Modern, Growing, Successful Province

ADDRESS BY THE MEC OF TRANSPORT, SAFETY AND LIAISON, Mr. NM JACK, ON THE OCCASION OF WOMEN AGAINST CRIME LEADERSHIP BREAKFAST, FLAMINGO CASINO, KIMBERLEY

Programme director;
The mayor of Frances Baard;
The mayor of Sol Plaatje;
Provincial Commissioner;
Senior Management of the police;

Calzado Nike

 

Senior Government Officials;
The chairperson of the Provincial CPF Board;
Members of the Provincial CPF Board;
The management of the Business Against Crime;
The leadership of Woman Against Crime;
Representatives from other Government Departments;
Representatives from Business and NGO’s;
Members of the media;
Distinguished guest;
Ladies and Gentlemen.

Good Morning.

It is indeed a great pleasure to be invited to this significant event this morning to reflect and at the same time celebrate the role that our women are playing in the fight against crime in our province and the country at large.

Last month, August, is declared as the month of celebrating and commemorating all the achievements our mothers and sisters made throughout the history of our country. Events where held throughout our province for this purpose and I addressed several of them and indeed the role that women is still play in our country is dearly appreciated, and not only in words but in action. 

Programme director, I am stating this with confidence because the moment I entered this venue one observation one made was that the women are not only empowered, but are in charge of very strategic leadership position in government, private sector and many other areas where their leadership is needed. 

To this end, we think this event is very important once again in highlighting the strategic role that they are playing in the fight against the scourge of crime.

We must also congratulate the “Business Against Crime” for organizing  this event so that the leadership role and contribution made by our women indeed receive the proper recognition it deserves.

Part of their mandate as Business Against Crime is to ensure they rally and mobilize all business behind the banner of a crime - free trading in our communities.

In my engagement with them last week, the whole issue of upgrading our CCV TV’s in the CBD’s was discussed as part of our objective of combating crime in our towns and cities across the province.

The second observation that I made when I entered this beautifully kept venue, again a sign that women are in charge, is the fact that everyone was wearing a smile, and this probably because of the good news we all received that the former President of our country, Tata Nelson Mandela has been discharge from hospital after spending virtually three months in the hospital.

We are all in agreement that indeed even at a time when he was in a hospital bed, he kept all of our people united.

He has always displayed, under his difficult health state, immense grace and fortitude in uniting the world and continues to remain an enduring symbol of our freedom and democracy.

We will remain forever grateful.

Programme director, Ladies and Gentlemen, the project Women Against Crime is a best strategy of bringing into practice the philosophy of police - community partnership to combat crime in our province.

I am saying this for there is a Tswana adage that says: ‘Mma ngwana o tshwara thipa ka fa bogaleng’! This simply means the bravest of all are women.

Ladies and Gentleman, I am stating this boldly because the leadership prowess displayed by Women Against Crime in the fight against crime has already shown some serious results.

We are emphasizing this point because in our province the membership of Women Against Crime stands at 712 and is having 68 branches throughout the province rendering a very critical service as volunteers.

This is a clear respond to President Jacob Zuma ’s call that volunteers throughout the country must be mobilized to fight crime and for our women in particular to break the silence and speak against all forms of women and child abuse as a vulnerable group.

In all the gatherings  I addressed during the month of women, one has emphasized the fact that women and children are our precious gifts from God and as such must be treated with respect.

The partnership between SAPS, the CPF’s and its provincial board, Women Against Crime, Youth Against Crime and our department should remain a strategic one at all times.

Programme director, Ladies and Gentlemen, we are saying this because the fight against crime cannot be left to the police alone.

We must all participate actively in combating crime for it does not discriminate on gender, age, social standing or skin colour and as such we must express sense of appreciation to both Mr. Zane”Neville”Meas and Alfred “Shorty” Ntombela for being good ambassadors in fight against crime.

Both gentlemen have in fact confirmed that they will be joining us once again during the Transport Month, October 2013.

