Helen Zille : SA Today - A declaration of war against crime

A weekly letter from the Leader of the Democratic Alliance 25 July 2008
A declaration of war against crime

[This week's SA Today is the full text of Helen Zille's address at the
launch of the DA's national anti-crime campaign in Heidedal in the
Free State.]
Imagine a society free of fear; in which all citizens know their
rights, are respectful of the law and understand the consequences of
violating it.
Imagine waking up in the morning, secure and safe. Imagine walking
freely in our streets late at night with confidence and peace of mind.
Imagine a country where criminals are speedily apprehended and
prosecuted; where victims of crime are treated with compassion and
understanding; and where people are confident that those prosecuted
will be brought to justice.
Imagine laying a charge at a police station, where you are served
quickly, your case is accurately documented and your passage through
the criminal justice system is marked by efficiency, respect and
compassion.
Imagine seeing your child off to school, knowing that she will be safe
from harm and will be properly cared for until you collect her.
Imagine not knowing anyone who has been a victim of violent crime.
These are difficult images for most South Africans to conjure up, for
the simple reason that crime, and the fear of crime, is a constant
presence in our lives. It is the greatest burden on our collective
psyche. It is a symbol of the tragic failure of our government to take
care of its people.
People used to talk of a "crime wave". But I want to tell you today
that there is no crime wave. A wave is temporary. It swells, breaks
and then washes on the shore leaving calmer waters behind.
What we face is a crime tsunami. It rises and rises until it
devastates everything in its path, leaving only the debris of
shattered lives in its wake.
We live in fear of being murdered, raped, robbed or assaulted by a
criminal army which grows larger and more brazen with every passing
day.
This is not a perception, as our President claims; it is the
inescapable conclusion to be drawn from the statistics put out by the
police themselves.
These figures tell us that one out of every ten South Africans is
physically assaulted, mugged, raped, hijacked or murdered every year.
In the fourteen years since our democracy dawned, over ten million
people have fallen victim to violent crime. Every day 50 people are
murdered and more than 100 women and children are raped.
But these statistics don't tell the real story. They cannot convey the
tragedy of the brutal murder of 10 year-old Seloane Booysen from
Bloemfontein who was murdered last week and left on the side of the
road to be discovered by a passer-by.
Seloane, the eldest child in her family, lived in the Pieter Swarts
informal settlement. Yet, as a keen grade one pupil at Laerskool
Bloemfontein-Oos, she could look to the future with hope for a better
life.
The statistics cannot describe the impact that this tragedy has on
people's lives. Seloane Booysen's parents have lost their daughter;
her family is traumatised; and a community reels from the shock of
another violent and senseless crime.
And yet somehow, in spite of these terrible reversals, we get involved
where we can in the fight against crime. We join our Neighbourhood
Watch Programmes and our Community Police Forums. We help the police
whenever we are able.
But we need to do more. We need to ask the hard questions. We need to
ask why we live in fear at a time in our country's history when we
should have such hope. We need to ask why the system fails us again
and again and again.
The simple answer is that criminals know that they can get away with it.
They rely on the police's inability to find and arrest them; on police
dockets that simply disappear; on evidence that goes missing or does
not stand up in court; on cases that drag on and on until they are
dismissed.
They assume that at every step of the arrest and conviction process,
there will be an official who can be bribed to make the case collapse.
And this is why South Africans have lost confidence in the state to
prevent crime, to apprehend suspects and to successfully convict the
perpetrators.
But we must never give up.
We must never forget that in a democracy, underwritten by a
Constitution, we have rights. We have the right to life; we have the
right to live in peace; we have the right to demand protection from
our government.
And so today we say: enough is enough. Today is the day that we
declare war on crime.
And it is a war. South Africa is a country at war with itself. It is
war that has left more people dead than the war in Iraq.
It is a war between the drug-dealing gangsters and the communities
that live in fear of them.
It is a war between the rapists and the women and children they prey upon.
It is a war between the hijackers, the thieves and the murderers, and
those who are held up and robbed and killed.
It is a war between good and evil.
Today we salute the unsung heroes of this war.
They are the brave men and women of our police force who stand on the
front line. They are the police officers that have sacrificed their
lives to fight crime.
These are the troops, who have been deserted by those in government
who should be leading the charge. They have been left ill-equipped and
under-resourced for the battle they must wage.
When DA MPs visit police stations, they find the same problems at
every one. There are not enough personnel; staff members are
inadequately trained; there are not enough weapons, there are not
enough vehicles and —most shocking of all—there are not enough
life-saving bullet-proof vests.
Here at the Heidedal police station, the DA discovered a shortfall of
twenty bullet-proof vests and six vehicles. We believe the shortage of
bullet-proof vests to be in the region of 20,000 country-wide.
But we cannot know for sure because government denies that there are
shortages and refuses to release official figures on police resources.
In fact, government denies that crime is a problem – full-stop.
Last year President Mbeki declared: "Nobody can prove that the
majority of the country's 40 to 50 million citizens think that crime
is spinning out of control."
Perhaps if Mbeki ever left the safety of his VIP security, he would
not feel quite so confident. Perhaps if he had taken the time to see
for himself what it is like in a community where people live in fear
of armed gangsters, he would think differently.
We are losing the war against crime because our government is out of
touch with reality. We are losing the war because, instead of
targeting criminals, our government targets those who voice their
fears.
Who can forget the day that Safety and Security Minister Charles
Nqakula told Parliament that South Africans concerned about crime have
two choices – they could either "whinge until they are blue in the
face" or "simply leave this country".
The tragedy is that more and more people are taking the Minister's
advice and are leaving our shores. Over half of South Africans who
emigrate say that violence, crime and corruption are their main
reasons for going.
When they leave, they take their skills and capital with them. This is
a loss to our country that we cannot afford.
If we cannot retain highly skilled South Africans, we cannot create
jobs. If we cannot create jobs, people are more likely to turn to
crime. This is a vicious cycle that we must break if we are to succeed
as a nation.
And what of those South Africans who do not have the means, the skills
or the inclination to emigrate? Minister Nqakula never explained what
would happen to them.
Concern about crime is not the preserve of any one group. It is an
issue that unites all South Africans in fear. It is the ever-present
reality for every person in this country – from Sea Point to Soweto,
from Durban to De Aar, from Hoedspruit to Heidedal.
Nowhere are the effects of crime more harshly felt than in our poorest
communities. People who cannot afford private security, electric
fences and high walls are the soft targets. Our government has left
them to the mercy of the gangsters and criminals who operate in these
communities with total impunity.
Some people have expressed hope that things will be different should
Jacob Zuma become our President next year. They see him as a man in
touch with the people, a leader who will take a firm stand against
crime.
What they don't understand is that Jacob Zuma is, in his own words,
merely a loyal cadre of his party. He has no policies of his own and
he has no vision for a crime-free South Africa.
In fact, the party that Zuma belongs to has become a haven for
convicted and suspected criminals. Some in his party have declared
that they are even willing to "shoot and kill" if Zuma is found guilty
of corruption.
This is the same party that has dismantled every specialised unit in
the police force, with disastrous consequences:

