Crime And Time Essay, Research Paper

ANTI – CRIME CAMPAIGNINTRODUCTION

The current rate of crime in our society has reached alarming proportions. ne senseless

killings of innocent lives, the harassment of law abiding citizens, and loss of property istotally not accepted at all levels and walks of our society.

The impact of reported and unreported incidents of crime continue to negate our newly founddemocracy with disastrous effects to our economy. Taking intq account the nearly 2 millionserious crimes reported last year including 18.938 murders and 66838 robberies. The highlevel of unemployment can no longer be associated or put as an excuse for high level ofcrime because of senseless killings which cannot be linked to poverty and wants. Armedrobbery, rape, murder hijacking, theft and house breaking has dramatically increased since1992, this has damaged the fabric of our society.

The government [Police, defence force] has tried its level best to combat crime, individualcitizens, sectors of the society business community, both electronic and print media hascontributed enormously towards the solutions, however the criminals at this point in timethink that they are a step ahead of all this efforts. Investor confidence has reached low levelswhich adversely affects employment opportunities, inflation, money markets and economicgrowth which ultimately affects the whole populace and the image of this new democraticorder.

SANCO as a community mass based Organisation, has a responsibility and role to contributeto fight this epidemic.

1.1 SANCO

Tle Organisation is a National unitary structure composed of 9 Provincial structures. Belowthe provinces the are regions, sub-regions, local branches and street communities. Thisstructures exists and function in almost all the townships, inner cities and rural areas. SANCOhas more than 3000 launched local civics with millions of resident members. It is our honestview in this matter that the Organisation with its structure, and formation is best located tosuccessfully launch an anti-crime campaign which can make an impact in finding solutionsagainst crime.

In the black townships crime has been rampant and not properly checked and controlled,because of inadequate and inefficient methods applied, the socio- economic and politicalfactors, the manner in which police are perceived taking into account their past activities andfocus. This factors has resulted to criminals having a safe haven in townships.

2. ANTI CRIME CAMPAIGN

In order to effectively have a successful campaign SANCO has identified the following pointswhich are seen as departure points.

- Communities to proudly own and understand the campaign prior to its launch.[community driven].

- The negative consequences of crime must be highlighted which results toUnemployment, Poverty, loss of life, loss of property, harassment and unsafeenvironment.

- To correct the wrong perceptions that all -pbrice are involved in criminalactivities.

- ‘Me responsibility of each individual citizen to be part of a solution againstcrime.

2.1. In order to maximise community participation and understanding the campaign itself,it is important to develop a very simple and easy to understand programme.

It is a deeply entrenched custom with a very known history that an informer”impimpi”] is killed and not accepted within black communities. In order to deal withwrong perceptions about police and the perception that crime is directed to whites isjustifiable, this anti-crime campaign will be known as ” OPERATION WE@VA”for a simple reason that [ Siyapimpa we "inform" for a good cause] Crime is againstfreedom, democracy and RDP.

2.2. OPERATION MPE%LPA

The campaign is as follows

(a) Every person who witness or have information about a crime committed/or to

be committed… will phone the central toll free number report the crime,evidence or incident. Listant minimal reward have to be paid after an arrest ismade.

2.1. Every reported crime the caller will have to leave [ optional for rewards] his/hercontact details.

2.3. If an arrest is made a minimal reward have to be paid as incentive to the individualconcerned.

1.A central data and reporting centre must be established. The centre must beindependently operative and directly linked with the police station and intelligence unitto supply information.

LAUNCH AND STRATEGY

The campaign must be launched in starting with the most affected areas.The overallobjective is to launch it as a National campaign.

Before the launch, it must be accepted and understood by communities through aprocess of mass meetings, street committees, police forums, organised labour churchformations, etc.

- In order to focus our campaign the listing of types of crime to be prioritised eg.murder, armed robbery, rape, hijacking etc.

2. An anti-crime summit must be organised to include all organs of civil societyfor adoption and to be preceded by a launch -ftia@rch or rally.

Communities must be conscietised through popular education about thenegative effects of crimes.

3. User friendly pamphlets and posters can be effective. The public must also be ensuredabout the confidentiality of reporting to the Data and Reporting Centre.

- Both print and electronic media must be utilized to publicise the campaign. Bill boardsand wall murrials must feature prominently for advertisement purposes.

