Note to Editors: The following remarks were delivered by RISE Mzansi National Assembly Caucus Whip, Makashule Gana MP, during the debate on Budget Vote 21, 24 and 28 (Police).
Presiding Officer
Committee Chair
Minister and Deputy Minister
South Africans are not safe. We are not safe in our homes, at work and on the streets.
We deserve to live freely, without the constant worry about our own safety and that of our loved ones, our children, our family members, and our friends.
You also do not feel safe, hence you under around the clock guard by the Protection and Security Services Division. You will find that even the Police Commissioner is closely guarded. South Africans wants to feel as safe as you.
South Africans want to see criminals behind bars. Anyone who commits an act of crime must know that the dedicated men and women will properly investigate the crime and achieve a successful conviction. Now criminals know that even when they are arrested the chances of conviction are low. We need to change that.
Looking at this budget, one programme that keeps growing is the protection of politicians.
The people of South Africa are now spending over R4-billion protecting national and provincial public representatives, and other dignitaries. Just outside this very room there are more Protection and Security Services cars guarding politicians than the number of visible policing vehicles found in a police station. Would you say this is fair or some people are more equal than others? Do we really need these billions to protect politicians?
The first opportunity that you have to adjust this budget, please cut the fat from the cost of protecting of politicians.
The first responsibility of the state is to protect its citizens, and at this moment this government is failing to protect the people of South Africa. Before we go to bed tonight, almost 90 people within the borders of the country will be murdered. We need to cut this by 50% over the next 5-years.
Your job is to develop trust between the police and the people.
A woman who is raped or abused by her partner must feel confident in reporting the case to the police with the knowledge that the matter will be properly investigated. Police stations must be safe spaces for women and other vulnerable groups to report cases.
We must rebuild a virtuous and effective police service, led and staffed by skilled and ethical professionals who earn and retain the public’s trust. An essential part of this process is identifying the many police officers – at all ranks – who are ethical and who work hard to protect the public, and to support and promote them. The police service requires a clean-up from the top to the bottom. Police officers must be in the frontline of stopping the culture of bribery and extortion.
Minister, South Africans don't want you to behave like a mini celebrity like your predecessor. You are not the Police Commissioner; you don't have to rush to crime scenes. Your responsibility is to provide policy and strategic leadership to the police service.
As I believe you have been briefed, some of the men and women in blue have become protectors of criminals and drug dealers in our communities. They know where the drugs are being sold – the drugs that are stealing the future of our young people – but they are doing nothing. People can't even report drug dealers and criminals because of fear that the police will just tell the criminal or drug lord that Makashule has reported them.
We can no longer pay lip service to dealing with transnational criminal networks. Working with Home Affairs, we need to clean our towns and cities of people who come to our country to destroy the future of our young people by selling drugs.
This is what the people want from this budget:
Ndza khensa!