Address by the Minister of Police, Mr Senzo Mchunu at the Ministerial Business Partnership Dinner at Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, Gauteng

Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, Gauteng

Deputy Ministers of Police, Mr Cassel Mathale and Ms Polly Boshielo,
The National Commissioner, General Masemola,
Head of the DPCI, General (Dr/Adv) Lebeya, 
Deputy National Commissioners present,
Divisional Commissioners present,
Provincial Commissioners,
CEO of Business Against Crime South Africa, Dr Wright,
Mr Gareth Newman, director of the Governance, Crime and Justice programme, Institute for Security Studies,
CEOs and representatives of various entities present,
Chairperson of the CPF, Ms Lukas,
Representatives from various businesses,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you very much to all of you for honouring our invitation and gracing us with your presence. We are here tonight, to add life to the partnership between the South African Police Service (SAPS) and business, to protect the citizens of our country. Back in 2023, the President of the Republic made a resolute call to the South African Police Service, to urgently explore avenues of cooperation and forge a strategic partnership with the business fraternity. A partnership that would bolster our collective fight against crime and strengthen our resolve to protect the people of this country.

Since assuming office, we have found the President’s call as relevant then as it is now in the 7th Administration. The Integrated Crime and Violence Prevention Strategy (ICVPS) identifies partnerships as the centrepiece in the fight against crime. The Strategy endorses a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach. At the heart of this approach, lies potential concrete agreements on specific interventions our partnerships can deliver for this current course we have together chosen. Tonight, we are not just breaking bread; we are reaffirming our unwavering commitment to stand united in the fight against crime and corruption and committing to implementing measures that will indeed fight these.

Ladies and gentlemen, we live in a great country with abundant opportunities for everyone, but the realisation of a good life and justice in the country, lie in our resolve to secure the country adequately – we need to tighten our porous borders. We need to radically reduce the murder rate and decisively deal with the proliferation of illegal firearms – as firearms have been identified as the weapon of choice in 43% of murder cases as recorded in the 3rd quarter crime statistics. We are currently attending to our Central Firearms Registry; there is visible progress there and this is a continuing process. We are concerned about the transnational trafficking of drugs: we have embarked on a plan to dismantle, not only the organised drug trafficking syndicates but also transnational organised drug syndicates. Other crimes that are particularly on the rise are kidnappings, extortion and stock theft – this is a concern for us and we are dealing with these crimes. We are acutely aware that unabated violent crimes, organised crimes and corruption pose an existential threat to our democracy, democratic institutions and are detrimental to economic growth. These deter domestic and foreign investments in the country.  

The country continues to be traumatised by incidents of Gender-Based Violence and Femicide – especially against young children. We recently learned of the gruesome rape and murder of an 8 day old baby, at the hands of her father – the father has since been sentenced to two life terms. We need to protect our women and children as they are the most vulnerable in our society. 

As the South African Police Service, we are guided by a constitutional mandate: to ensure that South Africans are and feel safe. This is not a slogan; it is a solemn responsibility. And as the Ministry, we are focused on equipping the SAPS to deliver on that mandate with professionalism, efficiency, and precision.

Our vision is clear: we want a proactive police service. One that is responsive, and attuned to the ever-changing needs of our communities. We envisage a police service that is ethical and where its leadership is accountable. But vision alone is not enough. Resources are essential — financial resources, infrastructure, and skilled personnel — all are needed to turn vision into reality.

In order to successfully deal with these mentioned crimes and we are determined to deal with them, we are ensuring that our structure is designed in a manner that will facilitate our strategic objectives. To this end, several key enablers are at the top of our agenda: 

• The adoption and improvement of technology;
• Strengthening our Crime Intelligence;
• The capacitation and upskilling of our detective services; 
• The revitalisation and expansion of our forensic services; and
• Improvement of general environment under which police officers work.

When we signed the Cooperation Agreements with the Gauteng Metros back in October last year, we took a bold first step. Business was at the table. That pledge marked more than intent — it marked action.

Since then, our engagements with business have matured and yielded tangible outcomes. Together, we have agreed on three strategic pillars of cooperation:

• Investigative Capacity Building
• Provision of Physical Resources
• Technology and Innovation

Within these pillars, there are a number of projects, which have been identified. We plan to move towards automating police stations, and this will kick off with five police stations as part of the pilot project, before a national rollout. 

One of our persistent challenges — the management of dockets — is being tackled head-on. Through this partnership, we are working on secure, advanced, and digitised systems for docket storage and tracking.

Our forensic laboratories have lagged behind, and we acknowledge the reputational damage this has caused. But we are not standing still. Whilst we as the SAPS have plans in place to increase the number of laboratories we have to ensure the timeous processing of DNA and other tests, business has committed to coming on board, to furnish laboratories with state-of-the-art equipment, increasing their number, and exploring the establishment of e-labs.

We will be convening a meeting with the CEOs of the various entities shortly after tonight, just to set the tone ahead of the work to be done. The structure that will be in place, that is, the SAPS/Business Stakeholder Forum, will be tasked with ensuring that work is indeed done. From here, we are rallying behind the structure and trusting it with the responsibility to take this work further so that it does not become a “talk show”. 

Tomorrow, we commence with our 3 – day National Policing Summit, which will move us in the direction of the policing we want in South Africa: an efficient, effective, proactive, professional and healthy police service. 

Let me end with this: it is easy to commit in words. It is much harder to commit in action. Tonight, I call on all of us — government, SAPS, business leaders — to move beyond theory and into implementation. Let us walk this path together — not just with good intentions, but with concrete plans, measurable progress, and shared accountability.

Thank you.