Schools and churches, stok-vels and sports events must be targeted to spread andsustain the programme.

Consultation Process

Tle programme must be adopted by the NEC.

A meeting with the ministry of Safety and Security -

Rewards and Data and reporting centre).

Business community for funding especially NEDCOR.

CONCLUSLOA

Our approach to the campaign is informed by Fundamental objective conditions that prevailthroughout the country and perceptions emerging from various institutions and organisationson the subject of crime.

The current wave of crime must be properly located within an informed political context.

During the apartheid era the level of crime and instability was no different. The mediafocused its attention on political upheavals and created a wrong impression that crime waseither non-existence or low.

The police force or some of its elements are not committed to eradicating crime. CommunityPolicing Forums are marginalised and rendered ineffective deliberately. Some key players inthe private sector who are naturally unpatriotic especially to the present government arecalling for radical steps to end crime as a precondition to further investments. A call to theprivate sector never made end political repression and violence in some provinces during the

apartheid era.

Blacks are identified as major perpetrators of crime though narrow identification of certainincidence of crime which are conveniently ascribed to be committed by the black youth. ‘Misapproach undermines white collar crime and those who supervise black youth to hijack cars,sell drugs. A deliberate plan by the intelligence not to crack down on these syndicates in thesame way as UDF activities and ANC cadres in exile were traced.

Whilst we acknowledge that the current government prograninfe is inadequate including boththe justice system and correctional services., We are convinced that all the contemporarycritiques have a hidden agenda to render country unstable.

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Based on these factors and many more we cannot support the re-introduction of the deathpenalty. The death penalty will not resolve crime. Perpetrators of crime are well organisedand wealthy formations who will not be affected by the death penalty. The majority of victimsto the death penalty will be young black people who are pawns and a tip of an iceberg to thereal cause crime.

For these reasons our campaign as SANCO focuses on complimenting the initiatives of all

those with genuine intentions in particular the government.

We must all pull our efforts together with genuine objectives to reed this country of all facets

of crime.

d)How much of the National Budget is set aside for..

?Human resource development,.

?Land restitution and redistribution;

?Job creation;

?Research for labour intensive job creation; and

?Reconstruction and development programmes and projects?

?National government and the provinces plan to spend R46,8 billion (or 22,8% of expenditure) on education as a function. This also includes educational expenditure by departments other than the education departments. The major components of this human resource expenditure are: National expenditure on universities and technikons of R6,0 billion; Provincial spending on education of R38,9 billion; R200 million on the national Education vote for improving management systems and quality; 0 R325million for human resource development on the labour vote(Budgetreviewl998p.1.11)

& A total of R685 million or 0,43% of total national expenditure has been allocated to the Department of Land Affairs in 1998/99. Of this amount R468 million is allocated under the programmes Land Reform Policy and Land Reform Implementation. About 45% of total departmental expenditures are allocated to capital transfers (grants).

?A diverse range of government expenditure has implications for job creation. The Budget Review 1998 (pp. 1.7-1.9) provides an outline of some of the relevant projects and expenditures. Some of the more substantial programmes are listed. The Department of Trade and Industry allocated R771 million to investment support, R77 million to small business promotion and development, and R785 million for trade facilitation. The Department of Public Works will spend approximately Rl 665 million on land and building programmes. The Department of Public Works is also involved in developing and managing the Community-based Public Works Programme, developing policies for affirmative procurement policies for the state and developing strategies for transformation of the construction industry to encourage participation of small contractors and labour intensive methods of construction.

Several large water projects will financed over the next few years (R596 million in the Northern Province over the next 4 years and an estimated R632 million on the Skuifraam dam near Cape Town.) while the Working for Water programme of the Department of Water Affairs has been very successful. In terms of the Consolidated Municipal Infrastructure Programme R583 million will be transferred to local governments. The Department of Transport will spend about R742 million, mostly on road construction. Hospital rehabilitation will absorb R100 million during this financial year and is expected to increase in future years.

The Department of Labour has budgeted about R22 million for the programme “Labour Policy”. This includes R2 million for research and development in general. Refer to the Department of Labour for more detail. In addition the Department of Public Works and the Scientific and Industrial Research Council supports research and planning for labour intensive public procurement and construction.

