Mbeki outlines plan to deal with crime

According to a report on the IoL site, he acknowledged that the annual reduction rate in categories such as robbery, assault and murder was still below the seven to 10% that had been targeted. The abuse of women and children continued at an unacceptable level, he said. He also noted that last year’s security workers’ strike, which was punctuated by murders and other violent incidents, had brought home to all South Africans that the industry was inadequately regulated, and this would be reviewed this year. Full report on IoL site

The measures that would be used include: bringing to full capacity the forensic laboratories that had been equipped with the latest technology, and ensuring optimum use of the fingerprint database; implementing the recommendations of the Khampepe Commission on the mandate and operations of the Directorate of Special Operations (Scorpions); intensifying intelligence work regarding organised crime; implementing the programmes decided upon to build more corrections facilities; and improving crime trends analysis to boost performance in both crime prevention and crime combating. But not everybody was impressed. According to a report on the IoL site, DA leader Tony Leon was disappointed about the way in which the President dealt with the crisis of crime. ‘When the country is crying out for empathy and passionate commitment to fighting crime, he gives us bureaucratic lists of things to be done. While I believe crime received more space in the address because of direct public pressure, it remains to be seen whether the proposed steps and improvements announced will yield positive results,’ Leon said. Full report on the IoL site Moneyweb take on the anti-crime strategy

Doubts have been raised about whether fixing the criminal justice system will reduce crime, with Boyane Tshehla, head of the crime and justice programme at the Institute for Security Studies, suggesting in a Cape Argus report that the problem is not a shortage of police or case backlogs. Tshehla points out the government acknowledged the problem of violent crime last year and said a study would be launched to understand the problem. ‘The President did not refer to the study, but it is crucial and should be followed up.’ The President should also have used the opportunity to clarify some of the perceptions and perhaps misunderstandings of the government\'s position. There is a perception, for example, that he is in denial about the scale of the crime problem, said Tshehla. Full Cape Argus report

Mbeki also vowed to reduce the regulatory burden on small, medium and micro-enterprises. In his speech, the president said the Companies Bill – adopted recently by the Cabinet – was part of ‘the battery of measures’ to reduce the regulatory burden on small, medium and micro-enterprises and to empower minority shareholders and employees, according to I-Net Bridge. He has in previous opening of Parliament speeches pledged significant change to the regulatory burden for small and medium sized business. The government will also start implementing the Communal Land Rights Act in order to improve economic utilisation of communal land ‘while at the same time expanding assistance such as irrigation, seeds and implements to small and co-operative farmers’. Full I-Net Bridge report

A social security tax to fund pension, disability and unemployment benefits is likely. Finance Minister Trevor Manuel would give details in his Budget speech on February 21, Mbeki said, according to Business Report. Plans for a new social security system might include a tax and a wage subsidy for low-income earners. Full report in Business Report

The taxi recapitalisation programme will go ahead. Mbeki says the government will not be bullied into scrapping the R7.7bn programme, notes I-Net Bridge. Referring to the recent taxi strikes in protest against the programme, Mbeki said ‘any attempts to undermine public order in pursuit of selfish interests will be dealt with accordingly.’ Full I-Net Bridge report Full State of the Nation address