The peace and security cluster of ministers face questions from MPs in the National Assembly this week — including one to the minister of safety and security on whether he had set his own targets for crime reduction.
The questions take place on Wednesday afternoon — following a series of questions to the Deputy President, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. Question time starts at 3pm.
Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Dianne Kohler-Barnard will ask Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula whether — following the example of a number of provincial ministers — he had set his own targets ”with regard to the reduction of crime”.
Minority Front MP Sunklavathy Rajbally will ask the Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour whether any initiatives were undertaken, together with the Department of Arts and Culture, to assist with the rehabilitation and skills development of inmates and whether any programmes were being run together with the Department of Education to educate juvenile prisoners and offer skills development to adults inmates.
African National Congress (ANC) MP Makhotso Magdeline Sotyu will ask Nqakula what assistance the South African Police Service will render to private security companies in cash-in-transit operations.
ANC MP Dennis Bloem will ask Balfour whether — with reference to an inspecting judge’s annual report on the need to keep children away from prison unless exceptional circumstances dictate — ”any mechanisms are in place to ensure that only those children who have committed serious offences are in prison”?
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) chief whip Koos van der Merwe is to ask Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla whether in light of her statement in May that her department had not yet started processing 384 applications for presidential pardons lodged by his party in 2003, her department had now started processing them?
DA MP Ryno King will ask whether Nqakula has taken note of the fact that although the crime statistics for the 2005/06 financial year showed that the number of farm attacks had dropped compared with the previous year, ”there has been an increase by as much as 21% in some provinces in the number of farm attacks ending in death”?
ANC MP Annelize van Wyk will ask him, in light of the government’s commitment to stop the proliferation of firearms in the country, ”what measures were put in place to curb the high loss of firearms by the South African Police members?” — I-Net Bridge