The Reconstruction and Development Programme is the Policy framework for the entire budget. Departmental budgets do not separately identify RDP projects. The Budget Review 1998 (pp. 1.2 to 1.13) outlines key projects serving RDP objectives such as expenditures to meet basic needs, accelerated infrastructure development, promotion of growth, development and job creation and the promotion of human resource development.

e)What national government departments are involved in developing the budget?

f)What parliamentary por@olio committees are involved in developing the budget?

g)How much are provincial and local governments involved in developing the budget?

h)What structures in civil society are involved in developing the budget?

National and provincial departments are responsible for developing their own budgets, in collaboration with their political heads. Responsibility for preparing budgets rest with the executive, and not with the legislatures.

Budget making in South Africa is the responsibility of all three spheres of Government: national,

provincial and local. The spheres of Government are “distinctive, interdependent and interrelated”.

In terms of the Constitution, the responsibility and the accountability for their budgets lie with the national, provincial and local government respectively. But the Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations Act 1997 creates new intergovernmental forums, the Budget Council and the Budget Forum, to coordinate national financial planning and fiscal policy within this decentralized decision-making process.

Reforms of the budget process over the past year have enhanced the cooperation between spheres of government in the Budget process and increased the involvement of national government departments and political office bearers of national and provincial governments. It also increased involvement of national and provincial legislatures and introduced greater transparency and openness to allow participation of all stakeholders and representatives of civil society.

The Constitution requires that nationally raised revenues be divided equitably between the three spheres of government. This sharing of funds, called the vertical division, takes account of various criteria in the Constitution. In general the funds are allocated so that each level of government is able to provide basic services and perform the functions assigned to it. The allocation also takes into account each sphere’s ability to raise their own revenue to pay for these activities. Local government,

which is largely self-supporting, gets a much smaller share than provinces, which presently have

limited sources of own revenue.

Because local government is largely self-financing, the national budget process focuses mainly on spending by national and provincial government. Over half of spending on national and provincial services is the responsibility of provinces. Provinces are responsible for drawing up their own budgets, and accountable for the delivery of services within a national determined policy framework. The Division of Revenue is proposed by the national Cabinet, taking account of advice from the Financial and Fiscal Commission, and approved by the National Assembly through the Division of Revenue Act-

While respecting the autonomous role of provincial governments in drawing up their own budgets, the Medium Term Expenditure Framework process is designed to build cooperation between national and provincial governments in developing their budgets within their allocations. The process is designed to assist representatives of national and provincial line departments to analyse the policy options and consider their implications for budgets and the delivery of public services. The process is intended to elucidate the choices that the governments confront in delivering their reconstruction and development priorities within an affordable total level of public expenditure.

The compilation of the medium term expenditure framework for national departments is primarily the responsibility of the department of State Expenditure. In compiling the detailed allocations of the national govemment’s budget, each national government department is consulted and there are detailed discussions between the Department of State Expenditure and the line department concerned. A summary of outstanding issues is presented to Cabinet to enable political office bearers to take the final decision on the allocation between departments, reflecting their policy choices and priorities.

A similar process occurs at provincial levels in which provincial treasuries interact with provincial line departments to enable the Treasury to make recommendations to provincial executive council on allocations within the provincial budget total.

The national Department of Finance endeavors to track the allocations being made by national government and the nine provinces to enable the national government to monitor the overall allocations to different public services. This analysis, based on preliminary budgets, was published in the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement, and updated figures reflecting near-final provincial budgets were published in the Budget Review.

In December 1997, Govemment published the Medium Tenn Budget Policy Statement for the first time. This document sets out the economic and fiscal framework within which the budget will be finalized, early indications of likely trends in the allocation of spending over the next three years, and a number of detailed policy choices facing government. It is a frank discussion of the framework within which the budget will be finalized. The publication of a Medium Term Budget Policy Statement several months before the budget enables parliament, the public and representatives of civil society to provide inputs into the budget process which are informed by an understanding of the economic constraints within which the budget is framed, and the policy choices which the government is considering. This enables representations to be better informed, more realistic and targeted on the real issues.

During the course of the Budget process, submissions were made by NEDLAC in the areas of health and education. In addition, a number of other formal and informal representations are received from representatives of business and organised labour, and from the non-governmental sector. These representations are considered carefully in the budget process.

