HEADLINES:
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Oil Nqakula 'should start at home'
May 01, 2007 Edition 1
Peter Fabricius
Opposition parties have called on Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula to do a national roadshow to try to convince South Africans - in the same way he s he is apparently convincing foreigners - that he is winning the war against crime.
The Democratic Alliance and the Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) made this demand after recent reports of Nqakula's aggressive campaign, mainly in Britain but also in the Netherlands, to change negative perceptions about crime that are costing SA investment and skills.
The FF Plus also rebuked the minister for "throwing dust in the eyes of foreigners" about crime, and said South Africans knew from personal experience that crime was not decreasing.
Nqakula's special adviser, Les Xinwa, said yesterday that Nqakula was also planning to visit Italy and Austria to address crime and that later on he might also take his roadshow to China.
In Britain, Nqakula met expatriate South Africans and told them he "empathised" with those who had left South Africa because of personal experience of crime. He added that he knew that they had not run away and were still ready to contribute to the country.
This tone was in marked contrast to his remarks last year when he told white people who complained about crime to leave the country.
Nqakula also addressed nearly 30 investment house executives in London to describe his plans to fight crime. These included changing the management at 101 underperforming police stations in crime hotspots around the country, while another 239 under-performing station commissioners and 317 station commanders had been replaced, Xinwa confirmed.
Lack of skills
Nqakula told the investors that he would soon be adding 15 000 new police reservists.
Xinwa said Nqakula had stressed that one of the major problems in fighting crime was the lack of skills of police managers.
The minister had asked both British and Dutch officials for help in training police managers.
Both were considering the request favourably, he said.
But Xinwa said the government had so far not accepted "repeated" offers of help from the US to train police officers "because America has a history of being prescriptive".
Xinwa said he did not know if any of America's specific offers of help had been prescriptive, "but you know how they operate and we don't want to fall into a trap".
US embassy spokesman Dan Biers responded by saying: "We don't think that our offers are overly prescriptive.
"Given our own experience in sharply reducing the rates of homicide and other serious crimes in the US, we believe we have a lot to offer SA in its own fight against crime."
MP Dianne Kohler-Barnard, DA spokeswoman on safety and security, said Nqakula "should undertake a tour within South Africa to reassure the public about the government's response to crime, just as he has done for overseas investors".
She urged the minister to provide more details to South Africans abouthis plan.
MP Pieter Groenewald, spokesman on safety and security for the FF Plus, also suggested Nqakula "should rather explain crime in South Africa here at home than explaining it in foreign countries".
He also found it "disconcerting" that Nqakula was now asking other countries to help train police managers.
There was a lot of expertise available in the country which had been driven out by affirmative action, Groenewald added.
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