Afriforum's publicity stunt compromises fight against crime
17 Jan 2013
The Ministry of Police has noted a very disturbing trend by Afriforum over the past few years, which has potential to compromise our efforts in the fight against crime.
Two years ago, Afriforum invited the media to their meeting in Pretoria, under false pretence that the Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa was to address their gathering. The Ministry learnt about this miscommunication when the media contacted us to confirm the Minister's attendance. Shockingly, we were unaware as no official invite was sent to this office.
The invite caused unease amongst some of the media members who interpreted such an act as a desperate attempt on Afriforum's part to attract media presence, using Minister Mthethwa as a drawcard.
Yesterday, a similar stunt was pulled by Afriforum. The office of the Minister received several queries from the media about a meeting with the Afriforum which, apparently, is scheduled for today. Again, no official meeting was confirmed with Afriforum and we accordingly advised members of the media, of this unfortunate publicity stunt. Most media expressed shock, to say the least.
Below is an email extract, sent to the Minister's spokesperson by the Deputy CEO of Afriforum, Ernst Roets, long after the media had begun enquiring about this purported meeting. It read, quote: "This e-mail serves to inform you that a lady whose brother and father was murdered on a farm during the holidays will be delivering a bundle of letters, addressed to the minister at your office tomorrow.
AfriForum will assist her and will also present the memorandum on farm attacks that you refused to accept on 1 December 2012. We are planning to arrive at your offices at about 12h00. I should mention that members of the media might be present. We are not expecting a meeting with the minister or yourself tomorrow, but it will be appreciated if you or another representative of the minister were to accept the letter, instead of leaving us to drop it of at the reception."
In dealing with the issue of crime, the Ministry has an integrated approach that is anchored around partnerships with different stakeholders. None of these partners ever communicated with us through publicity stunts, but interaction is maintained in a respectful and professional manner. Specifically in addressing rural safety, we have met and continue to share ideas with stakeholders such as Agri-SA, FAWU, community structures, business sector and many others, in terms of implementing the rural safety plan.
This week, we shared with the nation some of the festive season safety campaign successes. Minister Mthethwa highlighted that our policing approach was not only focused on cities and urban areas, but also rural areas as part of our rural safety plan.
He reported that police confiscated 375 stolen cattle, 624 stolen sheep and other livestock. Amongst the 67 707 suspects arrested nationally, 264 were arrested specifically for theft of livestock. In addition, many of the murder suspects within that 67 707 figure, were arrested within different in rural areas, including crimes committed at farms.
Some of the notable aspects relating to the rural safety plan, include improving and enhancing the service delivery at a local station level. We have also begun increasing and improving police visibility in rural areas and improve the response times by police. We continuously enhance relationships between the police, farming community, stakeholders and extended rural communities.
Some of the infra-structural challenges such as accessibility of rural areas, untravellable roads and street lightings are matters that fall outside the ambit of SAPS however, police still do their best to fight crime in such areas.
We therefore strongly condemn such actions and urge Afriforum to stop misleading the public, compromising government's efforts on crime and begin to contribute to the fight against crime through intellectual, society-building initiatives and developmental safety agendas.
The continuous mocking, grandstanding and publicity-seeking stunts at the expense of real crime victims do not serve any good cause. We urge Afriforum to refrain from their divisive approach of racialising crime. Crime affects us all, black or white, young or old, rich or poor. What concerns us is to fight crime, fight it smartly and toughly.
Statement issued by Zweli Mnisi, Ministry of Police, January 17 2013
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