ID POLICY ON HUMAN SECURITY:
Bridging the Divides by Building Safer Communities
Vision of the Independent
Democrats
Human security sees democracy, human rights, sustainable development, social equity and the elimination of poverty all as essential elements of security.
The ID believes that true human security can only be achieved through realizing all of the rights contained within our constitution.
Present Challenges
Crime is at such a high level that it impacts on every South African and continues to divide our communities through fostering fear.
ID argues that central to this problem is the failure of the organs of justice to function together. There is an urgent need for a full and comprehensive reform of the entire justice system.
Some serious crimes have increased in the last 2 years, including rape, cash-in-transit robberies, truck hijacking and robbery at business premises.
South Africa is still ranked by the UNODC as having a “high” level of crime in terms of international comparisons and our murder rate is roughly eight times the world average of 5.5.
Failings in the Criminal Justice System
The ID believes that justice delayed is justice denied. There is also unequal access to the courts.
The police service needs specialised training.
There are huge capacity problems within our forensic laboratories.
Morale of the police service is extremely low and adequate and appropriate psychological counselling is not being provided.
Many jails and prisons are grossly overcrowded.
Many South Africans are also languishing in jail for up to two years waiting for their trials to come to court.
The Department of Correctional Services has also failed miserably in its responsibility to rehabilitate inmates. Unofficial statistics show that in excess of 80% of those released from prison become re-offenders.
ID Solutions
National Crime Summit
Government’s plans to fight crime often fail because it draws them up alone.
The ID believes that a National Crime Summit must therefore be convened as a matter of urgency. The law-abiding majority can all take responsibility for finding solutions to the problems created by a criminal minority.
Government Departments held Accountable for Crime Prevention
Government departments such as social development, sport and recreation, housing and others should be given measurable indicators of crime prevention strategies and must be held accountable for implementing them. The multidimensional aspects of crime require interventions from both the criminal justice system as well as broader social interventions.
Counting the Cost of Alcohol Abuse
A thorough costing study must be done of alcohol and its linkages to crime. There must be effective enforcement of the laws on underage drinking with the police taking a firmer and consistent line.
Improve the functioning of the Criminal Justice System
The ID would institute a proper assessment of all three tiers of the criminal justice system, namely safety and security, justice and correctional services.
• Provision of Accurate Crime Statistics on a Regular Basis.
• Visible Policing.
• Provide adequate funding for Community Policing Forums.
• Provide more Policing for Rural Areas.
• Greater Regional and International Cooperation is needed in fighting such scourges as the trafficking in women and children and the international drug trade.
• education of our legal system at a school level.
• The independence of the judiciary must be respected
• Magistrates and prosecutors must not be trained together.
• Assistance must be provided by the State for legal representation in civil, criminal and human rights abuses.
• Bail laws need to be revised and night courts need to be re-introduced.
• The justice system should be re-orientated along the lines of investigation-driven arrests.
• The justice system must process cases far more efficiently. Alternatives to incarceration for less serious offences.
• Prisons must become a place for rehabilitation of criminals rather than universities of crime.
• Build adequate places of safety for children.
Build Safe and Caring Communities
Invest in our youth and give them opportunities to thrive in life. We must build a different value system whereby the quality of human relations is valued more than our material goods. We need to build caring communities whereby neighbours look out for each other and women and children are respected and cared for rather than abused. Only in this way will we break the cycle of violence that is spurring on South Africa’s high crime rate. The ID is committed to working with all communities in building the badly needed social cohesion and bridging the divides that the fear of crime has wrought on our society.
ID Policy on Bridging the Gender Divide
The ID believes in the meeting and respecting of all cultures and gender, not in adopting a dominant culture or gender. Women must be equal to men in all spheres of society and throughout all of our legislation.
On Education
Advice and rhetoric on gender equity in education has not been put into effective implementation. Girls remain discriminated against in schools and in some cases sexually exploited by male teachers and other male learners. Girls are also frequently the first to be removed from school as a result of financial difficulties in the home.
• Implementation of the recommendations of the Gender Equity Task Team.
• Gender activism need to be refreshed in education through cooperation on all levels.
• Gender disparities need to be identified in schools and a number of social workers need to put in place in each school. Schools with more identifiable disparities should have an increased number of social workers.
• There must be Child Education Grants or private sponsorship to enable girls to have as much access to education as boys.
On Rural Women
Women continue to have secondary land rights to men, as well as secondary rights in the general community and the household. The loss of traditional systems has made the load on rural women even larger.
• The ID believes in directly working with women on micro-credit initiatives in agricultural development.
• Partnership between government and private industry to enter into competitive markets.
• Increased infrastructure that can help provide for entrepreneurship and job creation.
• Investment of time on the grass-roots level in order to have a practical understanding of the issues confronting women in rural areas.
Female Headed Households
In Female-headed household women carry the burdens of the unemployment crisis and others on their own without the physical and social resources that are required.
