|
|
Please tell us what you think of this article by clicking on a button & rating it:-
News - South Africa: New crime policy a damp squibDate Posted: Friday 14-Nov-2008By Deon de Lange
Newly-appointed Safety and Security Minister Nathi Mthethwa was welcomed as a conquering hero by former colleagues in Parliament on Wednesday when he briefed legislators on his plans to combat the country's high crime rate.
But the highly anticipated event - billed as the unveiling of a new safety and security policy - turned out to be a damp squib.
The minister failed to deliver a fresh perspective on the crime problem and ANC MP Kgosi Mokoena, who chaired proceedings, barred fellow MPs from asking questions - a move even he described as "very unusual".
As chairman of Parliament's select committee on security and constitutional affairs, Mokoena justified his decision to protect Mthethwa from parliamentary scrutiny by saying the minister was not expected to provide details of his plans. He was only required to give the committee a "general statement - a policy statement or whatever you can think of," he explained.
Mokoena had some law-makers squirming in their seats as he welcomed Mthethwa, "a very approachable minister, a down to earth minister, a reliable minister, a calculated minister, a very cool minister, a marvellous minister, a dynamic minister".
"What else can we ask for in a minister?" the chairman asked, leaving journalists and a group of visiting MPs from the Democratic Republic of Congo looking bemused.
Briefing the committee, Mthethwa promised that police would "fight fire with fire" when dealing with criminals - a phrase heard often during the tenure of his predecessor, Charles Nqakula, now Minister of Defence.
Mthethwa also called on police officers to make a "mind-shift" from crime combating to crime prevention, saying the service had been "found wanting" in this area in the past.
The focus on crime prevention was a common theme during Nqakula's time.
Echoing the "shoot to kill" sentiments of his deputy, Susan Shabangu, the minister said the police should not be required to "take out some human rights charter" when confronted with criminals "armed with sophisticated weaponry".
Mthethwa argued that the country's "human rights culture" should be balanced against the need to fight crime "because we are in the killing fields, where criminals are killing law-abiding citizens".
ANC President Jacob Zuma has been making similar statements, suggesting to supporters that suspects should be stripped of their legally protected right to remain silent when arrested.
The minister praised the "strong-arm tactics" of the police's cash-in-transit task force, saying the "medicine" they had dished out to the heist gangs had forced these criminals to shift their attention to softer targets, causing an escalation in ATM bombings.
He undertook to pay police men and women more, something government has been promising for years, but said it would have to be linked to specific "performance indicators".
Police corruption also came up, with Mthethwa warning cops that "members of the community" had complained to him about their behaviour.
Mthethwa referred to the "recent launch" of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI). The new unit is set to replace the Scorpions, but the committee he was addressing is still deliberating on the bills that will eventually give effect to the ANC's decision to disband the unit.
Speaking to the Cape Argus after the briefing, Mthethwa slammed the nearly defunct Scorpions for having "failed to deal with organised crime", such as cross-border drug trafficking, and gave the assurance that the DPCI will "do a far better job".
|