Strides made in fight against crime - Mthethwa

Tabling his budget vote in Parliament on Thursday, 30 May 2013, Mthethwa cited data from the National Crime Statistics, which show that over the past three years, the murder rate had declined by 17.2 percent. Attempted murder dropped by 21.8 percent, bank robberies fell by 64.2 percent, and cash-in-transit robberies decreased by 53.6 percent. Home robberies also declined by 12.5 percent.

Sexual crimes also showed a decline, with rape decreasing by 2.9 percent over the past three years. Overall sexual offences were down by 11.9 percent.

The incident of car hi-jacking also fell by 38.9 percent. Stock-theft marginally dropped by 0.8 percent.

"Furthermore, according to the Victims of Crime Survey (VOCS) 2012, there is an increase of eight percent in public appreciation of how the government is doing in reducing crime levels compared to five years ago (32 percent in November 2007 to 40 percent in 2012)," said Mthethwa.

The VOCS shows that 38 percent of people believed that the level of violent crime had dropped in their residential areas, compared to 33 percent of people who said crime levels had increased, while 29 percent held that rate of crime had not changed between 2009 and 2011.

Crimes against women, children and the elderly remained a priority for the South African Police Service.

Protecting the vulnerable

"Gender-based violence and domestic violence not only affect the most vulnerable in society but can also contribute to a mentality that violence is an acceptable means of self-assertion. Protection of communities must also be central to strategies aimed at reducing incidences of gender-based violence," said the minister.

It was because of this that a victim-oriented police service was an important part of the overall justice response to crimes against vulnerable groups in society.

This approach would encourage victims to report crime and ultimately contribute to build confidence and trust in the police, in what has been dubbed as the 'Year of the Police Station' said Mthethwa.

Since the re-introduction of Family Violence Child Protection and Sexual Offences Units (FCS), the SAPS had succeeded in securing 1 194 life sentences during the past three years. A total of 306 people were imprisoned for life in 2010/11, 389 in 2011/12 and 499 in 2012/13.

Challenges facing SAPS

On the National Key Points Act, Mthethwa said he had instructed his legal team to begin the process of refining this legislation.

The Act was being realigned with the Constitution and other pieces of legislation. He expected that a Bill would be placed before Parliament before the end of this financial year.

Of the challenges faced by the SAPS, he said transformation remained paramount "in our efforts to fight crime and criminality".

"In transforming the police, we had to strengthen our civilian oversight bodies, deepen our relationship with communities, build partnerships with civil society, labour and business, and contribute to the observance of the culture of human rights," said Mthethwa.

The conduct of some members had embarrassed SAPS and its reputation.

"Such unwanted misconduct borders on brutality and for this reason we have emphasized to police management to press criminal charges against those individuals. This they have done," Mthethwa said.

On the private security industry, he said that the total number of registered security guards stood at 1 250 000, of whom 353 000 were active in the industry. This figure was more than the combined number of people working in the SAPS and South African National Defence Force.

Also, between 15,000 and 20,000 new security guards were joining the industry every month. In the past decade, the industry had diversified with many companies offering a wide range of services, resulting in a blurring of the lines between private security, intelligence and private military.

The industry was also increasingly doing work previously solely done by the SAPS.

It was because of this that the ministry had set itself the task of effectively regulating this industry.

Also present during the budget vote were seven police officers who were involved in investigations that secured a total of 33 life sentences. Mthethwa introduced them as the Top 7 Best Investigators for the 2012/13 financial year, and they were warmly lauded by MPs.