Action Society demands clear and measurable goals and strict performance indicators for the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Thembi Nkadimeng, the Minister of Police, Senzo Mchunu, the Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with disabilities, Sindisiwe Chikunga and the Minister of Correctional Services, dr. Pieter Groenewald.
Action Society wants to see these ministers come together in the war against crime and come up with an integrated approach to protect the most vulnerable in our society. “Even more than a united front in government, we need a united fight against crime,” says Juanita du Preez, spokesperson of Action Society.
The Minister of Police has two wars to fight. Besides violent crime, he has to face the fight against the Bheki Cele legacy of corruption and mismanagement inside the South African Police Service (SAPS). “A major purge of corrupt and inept officials should be the starting point. After the purge, it’s crucial to rebuild SAPS from the ground up, ensuring that a decentralised approach to policing is implemented. By decentralising power to provinces, we can create a system that is more responsive to local needs, challenges, and priorities and less vulnerable to political influence. Provinces must be granted the constitutional authority to establish their own fully-fledged police services.” As a short term first priority, police officers need to be equipped with the necessary resources to do their jobs and investigative capacity needs to be prioritised to ensure that violent criminals don’t get bail, but rather get convicted. The department of justice cannot increase their conviction rates with poor investigative capacity from SAPS.
The minister of Justice needs to get the wheels of justice turning faster. The current centralised structure of the National Prosecuting Authority in South Africa poses significant challenges in terms of efficiency and responsiveness to local needs. Constitutional amendments that empower provinces to establish their prosecuting authorities, working concurrently with the national NPA to bring about higher efficiency, responsiveness, and accountability within the South African criminal justice system is crucial. “In our opinion, this is the only way to break free from the current culture of justice delays.”
The minister of correctional services, along with SAPS, need to ensure that violent criminals aren’t released on parole and that parolees are monitored in collaboration with SAPS. A large proportion of violent criminals are repeat offenders, but because no one is monitoring this phenomenon, the crime cycle is allowed to continue. “Currently SAPS and the DCS are all denying that it is their responsibility to monitor parolees and this needs to stop.”
The Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with disabilities, need to break free from the never-ending cycle of the formation of new councils and meaningless structures and reevaluate the allocation of much needed funds to functioning organisations focused on educational and practical support to vulnerable communities.
