Warwick Bruce Chapman

In December 2009 through a Parliamentary question outlined below, Dianne Kohler Barnard MP established that the moratorium has been lifted on 10 December 2009.

36/1/4/1/200900224
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY

QUESTION NO 2177
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNALQUESTION PAPER: 6 NOVEMBER 2009
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 27- 2009)
Date reply submitted : 15 December 2009
Ms D Kohler-Barnard (DA) to ask the Minister of Police:
Whether the moratorium on recruiting new reservists will be lifted; if not, why not; ifso, when?

NW2883E

REPLY:

On Thursday 10 December 2009 the Minister of Police released a press statement informing people that the Moratorium on recruitment of reservists had been lifted.The lifting of this Moratorium will allow people who wish to volunteer their services on to assist the South African Police Service in the fight against crime to do so as long as they meet certain criteria laid down by the department.

Reply to question 2177 approved by Minister.

Then, in July 2010 I came upon a letter which explained to a Station Commander that while the moratorium had been lifted, it had actually not been lifted in practice. It is now over two years since the moratorium was lifted and still we are not recruiting reservists SAPS members to fight crime.

2010-07-28

The Station Commander
South African Police Services
Pinetown

Moratorium on Recruitment of Reservists : Question from Parliament by Ms D Kohler Barnard on 2009-11-06

1. Your minute 3/1/5/1/151 dated 2010-07-26 refers.

2. In the email requesting information on the subject matter received from the Pinetown Crime Prevention Commander it was not indicated that the matter was raised at a CPF meeting by Mr XXX and it was assumed that the CP Commander was making enquiries in order to expedite the recruitment of reservists, hence the brevity of the reply.

3. At a meeting held in Pretoria on 23 February this year between the Secretary to the Minister, M/s Jenny Irish-Qhobosheane and Brigadier Kennedy, the moratorium was discussed and it was made clear that despite the answer given in parliament and the subsequent Media Statement by the Minister, a decision had been taken by Division Visible Policing and Division Personnel Services that, pending the approval of the revised National Instruction and the completion of the necessary Naitonal Audit, recruiting and even reinstatement of ex members would of necessity remain on hold.

4. Subsequent to that meeting Brigadier Kennedy met with Brig J LeRoux, National Reservist Coordinator in the office of the National Commissioner had decided to impose a waiting period to allow for the conclusion of the Audit and publication of the revised National Instruction, before the lifting of the Moratorium would be confirmed by a letter from Divisional Commander, Personnel Services, whose office is the only instance who has the authority to make such a decision.

5. In view of the first-hand knowledge of these discussions, this office is of the opinion that the Minister is fully aware of the plans of National Head Office and the fear expressed by Station Commander XXX, in paragraph 7 of the above minute while understood and appreciated, is nevertheless not of consequence.

SIGNED
f/PROVINCIAL COMMISSIONER: KWAZULU-NATAL (Maj General)
B A NTANJANA S.O.E

I will be pressing our Shadow Minister of Police to pursue this issue with the new National Police Commissioner and ensure we start supplementing our regular force with reservists again as soon as is possible!

Despite assurances that the planned illegal evictions in Cato Crest had been stopped, late this afternoon residents were surprised when 5 dwellings were destroyed in what would appear to be a politically motivated action.

Today at 3pm the DA’s councillor in Cato Crest Hlanganani Gumbi and DA Spokesperson on Housing Cllr Warwick Chapman met with Mayor James Nxumalo to discuss the illegal threats of evictions in Cato Crest by the ward councillor and ANC Branch Executive Committee in the area. While the meeting was taking place, unknown to the DA or the Mayor, earthmoving machinery demolished 5 dwellings in Cato Crest.

