Minister Nathi Nhleko: Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster Media Briefing

Ministers

Deputy Ministers

Directors-General and Heads of other institutions present

Members of the media

Ladies and gentlemen

Introduction

Chapter 12 of the National Development says “personal safety is a human right. It is a necessary condition for human development, improved quality of life and enhanced productivity. When communities do not feel safe and live in fear, the country’s economic development and the people’s wellbeing are affected, hindering their ability to achieve their potential.”

Crime in South Africa affects everyone and addressing the challenge of crime and corruption is one of the Government priorities. The fight against crime and corruption is part of the JCPS-cluster’s integrated approach to accomplish the goal of a better life for all and to ensure that South Africans are able to feel safe in their homes, their places of work, at their communities and in the streets where they live.

Outcome 3 of the 2014-2019 MTSF, “All People in South Africa Are and Feel Safe”, maps out government’s programme for building of safer communities. The MTSF lists the following five sub-outcomes that the Criminal Justice System needs to achieve: i) Reduced levels of contact crime, ii) An efficient and effective Criminal Justice System, iii) South Africa’s borders effectively defended, protected, secured and well-managed, iv) Secure cyber space, v) Domestic stability ensured.

The JCPS Cluster continues to work as a collective to deal with crime in the Republic of South Africa and ensure that these priorities above are achieved. Government will endeavor to ensure that people are and feel safe in their homes, in their streets and other public spaces. However, the work of government is often shadowed by personally experienced crime or perception on crime by South Africans as well as them feeling unsafe.

According to the national quantitative tracking research (Tracker, 2014) by the Department of Communications (DoC), only a third of South Africans perceived government doing well in reducing crime in the country. This perception rating depicts about two-thirds of the population having a view that government still has to do more in reducing crime despite the work done to date.

Government acknowledges the realities of crime and the consequent feeling of not being safe by South Africans; however, it is encouraging that with the work at hand to improve the situation, more than half (52%) of South Africans do acknowledge as well that government is performing well in keeping public spaces safe while 56% acknowledged the efforts by government to bring police closer to their communities to improve the feeling of safety in communities (DoC Tracker, 2014).

The Cluster has been re-constituted in June 2014, with the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans appointed as the Chair, and it has continued with the work started under the previous Executive Authority. The various Clusters of Government foster an integrated approach to governance that is aimed at improving government planning, decision making and service delivery. In this regard the integrated coordination of activities of the JCPS Cluster has continued to bolster the work done to ensure we have safer communities. The fight against crime and the prevention and combating of corruption therefore remains priority focus areas of the Cluster.

Progress in relation to the work of the Cluster will be dealt with in accordance to the various JCPS Cluster’s deliverables in terms of...