Pretoria - Minister Nathi Mthethwa says the police's response time to crime victims must be speeded up, and the courtesy and treatment given to victims must not be seen "as a favour".
Speaking at the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union National Crime Summit in Gauteng, Mthethwa also stressed the importance of community involvement in the fight against crime, saying it was not up to police alone to combat and prevent crime.
He appealed to citizens to work with government and law enforcement agencies to help arrest those who planned and carried out crimes.
"As a member of the South African community, you are expected to report violations of the law and the Constitution as you know them to occur, and to neither give nor receive help from any criminal conduct. By so doing, we would be in a stronger position than ever to help secure our democracy," he said.
He noted that while there were pockets of excellence within the SAPS, that there was sadly, also a culture of unaccountability and poor management.
"We have emphasised the culture of oversight on police but that such a process must be constructive, open and fair. It does not help any cause when police are painted with the same criticism brush," he added.
If police were to be serious about fighting crime, there also needed be some seriousness about transformation issues, Mthethwa said.
"We cannot have window-dressed transformation which is not aligned with the new dispensation.
The programmatic transformation agenda within the police service still remains an imperative driven by the need to develop the all-round capacity and readiness to unleash telling blows against crime and corruption," he said.
In some circles, there were "deliberate efforts to undermine the internal organisational reporting roles".
"...But we want to upfront say, there should be no confusion. The SAPS, as an organ of government, must perform without fear or favour on any person who breaks the law. To enable it to do so, it requires the kind of police officers who conform to clear principles of batho pele, whose conviction is not influenced by external factors," Mthethwa pointed out.
He warned that the whip would be cracked on underperformance and poor management at station level, without fear or favour.
"We require no permission from anybody as we improve this organisation. The emphasis is simple and clear: we shall reward excellence and equally, have no intentions of celebrating mediocre performance."
Without high levels of discipline and proper command and control structures, police would not be able to deal with crime effectively.
"That is why three years ago we began paying attention to this issue, to ensure clear lines of command and control and instil a sense of discipline amongst the members. At the centre of this perspective, was the need to strengthen the foundation for community policing, improved accessibility and accountability," the minister said.
It was also important to ensure that a culture of human rights and the importance of upholding the law at all times became a central part of police training police.
