Zuma's crime, corruption stance applauded

President Jacob Zuma's stance on crime and corruption in his State of the Nation Address has been welcomed, however Dr Johan Burger from the Institute for Security Studies says a progress report on earlier commitments would have been an added bonus.

Dr Burger noted that the President had highlighted the successes in the fight against crime but had failed to provide feedback on previous promises.

In his address on Thursday, Zuma said government would forge ahead with programmes that would ensure South Africans felt safe and were safe.

"The crime statistics for the period 2010/2011 indicate that our country witnessed a decline of 5% in the number of reported serious crimes compared to the previous year. We will, however, not become complacent," Zuma said.

He added that government would not let up on the fight against corruption either. "The Multi-Agency Working Group on procurement led by the National Treasury, SARS and the Financial Intelligence Centre is reviewing the entire state procurement system to ensure better value for money from state spending," the President said.

Burger noted that while crime levels had decreased as Zuma had outlined; it was not clear the extent to which this decline could be attributed to police action.

While police would have certainly made some contribution to the decrease, other factors outside the criminal justice system would have also played a role, he added.

"The President tended to focus only on things that happened and are going to happen. It's a pity he was silent on the things that didn't happen," Burger said.

He said he would have liked more feedback from Zuma on issues such as the forensic laboratories and the strengthening of detective services that was mentioned in the previous State of the Nation Address.

Burger noted that a number of structures had been put in place or was in the process of being set up to tackle corruption.

"From that point of view it does indicate some commitment from government to root out corruption," he added. - BuaNews