Deputy Chairperson, Minister and Deputy Minister of Police, leadership of the police and hon members, allow me to say that the task of building partnerships against crime is fundamentally in line with the strategic goal of the ANC to combat crime.
This strategic goal is expressed candidly in the Ready to Govern and the RDP policy documents of the liberation movement. It maps out the police practices for the future democratic South Africa right after the unbanning. This debate must be located within the vision to transform the police and to ensure community participation against crime. It places community at the centre of the policing regime.
The relevance of community policing emanates from the fact that effective crime prevention requires co-operation between the police and the community, because crime cannot be prevented by the police alone. This reasoning of the ANC recognises that communities are responsible mostly for the successes of criminal prosecutions. Crime prevention and combating should be seen as a joint project between the police and the community. It is community members who act as witnesses, lay charges, make statements, testify in courts and assist the police in the execution of their functions and duties.
Over the past 15 years, the ANC-led government has made great progress in building partnership momentum against crime. The 2009 ANC manifesto has identified crime problems and corruption as priorities in the next five years. It has a specific focus on certain categories of crime, such as violent crime and organised crime. This budget must capacitate the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation in order to combat organised crime and corruption. President Zuma's state of the nation address reaffirms this vision.
In this regard, community policing needs to be strengthened as suggested by the ANC manifesto. According to the manifesto, in the next five years, government should, among other things, put more emphasis on mobilising communities to participate in combating crime through establishing street committees, community courts and community police forums, CPFs; visible policing to recruit more police; mobilising youth against crime; strengthening the Washa Tsotsi campaign and other anticrime structures.
Comrade Minister, we want to indicate that as the ANC and also as NEC members of the South African Civic Association Movement, we have taken a decision in the NEC of Sanco over the weekend that we will support the call the Minister has made and make sure that we relaunch Operation Pimpa as the civic movement. [Applause.]
Minister, firstly, we want you also to clarify the issue that has been raised when we were briefed as a committee about moving the CPFs to local government structures. Secondly, if you look at the budget it does not reflect the capacitation of CPFs. Does this department indicate that they are bringing in an unfunded mandate to local government structures and blame them for not delivering in future? We want the Minister to clarify that particular issue.
Thirdly, we would want the Minister to act urgently to deal with the issue around the unevenness of reservists, because they are treated unequally in different communities. The problem that we are faced with is that they are capacitated in affluent communities, but not capacitated in disadvantaged communities, and that has been a trend all along. We want the Minister to look at that particular situation and deal with the problems that affect those specific communities.
There is no doubt that the crime phenomenon remains a major problem affecting all communities, but mostly the impoverished communities with high levels of unemployment and poverty. Indeed, crime happens at all levels of the community. In this regard, perpetrators of crime tend to be young men, while victims mostly appear to be women and children. Effective approaches to crime must be premised on the fact that the phenomenon should be addressed in its causes.
There are many casual factors to crime. Crime should not be seen as a matter of law and order. While it is important to be tough on crime by way of promoting crime prevention through an effective criminal justice system, which typically involves a combination of vigorous policing and zero tolerance of criminals, equally the emphasis needs to be on the causes of crime and its violent nature. This is primarily to understand the concrete conditions of the specific society.
South Africa is still characterised by the terrible legacy of apartheid, involving violence, human rights abuses, racism and class and gender inequalities. As a consequence, it is difficult to combat crime through sectional approaches. In order to address the phenomenon, we need concerted holistic approaches that will be preventive and sustainable. In this regard, approaches to crime should be well-considered, effectively co- ordinated and comprehensive. This will help to promote approaches that are sustainable and measurable.
As indicated above, certain categories of crime appear to take some violent forms, particularly organised crime such as cash-in-transit robbery, car hijacking, car theft and contact crime such as murder, rape, assault, and so on. It is through multidisciplinary approaches that we can succeed in the struggle against crime in a manner that is preventative and measurable. Judging by the complexity of the problem, community involvement becomes central in the prevention of crime.
There is a need to strengthen community policing forums, village committees and neighbourhood watches with a view to promoting community involvement in order to accommodate the needs of victims, witnesses, activists, churches, businesses, NGOs, justice offices, parolees and the police. Perpetrators of violent contact crimes are known to their victims. Thank you. [Applause.]