• Female-headed households must qualify for grants and micro-credit loans and initiatives.
• The Child Support Grant must be extended to all children under 18.
Migration of women
Rural women often move to informal urban settlements because they have little opportunities in rural areas. Land in urban areas is hardly ever allocated to poorer women though.
• Land must be equally allocated to men and women. Women’s rights should be entrenched in rural and urban areas by the increase of previously mentioned initiatives.
Maintenance
Despite the introduction of the 1998 Maintenance Act. Applicants, Law Centre’s and NGO’s are often faced with obstacles when trying to claim maintenance. The Act is often narrowly interpreted by the courts, which has resulted at times in secondary victimization.
• Alter the relationship between the private maintenance system and support grants. The State must pay the maintenance and the fathers must pay the state this way mothers will be sure to get their maintenance every month. The installation of a Maintenance Bridging Fund must be set up by the state to ensure the failures which happen in the current system do not reoccur.
• The ID believes in setting up a People Against Misuse (PAM) to ensure that state resources are used in the correct way and that children and not mothers are the ones to benefit from maintenance.
Women Abuse
Government continues to be inadequate in enforcing the constitutional rights of women and girls when it comes to women abuse. From the age of schooling and throughout the rest of their lives women are faced with the reality of abuse. It affects women of all ages, class and race and is violent, humiliating and often sexual in nature.
• Police Officers, Nurses, Counsellors, Social Workers, Psychologists etc. must have a representative of people who are chosen to deal with women abuse. The relations between all representatives must be improved.
• Schools and education must be the first port of call in working towards the elimination of women abuse, through educating girls on their rights.
Health
HIV/AIDS infection is still on the increase and women continue to be more susceptible to the disease. Government programmes have little or no evidence of actually fighting the virus and improving the reproductive health of women.
• An entire overhaul of the media campaigns as they have not had effect and for new programmes that have government and leaders at the forefront.
• Sexual Health must be a standard part of the National Curriculum.
• Further research needs to be done into the understanding of the virus and why women are more susceptible than men and what they can do in the future to prevent the prevalence amongst women.
• Female Condoms must be promoted and provided at Public Health Clinics
Employment
Women continue to fall through the employment cracks and they remain the poorest of the poor with added reproductive and domestic burdens. This is a result of many women continuing to be unskilled.
• Diplomas and other initiatives in partnership with the private sector and the state must be provided to equip women with skills.
• Affirmative Action and BEE needs to be constantly reviewed to ensure that they are achieving their aims.
Human security sees democracy, human rights, sustainable development, social equity and the elimination of poverty all as essential elements of security.
The ID believes that true human security can only be achieved through realizing all of the rights contained within our constitution.
Present Challenges
Crime is at such a high level that it impacts on every South African and continues to divide our communities through fostering fear.
ID argues that central to this problem is the failure of the organs of justice to function together. There is an urgent need for a full and comprehensive reform of the entire justice system.
Some serious crimes have increased in the last 2 years, including rape, cash-in-transit robberies, truck hijacking and robbery at business premises.
South Africa is still ranked by the UNODC as having a “high” level of crime in terms of international comparisons and our murder rate is roughly eight times the world average of 5.5.
Failings in the Criminal Justice System
The ID believes that justice delayed is justice denied. There is also unequal access to the courts.
The police service needs specialised training.
There are huge capacity problems within our forensic laboratories.
Morale of the police service is extremely low and adequate and appropriate psychological counselling is not being provided.
Many jails and prisons are grossly overcrowded.
Many South Africans are also languishing in jail for up to two years waiting for their trials to come to court.
The Department of Correctional Services has also failed miserably in its responsibility to rehabilitate inmates. Unofficial statistics show that in excess of 80% of those released from prison become re-offenders.
ID Solutions
National Crime Summit
Government’s plans to fight crime often fail because it draws them up alone.
The ID believes that a National Crime Summit must therefore be convened as a matter of urgency. The law-abiding majority can all take responsibility for finding solutions to the problems created by a criminal minority.
Government Departments held Accountable for Crime Prevention
Government departments such as social development, sport and recreation, housing and others should be given measurable indicators of crime prevention strategies and must be held accountable for implementing them. The multidimensional aspects of crime require interventions from both the criminal justice system as well as broader social interventions.
Counting the Cost of Alcohol Abuse
A thorough costing study must be done of alcohol and its linkages to crime. There must be effective enforcement of the laws on underage drinking with the police taking a firmer and consistent line.
Improve the functioning of the Criminal Justice System
The ID would institute a proper assessment of all three tiers of the criminal justice system, namely safety and security, justice and correctional services.
• Provision of Accurate Crime Statistics on a Regular Basis.
• Visible Policing.
• Provide adequate funding for Community Policing Forums.
• Provide more Policing for Rural Areas.
• Greater Regional and International Cooperation is needed in fighting such scourges as the trafficking in women and children and the international drug trade.
