Reinvigorated Partnership Between Business and Government

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Today at a business briefing hosted by BACSA in Sandton, Minister Mthethwa in his keynote address to the business community reconfirmed the value and role of Business Against Crime South Africa (BACSA) as a key partner in the fight against crime.

He said the following: "BACSA has established itself as a dependable partner in the fight against crime and it has a highly capable leadership and clarity of vision."

Chairperson of BACSA, Mr Mark Lamberti posed two key questions with regard to the role of BACSA:

• What could business do to reduce crime? and
• Why should Government and business support BACSA?

In his response to the first question, he clarified that business neither had the resources nor skills to address the underlying socio-economic causes of crime. Neither could the business community intervene or act in isolation. 'The state could not pass on the responsibility to uphold people's rights to safety and security and it could not blame others when people's safety and security was compromised', said Mr Lamberti.

Mr Mark Lamberti highlighted that since Minister Mthethwa's appointment, his desire to work with BACSA was welcomed. 'The approach to crime by the current administration was encouraging and opened the way for BACSA to play a constructive role in crime reduction.' BACSA was better poised today to work with Government to address the priority of crime to which Minister Pravin Gordhan had this week through the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) committed additional resources to strengthen Government's hand in building the capacity of detective services and the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigations (DPCI), as well as to implement the Review of the Criminal Justice System (CJS).

Mr Lamberti stressed that the first responsibility of the business community was "to comply with the letter and spirit of all laws." The second was  to 'organise within companies and sectors to protect business interests.'  

BACSA was in a strong position to "facilitate and co-ordinate proactive crime prevention projects within the control of the business community", while compelling reasons for Government to work with BACSA included the fact that BACSA, through its networks and technologies, could "asssist Government to rapidly and effectively communicate messages and co-ordinate initiatives within large sectors of commerce and industry." Importantly, BACSA would partner with Government when invited to do so, said Mr Lamberti. 'BACSA was not a mouthpiece for the frustrations of the broader society, nor was it a proxy for this constituency's dealing with Government on crime', said Mr Lamberti.  

Dr Graham Wright, CEO of BACSA, reiterated the value of the role played by BACSA in the fight against crime.

'The organisation continues to provide tangible support to Government and to mobilise the business community to reduce vulnerabilities to crime by putting preventative measures in place. BACSA leverages the skills, expertise, resources, goodwill and knowledge of the business community to achieve the required level of improvement and build appropriate capacity in Government. The challenge remains to ensure that initiatives are sustained and deliver the desired results without instilling a dependency on the business sector', said Dr Wright.

Dr Wright highlighted that through a structured partnership with Goverment, the fight against crime was being taken to a new level. "We remain committed to helping to ensure that business’ ‘own house’ is in order from a crime prevention point of view", said Dr Wright.

Among the initiatives highlighted by Minister Mthethwa through which BACSA collaborated with Government to address crime, the Minister highlighted the value of the following:

• The small business robbery pilots in Tembisa and Central Johannesburg;
• The Private Security Alignment initiative in the Honeydew cluster;
• The work in relation to the Second Hand Goods Act which had been promulgated and for which BACSA had been instrumental in bringing on board business Associations and helping to formulate the Act and regulations;
• The improvement of the 10111 service in Gauteng;
• Work in relation to closing down the market for stolen goods;
• The Cash Risk Identification and Mitigation (CRIM) project being driven through the Reserve Bank as chair of the associated forum;
• The progression of work in relation to the Criminal Law Amendment (Forensics) Bill;
• Business support to the DPCI in addressing serious and violent organised crime,

among others.

Minister Mthethwa emphasised to business leaders present that Government 'was immensely proud of the partnership with BACSA and was in the process of defining and formalising the partnership against crime.' Minister Mthethwa reported that a draft Memorandum of Understanding was currently "being considered by the parties" to this end. 

Jerry Vilakazi, BACSA Board member, CEO of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) and Master of Ceremonies for the briefing, highlighted that with the high levels of crime in the country, many viewed the partnership as a critical foundation for achieving a meaningful reduction in crime. Mr Vilakazi emphasised that small and medium businesses - and not just big businesses - were behind the initiatives of BACSA due to their vulnerability to crime.

Access the full speech of Minister Mthethwa delivered to business leaders, 28 October 2009.

Access the full speech of Mr Mark Lamberti on the role of business in addressing crime through a reinvigorated partnership.