The following speeches were delivered in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature today by DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Community Safety, Kate Lorimer MPL and the DA Gauteng Spokesperson for Community Safety, Michele Clarke MPL, during a debate on the 2016/17 Annual Report for the Department of Community Safety.
Speech by
Kate Lorimer MPL
“Gauteng Department of Community Safety can take a leaf out of Singapore’s book”
- We had a brief glimmer of hope when a new HOD was appointed and she seemed competent and confident. However, the quality of input and reporting has steadily become worse and worse.
- So, this year I decided to rather look at the lessons learnt from our portfolio committee study tour to Singapore.
- I knew before that our policing was in trouble but I realised how badly in trouble we are when visiting the various police departments in Singapore.
- Probably the most obvious difference was the way in which all officers, members and officials we met, held and presented themselves. Their pride in their own appearance, in their performance, in their country and in their commitment to their job was palpable. All were impeccably turned out, looked strong and fit and were keen to impart any information they could.
- This is in direct contrast to many of our SAPS, Metro Police and departmental officials who are caught slouching in their chairs, soliciting meals as bribes and lolling around (a prime example is our own SAPS VIP unit in the legislature who only bother to stand up when there is a General around).
- Their unity of purpose is displayed in the exercise to co-locate their police stations, fire stations and ambulance services to ensure better co-ordination and leads to a police response time of 15 minutes 93,65% of the time, fire department 8 minutes and ambulances 11 minutes. Here we are lucky if these services arrive within an hour.
- On corruption or, the lack of corruption in Singapore. Corruption is a swear word. The stigma attached to it is enormous and police members who are caught are disciplined, dismissed and lose all their benefits and these cases are widely publicised both internally and externally. There is no early release or parole for those guilty of corruption.
- It is time for the ANC to put the money where their mouths are, but oh, not possible, it has all been stolen.
The full speech can be obtained here.
Speech by
Michele Clarke MPL
“Department fails to deliver services and to reach its targets”
- Once again Community Safety has not reached its targets for 2016/2017.
- The department only managed to reach 70% of its annual targets and a under expenditure of 21% was realised
- The AG highlighted that the department needs to implement effective systems in terms of irregular expenditure and steps must be taken to ensure effective revenue collection. The AG recommended in his report that the lack of compliance in terms of regulations in line with supply chain management is very concerning. This finding has been highlighted by the AG year on year.
- Program three traffic management only realised 94,2% of its expenditure and did not reach its annual targets. Road fatalities have a 10% reduction target but this target is never realised.
- The most concerning is the underachievement of Program two, Provincial Secretariat which year on year underperforms, only reaching 89% of its targets and an under expenditure of 15%; this is the core mandate of the department.
- The monitoring and evaluation of Police Performance is critical for our citizens to live in a safe environment. It was found that 28 stations that were evaluated, did not comply with the Domestic Violence Act.
The full speech can be obtained here.