The military will not be used to help cash-in-transit teams, but business and the government will work together to battle the heists, said Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula on Friday.
”There are other ways which this particular problem can be attended to and we discussed them today. And they do not include the deployment of the army,” Nqakula told a press briefing after a top-level meeting between business and the government in Johannesburg.
Nqakula said the South African National Defence Force has a supportive role, not a frontal role. ”When you say they must protect guards who are transporting cash, you are actually taking them to the front.
”There are other ways which this particular problem can be attended to, and we discussed them today. And they do not include the deployment of the army.”
Nqakula said the issues to be addressed are improving the vehicles used to carry cash, and training and equipping the security guards. ”We must address the matter of the vehicles that are used to carry cash — in other words, we are looking here at a better mode of transport.”
The meeting involved the ministers of safety and security, defence, justice and constitutional development, and home affairs, three deputy ministers, 13 top civil servants and 16 business representatives, including CEOs of some of the country’s biggest businesses.
Details of the discussions were not made public.
Both the business delegation, headed by Business Leadership South Africa’s Michael Spicer and Standard Bank’s Derek Cooper, and Nqakula emphasised that cooperation between them is now at a different level.
They said they are now strategising together to fight crime rather than just asking each other for help, and are setting up a joint forum to do this.
”Never before have we done this; this is new,” said Nqakula, announcing the new forum that will meet twice-monthly and make recommendations to the Cabinet and president on fighting crime.
Nqakula said the forum will ”of course” have access to updated crime statistics. Police crime statistics are released only once a year, and are months out of date by the time of release.
Nqakula and Spicer said they are already sharing information. ”This is a partnership based on trust. We trust one another completely, this is why we are able to share information,” said the minister.
The team avoided questions on its views on the recently announced plan to release certain long-term prisoners, saying it was not discussed.
Court backlogs
Meanwhile, retired judges, magistrates and prosecutors are returning to work to help deal with the backlog of court cases, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla said after Friday’s meeting.
The plan to bring retired police and justice workers back to help battle crime was announced on October 4 after a similar meeting between government and business.
Mabandla did not have statistics to hand but said retired justice employees have now applied to return and these applications are being processed.
On October 15 the department started its campaign to reduce the court-case backlog, focusing on areas with the worst backlogs, including Pietermaritzburg with a 76% backlog, Port Elizabeth (61%), Protea in Soweto (60%), Pretoria (58%), Kuilsrivier in the Western Cape (53%) and the Bellville cluster in the Western Cape (39%).
Mabandla said the campaign will be assessed on November 15 at the end of its first month. — Sapa