Mayor Nxumalo and Chairperson for Human Settlements Cllr Nigel Gumede both unequivocally stated the evictions must be lawful and alternate accommodation must be provided. Mayor Nxumalo requested that the DA compile a formal complaint and submit it to the Muncipal Manager Mr Sbu Sithole as soon as possible and forward a copy to his office. He assured the DA that an investigation would take place from the City Manager’s office into how it is that a political structure of the ANC could be handling evictions and demolitions in Cato Crest.

The demolitions which were taking while the meeting was being held were undertaken under the supervision of the ward councillor’s assistant who is said by community members to have told them that, “We are coming here to show you that you must move”, and after demolishing the structures said, “Now you can call your DA.”

Cllr Gumbi, took affected residents to Cato Manor SAPS to lay charges relating to the demolition of their structures and destruction of property, however SAPS declined to open any cases. “We were told not to open new cases but instead to meet with the investigating officer Tuesday morning to include these charges in the existing case”, said Cllr Gumbi.

Cllr Gumbi has spend the better part of 48 hours working with community members to stop this illegal action. The SAPS have been extremely reluctant to enforce the law and prevent these illegal evictions. Only after senior MPs and MPLs intervened was any assistance from SAPS forthcoming. At the demolitions which took place today, SAPS did not respond.

The DA reiterates its full support for the eradication of shack settlements and the provision of formal housing in eThekwini. We however require that each step in the process of converting shack settlements into formal housing are undertaken lawfully and with respect for the dignity of those affected as a result. “We condemn the direct involvement of political structures in the work of our City government and cite it as a blatant example of the conflation of party and state”, said Cllr Chapman.

“We call on Mayor Nxumalo and City Manager Sbu Sithole to intervene as a matter of urgency and stop any further illegal action. SAPS also need to ensure they enforce the law without favour.”, said Cllr Gumbi.

MEDIA QUERIES:
Gumbi 076 288 8844
Chapman 083 7797 094

PHOTOS:

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ENDS

The ANC attempted to bribe DA councillors in the Western Cape to move to the ANC. Cllr Thobile Dyonta was approached with an offer of 2 month’s salary to resign his seat in Breede Valley. Thobile met with ANC provincial leader Marius Fransman who tried to persuade him to give up his seat to the ANC. In Bitou, Cllr Nevelle de Waal was approached 6 times, offered a bribe of R900000 in cash, and any position he wanted.

Download the “Project Reclaim” Dossier here.

See the DA press release and the Politics Web coverage.

The eThekwini Municipality is simply not doing enough to stem asset losses due to cable theft. As I have explained before to this council, Cape Town has managed, through a well-resourced metals theft combating unit, strict enforcement, and now this initiative to reduce asset losses due to cable theft to a fraction of what it used to be.

There is no reason whatsoever why we should not be reproducing these successes in eThekwini. We are simply not interested in taking this issue seriously enough to muster the political will required to take the measures which have been shown to work in other parts of the country.

This proposal is quite simple. Given the extent of cable theft in our Metro, it is many orders more cost-effective to leave lights in certain high-theft areas on 24 hours to lower the risk of theft, than it is to replace that length of cable.

We can no longer sit back and do nothing about this economic growth sapping crime. I urge you to support this and any other initiatives which seek to reduce cable theft.

The eThekwini Municipality has, at great expense, installed a fibre optic network known as MetroFibre. Since its conceptual stage, MetroFibre has been envisaged as key to providing more cost effective and more accessible broadband services in the municipality’s attempt to bridge the so-called digital divide.

The Connected Schools project aims, in this initial phase, to connect 86 schools to the Internet in areas like Umlazi, KwaMashu, Phoenix, Inanda, Sydenham and Overport . Quite simply, the more access our learners have to the Internet, the more learning and skills development we are going to see taking place.

This sort of project, once properly implemented and maintained, is an example of the sort of positive interventions which municipalities can make, in partnership with other spheres of government, to effect positive change in the lives of people looking for a way out of poverty. We know that in the 21st century knowledge is power.

Providing access to the Internet means providing access to the single largest repository of Information on the earth. Let’s do much much more of it in the years to come.