Programme director, to this end, while all the women volunteers participating in the Women Against Crime project, rendering their service without expecting anything from the police or the government, it must be emphasized that they have all of our support at all times.

Many victims suffering from trauma after a bad crime-related ordeal have come forward to say indeed they have received professional help from well-trained Women Against Crime volunteers.

This is a clear indication that indeed the leadership and professionalism displayed by these volunteers, particularly on victims of contact crime, start to shows fruition.

Our common enemy is the criminals and as such our turnaround strategy dictates that all of us should unite against them. They should not have space to breath in our province.

We cannot have a situation where during the very same month of August, put aside by government to celebrate the contributions made by women in our country,

 

  • A 61 year old Mothibisatd woman is raped by a family member.
  • A 10 year old girl is raped by a 14 year old boy after drinking wine together under a bridge in Loxton.
  • A 10 year old girl is raped by a family member in Kimberley.

To all these heinous and nefarious acts, we must say enough is enough.

Be that as it may, we must once again congratulate the police and the justice system, on a harsh sentence of three life sentence given to a Warrenton 25 year old man convicted yesterday at the Kimberley High Court of rape and murder of Ms Patricia Blaan aged 31, from the same time.

It is such incidents that call for an active CPF’s and vigilant neighbourhood watches. All of these structures must be restructured and revived so that they play an active role in the fight against crime at a community level.

Next week, 12 September 2013, we will be putting our words to action as we will be launching the Northern Cape Provincial Crime Prevention Strategy at the Batlharos Stadium in Kuruman. 

This launching, Ladies and Gentlemen, has made headlines across the country as the Minister of Police, Mr, Nathi Mthethwa, made mention of it this passing Sunday at the Union Building on the occasion of the commemoration of all the police who died in the line of duty during the financial year 2012 to 2013.

The Northern Cape Provincial Crime Prevention Strategy, in short Ladies and Gentlemen, is a product of extensive research and consultation with many stakeholders in the safety and security environment in developing a response to the high levels of crime and more specifically violent crime in the province.

Among others it aims to:

Holistically guide the prevention of crime in the Province by providing an overarching strategic framework to address crime.
Integrate and coordinate all activities from government and community structures in the prevention of crime.
Mobilise government and community resources in the fight against crime.

Programme director, the implementation of this document requires a formalized multi - agency approach towards an integrated planning and an ongoing research to enable us to realize our objectives.

This will not be a dust gathering document, but must be owned by each and every family in the province as a long - term, systematic and comprehensive tool aimed at preventing and combating crime.

In line with the implementation of the Northern Cape Provincial  Crime Prevention Strategy, the role of Women Against Crime cannot be over - emphasized.

Among others, your concept of “Safe Houses” has seen many community members receiving a solace from you, particularly in rural areas where a police station is a number of kilometers away from a victim.

Many of our police stations have already indicated that the services of Woman Against Crime have become indispensable to them, and from the bottom of our hearts, we want to congratulate you for that.

We believe that through Business Against Crime, continual training should be given to all Women Against Crime members so that they are well equipped to carry out their duties.

This training must equip Women Against Crime members in a manner that will assist them to attend to:

  • Victims of Rape
  • Victims of Domestic Violence
  • Victims of Women Abuse even Men Abuse
  • Victims of Child Abuse, under the supervision of qualified person

Training on the dynamics of family violence cases as well as legal aspects in order to advise victims and to give guidance, should also be considered.

As I conclude programme director, we wish to say that since the establishment of Women Against Crime, the silence has been broken. Many people who were afraid to talk have bravely come forward to report cases of domestic violence and abuse.

The service that you are rendering has been cost effective to both the police and the state in that you render it voluntarily.

We call upon all of our women in the province to join Women Against Crime in your numbers because in it lies the solution to all our social crime related challenges.

Let us all push back the frontiers of Evil.

I thank you.

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Office of the Premier 
Private Bag X5016 
Kimberley 
8301

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