• education of our legal system at a school level.
• The independence of the judiciary must be respected
• Magistrates and prosecutors must not be trained together.
• Assistance must be provided by the State for legal representation in civil, criminal and human rights abuses.
• Bail laws need to be revised and night courts need to be re-introduced.
• The justice system should be re-orientated along the lines of investigation-driven arrests.
• The justice system must process cases far more efficiently. Alternatives to incarceration for less serious offences.
• Prisons must become a place for rehabilitation of criminals rather than universities of crime.
• Build adequate places of safety for children.
Build Safe and Caring Communities
Invest in our youth and give them opportunities to thrive in life. We must build a different value system whereby the quality of human relations is valued more than our material goods. We need to build caring communities whereby neighbours look out for each other and women and children are respected and cared for rather than abused. Only in this way will we break the cycle of violence that is spurring on South Africa’s high crime rate. The ID is committed to working with all communities in building the badly needed social cohesion and bridging the divides that the fear of crime has wrought on our society.
ID Policy on Bridging the Gender Divide
The ID believes in the meeting and respecting of all cultures and gender, not in adopting a dominant culture or gender. Women must be equal to men in all spheres of society and throughout all of our legislation.
On Education
Advice and rhetoric on gender equity in education has not been put into effective implementation. Girls remain discriminated against in schools and in some cases sexually exploited by male teachers and other male learners. Girls are also frequently the first to be removed from school as a result of financial difficulties in the home.
• Implementation of the recommendations of the Gender Equity Task Team.
• Gender activism need to be refreshed in education through cooperation on all levels.
• Gender disparities need to be identified in schools and a number of social workers need to put in place in each school. Schools with more identifiable disparities should have an increased number of social workers.
• There must be Child Education Grants or private sponsorship to enable girls to have as much access to education as boys.
On Rural Women
Women continue to have secondary land rights to men, as well as secondary rights in the general community and the household. The loss of traditional systems has made the load on rural women even larger.
• The ID believes in directly working with women on micro-credit initiatives in agricultural development.
• Partnership between government and private industry to enter into competitive markets.
• Increased infrastructure that can help provide for entrepreneurship and job creation.
• Investment of time on the grass-roots level in order to have a practical understanding of the issues confronting women in rural areas.
Female Headed Households
In Female-headed household women carry the burdens of the unemployment crisis and others on their own without the physical and social resources that are required.
• Female-headed households must qualify for grants and micro-credit loans and initiatives.
• The Child Support Grant must be extended to all children under 18.
Migration of women
Rural women often move to informal urban settlements because they have little opportunities in rural areas. Land in urban areas is hardly ever allocated to poorer women though.
• Land must be equally allocated to men and women. Women’s rights should be entrenched in rural and urban areas by the increase of previously mentioned initiatives.
Maintenance
Despite the introduction of the 1998 Maintenance Act. Applicants, Law Centre’s and NGO’s are often faced with obstacles when trying to claim maintenance. The Act is often narrowly interpreted by the courts, which has resulted at times in secondary victimization.
• Alter the relationship between the private maintenance system and support grants. The State must pay the maintenance and the fathers must pay the state this way mothers will be sure to get their maintenance every month. The installation of a Maintenance Bridging Fund must be set up by the state to ensure the failures which happen in the current system do not reoccur.
• The ID believes in setting up a People Against Misuse (PAM) to ensure that state resources are used in the correct way and that children and not mothers are the ones to benefit from maintenance.
Women Abuse
Government continues to be inadequate in enforcing the constitutional rights of women and girls when it comes to women abuse. From the age of schooling and throughout the rest of their lives women are faced with the reality of abuse. It affects women of all ages, class and race and is violent, humiliating and often sexual in nature.
• Police Officers, Nurses, Counsellors, Social Workers, Psychologists etc. must have a representative of people who are chosen to deal with women abuse. The relations between all representatives must be improved.
• Schools and education must be the first port of call in working towards the elimination of women abuse, through educating girls on their rights.
Health
HIV/AIDS infection is still on the increase and women continue to be more susceptible to the disease. Government programmes have little or no evidence of actually fighting the virus and improving the reproductive health of women.
• An entire overhaul of the media campaigns as they have not had effect and for new programmes that have government and leaders at the forefront.
• Sexual Health must be a standard part of the National Curriculum.
• Further research needs to be done into the understanding of the virus and why women are more susceptible than men and what they can do in the future to prevent the prevalence amongst women.
• Female Condoms must be promoted and provided at Public Health Clinics
Employment
Women continue to fall through the employment cracks and they remain the poorest of the poor with added reproductive and domestic burdens. This is a result of many women continuing to be unskilled.
• Diplomas and other initiatives in partnership with the private sector and the state must be provided to equip women with skills.
• Affirmative Action and BEE needs to be constantly reviewed to ensure that they are achieving their aims.
