Hon Chairperson, Minister of Police, Comrade Nathi Mthethwa, the leadership of the police, commissioners present here, distinguished guests, hon Members of Parliament, our commitment to the realisation of the ideals of peace, security and comfort embodied in the Freedom Charter enjoins us to become champions in the fight against crime in all its manifestations.
The Constitution demands of us to create a nation state free from crime, with citizens living in harmony. We dare not fail in our duty to advance towards such a reality, and will dedicate every resource at our disposal to the war against crime. This is not only the responsibility of government, but a shared obligation which demands of every citizen to join in this collective effort to cleanse our communities of the cancer of crime. We invite every patriotic South African to join us in the new deal to uproot crime and reclaim our streets from criminals.
The prayer that says, "Our Father, who art in heaven ... give us our daily bread", addressed to President Zuma in Pretoria, must change and mean "participation of the people in the fight against crime".
In the coming months we will launch "Operation Washa Tsotsi" as a popular mobilisation programme, mobilising communities against crime in all its manifestations. "Washa Tsotsi" is a radical African expression and display of strength and zealousness against one's enemy. It is a weapon to instil fear and respect in one's strategic opponent. It is an expression of readiness of one's forces of war. It is an exhibition of strength. It is a war cry!
This operation will be community-led, based on the strategic isolation of criminals and those who harbour them. It is based on the popular participation of the police and the community at large in the fight against crime and criminality. This will make entertainment centres unbearable for criminals.
Details of this operation will be disseminated to provinces and we would like all provinces to implement this.
Comrade Oliver Tambo, a giant of our revolution, once said that in the life of a nation, there comes a time when a nation is faced with a difficult choice of whether to submit or fight.
We refuse to submit to criminals who continue to instil fear in the peace- loving citizens of South Africa, and we shall fight them in every corner, every street and every community where they hide. We are confident that we shall win this war. Amasi abekw'elangeni! [The jig is up!] In fact, attention should also be paid to any remaining apartheid network of dirty war and spies, some of which are an integral part of the criminal networks.
We pledge to our people that we will fight crime in all its facets and manifestations. The commitment made by the former Minister of Safety and Security, the hon Steve Tshwete, when he said - We will deal with criminals with the ferocity of a cornered bull and with the agility of a cat; we will deal with them the way a bulldog deals with a bone.
... continues to reverberate to this day. We recommit ourselves to that commitment, and we will show no mercy in throwing the book at criminals and those who harbour them. To this effect, the youth will be mobilised and organised into a mass-based community programme to assist in visible policing and safety and security that will include, but not be limited to, streets, taxi ranks, bus terminals and shopping centre patrols, including rail safety and mending, and be rewarded by stipends paid by government and exit opportunities at the end of service as part of the National Youth Service Programme.
We are aware that some of us here and elsewhere will not hesitate to vulgarise this revolutionary agenda. Vulgarising youth activism in the struggle against crime is mischievous and a counterrevolutionary gesture.
In essence, this posture is not in the interests of nation-building, but suffers from political and ideological malnutrition.
The programme of a youth reservist service is aimed at building among our youth a revolutionary social consciousness and leading them to be active participants in the struggle for full social cohesion and nation-building.
Gone are the days when young people were treated as a liability to society. The ANC democratic state will treat the youth as a dynamic asset of society and communities. We shall treat them as crystal catalysts for development and change - the bedrock of the nation!
The National Youth Service Programme is aimed at instilling the value of service and protection of the community and public property amongst our youth. We encourage provinces and station commanders to provide space and resources for youth development at the various police stations and metro and municipal venues. We shall also, together with Public Works and the National Youth Development Agency, design a programme for skills development.
Although there is some progress in the transformation of the SAPS, to make it more responsive to the constitutional imperatives, a lot still needs to be done. There is a dire need for an overhaul of the entire system if we want to see radical transformation in the Police Service. As Mao Tse-Tung once said:
We should check our complacency and constantly criticise our shortcomings, just as we should wash our faces or sweep the floor every day to remove the dirt and keep them clean.
A lot of sweeping of dirt will need to be done in the SAPS, especially at the management and administration levels.
We are similarly poised to deal with the deployment to and functionality of police stations. The way police members implement and observe Batho Pele principles at the police station level leaves a lot to be desired.
Despite these challenges, we have an obligation to improve the conditions of service for our men and women in blue and ensure that we remunerate them in a manner which boosts their morale and instils a sense of dignity. We have made this commitment in the past, and we reiterate that commitment. This should apply to strategic management, expansion of human resource capacity, research and development strategy. The era of renewal should be characterised by efficient, effective commitment to one's work and an ethical and professional manner of doing things, including the spending of public funds.
Our police officers place their lives in harm's way as they undertake their duty of confronting the scourge of crime. I honour these gallant fighters of our nation who have chosen a career to fight crime and strengthen the operational effectiveness and efficiency of the SAPS. In their line of duty, they face numerous challenges, serious injuries, even death.
Each death of a police officer is one death too many, and we say, enough is enough. The ferocity with which we will deal with the killing of police officers is the first step in many that seek to underpin the value we place on our officers as the protectors of our people and the foot soldiers in our war against crime and corruption.
We must take this opportunity to join the Minister to salute and thank all those men and women in blue who continue to make us proud by executing their duties with diligence, commitment and dedication, also during the successful Fifa Confederations Cup.
We refuse to submit to the unpatriotic media that continues to put our country in a bad light by publishing sensational stories about South Africa. One of these stories involved players of one of the teams that were competing in the Confederations Cup and an alleged incident of theft from their hotel rooms.
In conclusion, policing is a journey - an inner one and an outer one. There is no final destination, but rather twists and turns in a journey towards creating a safe and secure environment for all the people of South Africa.
The trust of our people lies literally in our hands. We will not betray this trust. We will not tolerate or hesitate to act against any corrupt police officer, and neither will we tolerate serving members who dishonour their uniform and the service through criminal activities perpetrated by those entrusted to fight crime.
My sincere appreciation and thanks to all the family members and relatives of police officers for allowing your loved ones and children to choose policing as their career, and for the support you have given them throughout their policing duties. Thank you very much. [Applause.]