The introduction of rolling three-year budgets provides new opportunities for parliament and civil society to contribute to the budget. Medium term plans for each national and provincial line department are set out in the budgets. This enables departments to plan the delivery of services within realistic estimates of what can be afforded. It enables stakeholders to interact with government about the best uses of available funds, and to comment on the policy priorities represented by the medium term allocations. Because these are rolling budgets, amended each year in the light of new information, representations, analysis and evolving policy priorities, reactions from stakeholders can be reflected in subsequent budget proposals.

j) Has the legislation dealt with in section 215(2) of the Constitution been put into effect?

k)What has your department done to inform and educate all South Africans, and particularly the identified vulnerable groups, about how to get their socio economic rights?

1)What has your department done to inform and educate all children about how to get their socio economic rights?

The various publications of the Department provide South Africans with important information to evaluate government actions and expenditures. This enables citizens and parliament to participate in the formation of government policies that will result in honouring govemment’s commitment to fulfilling the socio economic rights of citizens. These publications are the annual Budget Review, the Medium Tenn Budget Policy Statement, first published in December 1997, and the People’s Guide to the Budget. The People’s Guide is an accessible summary of the Budget which, is widely distributed, among others as inserts to newspapers and magazines, to local government offices and to libraries.

M)What is your department’s understanding of the core minimum obligations ittzposed on it by the socio economic rights and the socio economic rights of children?

See 2 (a-b)

n) What minimum requirements for making sure the socio economic rights and the socio economic.rights of children are applied in a uniform way across the country have been set by your department?

The division of revenue between provinces is based on an equitable revenue-sharing formula, to be phased in over 5 years. This aspect is more fully discussed below (o-p).

o)Give a brief description of any current law and other measures, which have been adopted to improve or advance the rights to socio economic rights. p) Give a brief description of any current law and other measures, which have been adopted to improve or advance the rights of children to their soci o economic rights.

Not being a department delivering services to individuals, no laws or measures directly affecting rights or access to rights were introduced by the department. In ensuring sound public finances through its participation in the budget process the department facilitates the fulfilment of constitutional requirements by departments in a sustainable way.

A central feature of the apartheid past was the unequal access to resources by sub-national governments to supply social services to their population. A key task of the department in the recent past was the preparation of the Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations Act (which came into effect on January 1 1998) which establishes a process for considering intergovernmental budget issues. The Act requires the Financial and Fiscal Commission to make recommendations concerning the division of revenue between the three spheres of government – national, provincial and local – and to submit these recommendations ten months before the start of the financial year. It further requires the Minister of Finance to consult the provinces, local government and the FFC about these recommendations. The Act establishes intergovernmental bodies such as the Budget Council and the Budget Forum, to facilitate such consultation. The Act specifies that the Minister must present a Division of Revenue Bill indicating the final allocations to the different spheres and the nine provinces and submit along with the Bill a memorandum of explanation (Annexure E in Budget Review 1998).

The Division of Revenue Bill for the 1998/99 financial year, introduced by the Minister on Budget Day, gives effect to Section 214 of the Constitution, which requires that an Act of Parliament must provide for:

?the equitable division of revenue raised nationally between the three spheres.,

?the determination of each province’s equitable share; and

?any other allocations to the provinces, local governments or municipalities from the national share and any condition associated with these allocations.

Accordingly, the Division of Revenue Bill states the allocations to each of the three spheres as well as each province’s equitable share. It also provides details of other allocations from the national sphere to provinces, local government and municipalities. A number of the factors which the Constitution requires to be considered, aim at ensuring that sub-national governments are in a position to provide services to their citizens and thus contribute to the fulfilment of the socio economic rights. The most pertinent factors listed in Section 214(2) of the Constitution are:

?the need to ensure that the provinces and municipalities are able to provide basic services and perform the functions allocated to them; the fiscal capacity and efficiency of the provinces and municipalities; developmental and other needs of provinces, local government and municipalities;

?economic disparities within and among the provinces; and obligations of the provinces and municipalities in terms of national legislation.

In determining the provincial equitable share a formula is used which takes into account the demographic and economic profile of provinces. It presents an important step in dividing revenue according to socio economic need and demand for social services rather than on the