Opposition left out in the cold

2003-09-22 17:23

Donwald Pressly

Cape Town - Opposition MPs, including the Freedom Front's Pieter Groenewald, were excluded from a media lock-up at Tuynhuys - the presidential office next to parliament - on Monday with police officials indicating that the information was "privileged".

The parliamentary press gallery and Cape Town journalists were "locked-in" the auditorium at Tuynhuys for about two hours earlier today together with top police officials - including National Commissioner Jackie Selebi and Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula - after receiving the annual South African Police Service report.

Groenewald was asked to leave by a government official but he stayed sitting - arguing that it was his "right" to receive the information given to journalists. He was told in no uncertain terms that the document was privileged.

He was gently asked by Nqakula to leave the auditorium.

Meanwhile, United Democratic Movement MP Jakes Maseka said in a statement that his party questioned the credibility of the report on crime.

The statistics - which largely avoided giving raw figures preferring to provide, instead, reported cases per 100 000 of the population - "do not give the full picture of the crime situation in the country as they fail to give specific figures but only ratios", the UDM charged.

It said for the Government to say that crime is "stabilising" is nothing but an insult to thousands of law-abiding citizens of the county who continue to be the victims of serious crimes such as murder, armed robbery, hijacking and rape every year.

'Fail to inform'

"Sadly, these statistics fail to inform South Africans about crime in the specific area were they live and work. By releasing crime statistics in this manner the government is preventing the country's citizens from making responsible decisions about their personal safety and security. A National Plan of Action on crime prevention must be launched as a matter of urgency."

Official opposition chief whip Douglas Gibson said: "In a laughably pretentious action, the media were admitted into a lock-up so that they could receive privileged access to the crime figures. Those statistics are 18 months old for the oldest and six months out of date for the newest figures."

A budget lock-up - normally in March - by the Minister of Finance includes pparliamentarians "and is justified because pre-knowledge of the Budget proposals could unfairly benefit some". "A lock-up is ridiculous when it releases old and outdated statistics.

They were leaked selectively by the (Safety and Security) minister for months and many such as Business against Crime receive the figures weekly."

'Stabilised'

The crime trends showed "that some crimes" - such as murder and rape - have stabilised. "But the arrest and the convictions are lagging badly. Twelve and a half million serious crimes have been reported in the last 9 years but only 6% of the criminals have been punished.

"That is the reality which the minister tries to hide. Spin and massaging does not hide the truth.

"The only lock-up I am interested in is a lock up of criminals. Whatever the crime trends, the one thing needing attention is the arrest, conviction and punishment of the guilty. The criminals and the public need to know that crime does not pay," said Gibson.

African Christian Democratic Party chief whip Louis Green said in reaction that the most important function of civil government was to protect law-abiding citizens and to bring to justice all those who break the law.

The release of the latest crime statistics to the media under a lock-up situation "is unacceptable", he argued.

'Not encouraging'

"We understand if the Minister of Finance needs a lock-up session with the (National Assembly) finance committee to release details of the Budget before he addresses this house on the same day, but we fail to understand why crime statistics are made available to the press before they are made available to members of this House."

The National Assembly safety and security committee has an oversight role and should be the first to be informed of the latest crime statistics.

"The mention today by the minister that crime is stabilising is not encouraging to the ACDP. Government must set clear and achievable goals to eliminate crime and not to stabilise it. Much more funding must be made available to fight crime."

He said the ACDP promoted "zero tolerance towards crime and our crime eradication strategy involves implementing stiffer sentences incorporating restitution for certain property offences and capital punishment for crimes such as murder".

- I-Net Bridge (Business)