state of the nation address the President hardly mentioned the one thing that all South Africans have at the front of their minds every single day - Crime.
A few token references to crime here and there and then, as if out of nowhere, the bombshell announcement that violent crime will be halved in 10 years without even a hint of irony or an actual plan as to how this mammoth task will be achieved. It appears from his speech, Madam Speaker, that the President is
more concerned about bullet trains than he is about the bullets taking the lives of innocent South Africans every single day.
While the President is dreaming his dreams millions of ordinary South Africans are having nightmares. Nightmares of being, attacked, robbed, raped or murdered. These South Africans are our mothers and fathers living in the northern areas of Port Elizabeth and Elsies River right here in Cape Town. They fear that their children, on their way to school or guarding cars outside a mosque like 12 year old Aswin Jansen, may be mowed down in a hail of bullets fired from one of the more than 800 guns stolen from the police and wielded by a gangster who was put back on the streets by the very criminal justice system designed to protect these children.
They are our grandmothers like Nomangesi Peter from Luqoqweni village who, in 2013, was kidnapped, tortured and paraded naked before being killed. Our Gogos are too old to defend themselves from serial rapists and murderers who target these vulnerable women in rural villages and towns because they know that the
chances of being caught by a formidable police force are slim to none.
They are our farmers and farm workers from the former Transkei to Thoyandou who live in constant fear that they will be next because the ANC- led government does not treat rural safety as a priority.
These nightmares are not the imagination of some fictional characters living in some fanciful futuristic country. These are real stories about real people, Mr President. They are experiences grounded in the harsh reality of millions of South Africans sitting at home looking to this Parliament and their President for hope that they can one day live in a safe country. They want to live in safe Cities, towns and villages and not smart cities, town and villages, Mr President. They want to live without fear when they go to work or school.
They want to go to bed knowing that criminals lurking around outside their homes will get caught and that they will be locked up. Surely this is not too much for them to ask. The fact that
there was absolutely no mention of rural safety in the state of the nation address demonstrates just how out of touch this ANC- led government is and how little it cares about rural safety.
In KwaMlaza village in the Port St Johns Municipality, for example, violent crime has led to villagers fleeing their homes after nine people, eight of them women, have been hacked to death or raped and then killed in the past five years with no single prosecution.
In this village the people have given up hope in the police who appear to operate on a catch and release basis - allowing violent criminals to walk amongst their victims. Every other day we read about our farmers, our farm workers and their families being brutally attacked, and more often than not, tortured by violent criminals.
In May this year, Tool and Liezel Wessels were attacked on their farm in Bonnievale. Boiling water was poured over her and she was made to watch as her husband was stabbed to death. Your deafening silence on the violence committed in rural communities
across our country is simply unacceptable, Mr President. Not one reference to rural safety. It is time for bold action to tackle crime and rural safety now. We do not have another 10 years.
Chairperson, we can, however, turn the tide on the rural crime wave sweeping our nation if we act now. The DA has a rural safety plan which can restore hope and order to the most isolated and vulnerable communities: from the commercial farm in Viljoenskroon to the rural village outside Keiskamahoek. It is a plan that focuses on building a modern police force equipped with the necessary knowledge and resources to deploy cutting edge technology in the fight against crime.
We believe that the deployment of drones with heat sensing technology into mountainous rural communities will assist in tracking down criminals and helping police to bring them to book. This is not a 10 year plan, Mr President, this technology is available today to be deployed tomorrow. [Applause.]
We believe that by establishing rural community policing units, with community members trained as rural reservists, policing
capacity will be bolstered in some of the most isolated regions of our country. The DA's plan offers real tangible solutions to curb this rampant tide of rural crime.
Chairperson, South Africans deserve an honest and professional police service. A police service they can trust, led by men and women of integrity who are well trained and resourced to keep our citizens safe.
In order to build an effective and fit for purpose South African Police Service, Saps, a DA national government would adopt a zero tolerance approach to corruption in the police. You can't have corrupt police officers chasing down corrupt politicians. In fact, Madam Speaker, this very Parliament has an immediate opportunity to strike fear into the hearts of the corrupt and criminal elements within Saps by appointing a credible permanent head of Independent Police Investigative Directorate, IPID, with unimpeachable integrity.
This is our moment to give real hope to all South Africans living in fear that we are serious about their safety. A DA-led
government will insist on the appointment of fit for purpose officers and management who are passionate about policing, and we will move to retrain all police officers to serve with professionalism and protect with pride.
We will establish an effective drug-busting force which will be deployed to those communities hardest-hit by gang violence. And lastly, a DA-led government will make policing a provincial responsibility by giving more of the powers and functions of policing to provincial commissioners and station commanders so they are empowered to tackle crime on a local level.
Madam Speaker, despite the President's promises in his 2018 address that he would focus on the distribution of police resources to areas hardest- hit by crime, the situation is in fact getting worse. In the Western Cape last year, half of all murders were recorded at only 13% of police stations.
These are the stations and communities that need the resources you promised them last year. Over the past two years, the Western Cape provincial policing ratio has deteriorated from one
police officer to every 385 people, down to one police officer to every 509 people.
Chairperson, our nation is being held hostage by violent criminals who literally get away with murder. In South Africa, 109 people are raped and 57 people are murdered every day.
During this very debate, innocent South Africans will be attacked, raped or murdered. The DA has a plan to turn this situation around, Mr President, do you?
The MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Hon
Chairperson of the NCOP ... [Interjections.]