Since the government disbanded the South African Narcotics Bureau in
2004, drug-related crimes have increased by a staggering 30%.

Since the Child Protection Units were closed down, crimes against
children have increased. Last year saw the number of children murdered
rise by 22% from the previous year.

Since the closure of the Commando Units, violence in rural areas has
skyrocketed. Last year, farm attacks across the country increased by
25%.

The party that Zuma leads wants to disband the Scorpions, in order to
protect the criminals in its own ranks. It is obvious to all that the
real reason for shutting down the Scorpions is that they were too
successful in exposing corruption in high places.
The Scorpions are to go the same way as the Anti-Corruption Unit,
whose mandate was to root out corruption in the SAPS. In 2002,
National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi took a decision to close
this unit down. This decision was made behind closed doors and no
explanation was given.
Selebi's motive only recently became clear, when it emerged that the
he had allegedly taken bribes from drug king-pin Glen Agliotti.
Without the Scorpions, neither Selebi nor Agliotti would have been
investigated and Agliotti would still be free to peddle his drugs on
the streets.
Without the Scorpions, there will be no unit outside the police to
investigate the policemen who collude with drug dealers and
international drug syndicates.
Without the Scorpions, it is unlikely that Jacob Zuma would ever have
been charged with corruption.
When government takes decisions based on the interests of the ruling
party's leaders, rather than the people they are supposed to serve, we
know we are in trouble. It is no wonder that public confidence in the
criminal justice system is at an all-time low.
But I believe that with the right policies, the right attitude and the
right leadership we can win this war and restore people's faith.
We can do it if we start with the basics. We must:

Ensure that our police force is competent and incorruptible;

Provide the police with the resources, equipment and training they
need to fulfil their duties;

Ensure that those who break the law are detected, arrested, prosecuted
and punished;

Empower Communities to protect themselves from criminals.

Over the next two weeks, the DA will be taking up the fight in
communities all over South Africa. We will be staging marches, holding
public meetings, visiting police stations, delivering leaflets and
talking to victims.
We will also launch our national crime policy. We will show people
that the war against crime is not a lost cause. We will show that
crime is not something we have to accept as a fact of life, like the
weather or taxes. We will show that the DA has a plan to win the war.
Every law-abiding South African wants the war to be won and the
criminals defeated. It is time to stand up and be counted. If we work
together, we will win. We have the will, the vision and the people.
Best Wishes