DA: Nqakula must fight crime

2006-05-18 15:37

Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance has urged Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula to fully commit himself to reducing crime by standing down from any appointments not related to his portfolio.

At a media briefing at parliament on Thursday, the DA's Roy Jankielsohn said: "It is time for the minister to stand up and take responsibility for the high rates of crime and become more proactive in his portfolio."

Jankielsohn was outlining the DA's 10-point plan which, he said, would go a long way towards eventually winning the war against crime.

Jankielsohn said Nqakula should embark on a nationwide tour of police stations to see for himself the "desperate shortages" of personnel and equipment.

He should announce plans to speed up the process of recruiting and training police officers to protect citizens against crime, and to strengthen detective services, forensic laboratories and criminal record centres, said Jankielsohn.

DA wants new police salaries

He also said citizens "needed to be empowered to protect themselves, by ensuring that the Firearms Control Act Amendment Bill was comprehensive enough to deal with backlogs and bottlenecks, and by making private security spending tax deductible".

Jankielsohn said community driven crime-fighting initiatives such as neighbourhood watch programmes should be subsidised.

Municipalities should be assisted in setting up their own municipal police forces, he said.

The DA also wanted an urgent review of salaries and conditions of employment of police officers to be initiated, and a police border and rural safety division created to fill the vacuum left with the phasing out of the commando system by 2009.

'The government can reduce crime'

The recent spate of high profile crimes committed around the country had highlighted the failure of the state to protect its citizens, said the DA.

Jankielsohn said: "Every day, 51 South Africans are murdered, 151 rapes are reported by women and children and 347 armed robberies take place.

"Instead of facilitating the peace process in Burundi, the minister should be putting all of his energies into tackling the crisis at home. With some hard work the government could drastically reduce crime.

"I have requested that the minister send me a comprehensive response to my proposals.

"A failure to do so would be reason enough for the DA to state that the minister is not serious about crime or about his duties to parliament and to the public."

- SAPA