May I start by welcoming you all to this strategic planning session of the Department of Community Safety and Liaison for 2025.
Out of this two-day engagement we intend to emerge with our five-year plan to fight crime, and to create safer communities at all levels and sectors in our province.
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We are gathered therefore, to engage robustly and to sharpen our province’s strategies and innovativeness as we together tackle crime over the period 2025-2029/30.
Each year through our Annual Plans, starting with 2025, we will monitor and evaluate progress in the implementation of these five-year targets.
This regular mechanism is necessary as it enables re-evaluation and where necessary and appropriate, adaptation to new conditions and challenges along the way.
We are now in the final quarter of the 2024/25 financial year and soon we will receive the report of the Auditor General for the past year reflecting on the goals we set ourselves at the beginning of the financial year.
I must repeat what I have expressed before, which is that I expect nothing less than a clean audit in this Department every year. It is important that whatever we do, we set an example to our stakeholders and others in society, that we too as the Office of the Premier and the Department of Community Safety and Liaison respect our own commitments to good governance.
State of Crime in the Province
Every day the people of KwaZulu-Natal are terrorised by criminal elements who invade homes, places of worship, schools, shopping malls, places of business in cities, towns and informal settlements.
Crime has to all intents and purposes, spiralled out of control in South Africa. This state of rampant criminality does not allow for normal life. There can be no normal existence in a state of constant fear of crime.
Crime has devastating consequences for investment prospects as it undermines job creation and economic development and the fight against unemployment, poverty and inequality.
Peaceful communities are a necessary condition if we are to drive economic growth successfully, but also for communities to play their role as agents of their own economic liberation and social cohesion.
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Of all crimes, murder is the worst form, as it violates one of the fundamental rights enshrined in our Constitution which is the right to life.
The latest figures do inspire a measure of hope as between the period April 2022 to March 2023), and April 2023 to March 2024, murder indicated a downward trend from 6 878 to 6 246 cases.
This amounts to a massive decline of 9.2%, and a case difference of 632. At the same time however, an increase of 3.4% in contact crimes in general has been observed over the same period.
As usual, the districts of eThekwini, Umgungundlovu and King Cetshwayo feature prominently, with the police stations being Inanda, Umlazi, Plessislaer, KwaMashu E and Mariannhill. While we are making progress, clearly more needs to be done to win the war against crime.
An emerging and worrying phenomenon is where communities are suspected of being part of acts of revenge and vigilantism. The recent mass killing at Bhambayi in Inanda on Friday, 17 January 2025 is a case in point. This was followed by the shooting of three people the following day in Ntuzuma.
Undoubtedly, these may be signs of despair on the part of our communities. We must however condemn in the strongest terms, actions where people take the law into their own hands. As provincial government we will never encourage lawlessness, as this in turn will undermine the efforts against crime.
Our Mandate
We demonstrated our seriousness when we took the decision to locate the Department of Community Safety and Liaison under the Premier. This is a strategic move to focus the coordination of efforts against crime, bringing together all stakeholders to drive our common objectives.
As the Department of Community Safety and Liaison we must remember that our mandate emanates from the Constitution such as Section 206 which empowers the province to:
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determine the policing needs and priorities of the province;
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monitor police conduct and oversee the effectiveness and efficiency of the police service. This includes promoting good relations between the police and the community.
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It is also the provincial government’s obligation to assess the effectiveness of visible policing and is empowered to: “investigate, or appoint a commission of inquiry into, any complaints of police inefficiency or a breakdown in relations between the police and any community”.
Empowered by the South African Police Service Act of 1995, the province provides direction on the establishment of Community Police Forums and Boards. The province also ensures that “the conditions subject to which a municipal police service was established are complied with and that national standards are maintained”.
As a province one of the challenges we often face is that our powers over the SAPS are limited only to recommendations, with no real command and control. As an example, the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service (CSPS) relies on instruction notes in seeking to influence the implementation of its recommendations. It is for this reason that the CSPS is considering a reviewal of the CSPS Act to strengthen compliance mechanisms and SAPS obligation to implement oversight recommendations.
During legal and Policy Reviews following the Executive Council Lekgotla held on 23 and 24 July 2024 our province undertook to lobby National Government to review legislation identified as challenges to fighting crime. The following legislative areas were identified as some impediments in the fight against crime:
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Our liquor laws allow a proliferation of shebeens;
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The law and by-laws that do not prevent vagrants, slumlords and informal settlements;
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The human rights afforded to inmates do not discourage the commission of crime;
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Identified unintended consequences of child grants such as unplanned pregnancies;
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Cash trade laws enable money laundering and encourage Cash-in-Transit heists;
Task of the Strategic Planning Session
It is clear the police cannot win the fight against crime alone, therefore we as the Department of Community Safety need a concerted together with the Justice Crime Prevention Cluster to win this war at every front.
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This strategic planning session must find the answers and with renewed energy and speed, hit the ground running.
For this reason, I requested the Head of Department to ask even those senior officials who were on leave to be present over the next two days. Commitment must start with us in the department before we expect such from everyone else that we engage in the fight against crime.
When we say the Department must be visible through tangible and solution- driven programmes, we must mean it. Kungaloku kwabuzwa njalo ukuthi obani labo, benzani?
In this regard the Department plans to drive a Stakeholder Engagement and Partnership Development Strategy, to establish a comprehensive framework for the Department of Community Safety and Liaison. This will help us engage with our diverse stakeholders and partners such as business, communities, traditional leadership, taxi industry, private security companies, faith-based communities and civil society.
Using this multisectoral approach the Department launched an integrated law enforcement operation targeting crime hotspot areas and illegality such as undocumented foreign national, illegal business operations.
We must from this session find ways of intensifying and continuing implementation following successful operations in eThekwini and Mandeni- KwaSithebe industrial area in iLembe District.
Our vision is a KwaZulu-Natal where every resident feels safe, valued, and empowered to contribute to the province’s prosperity.
Through collaborative efforts, community engagement, and proactive conflict resolution, this planning session must empower the department to:
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Significantly reduce incidents of violence, faction fights, xenophobic attacks, and taxi-related conflicts;
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Foster a culture of dialogue and understanding among diverse communities;
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Empower youth through targeted interventions in schools and neighbourhoods;
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Strengthen partnerships between law enforcement, community structures, and government agencies;
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Address the root causes of crime and social unrest through integrated socio-economic initiatives;
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Enhance the capacity of local safety structures to respond effectively to community needs;
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Promote political tolerance and peaceful democratic processes across the province.
We must envision a KwaZulu-Natal that is not only safer every year, but which is also more cohesive, economically vibrant, and resilient to challenges.
Our impact will be measured not just in reduced crime statistics, but in the increased trust, cooperation, and sense of shared purpose among all who call KZN home. It is imperative that together we build a crime-free province.
Conclusion
I trust that at the end of this two-day strategic planning session we will go out having “recharged our batteries”, and more determined to retain investor confidence and continue to Inspire New Hope to the citizens of this beautiful Province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Ngiyathokoza Thank You!
End.
