An interim report on crime-related violence is expected to be handed to the government before the end of the year, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said on Wednesday.
”That question has been bothering us at Cabinet level for a long time and we have commissioned the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation to compile a report,” he told reporters in Cape Town.
He was speaking after the signing of a bilateral agreement on policing between South Africa and The Netherlands, made necessary by South Africa’s ”unacceptably high” crime rate, the global nature of crime and international terrorism.
The Netherlands helped contribute to South Africa’s democratic dispensation and now wants to help consolidate it, he said.
Nqakula’s Dutch counterpart, Guusje ter Horst, said the agreement will allow for police officers and information to be exchanged and look at how police academies are organised.
Other areas of cooperation will include exchange programmes on improving the quality of detective training and assuring ”high standards of integrity” in the police.
On the latter, Nqakula said The Netherlands has ”much wider experience” and there is much South Africa could learn from it. He said more details will be provided at a media briefing by the justice cluster in Parliament next week.
The agreement will also enable cooperation during the 2010 World Cup. ”We have some knowledge about hooligans who attend soccer matches,” said Ter Horst.
Following a visit to Khayelitsha earlier in the day, Ter Horst said she had been impressed by the cooperation between the police and residents. — Sapa