Presentation to Portfolio and Select Committee on Women, Children and People with Disabilities

1. Presentation to Portfolio and Select Committee on Women, Children and People with Disabilities 29 August 2012 Presented by:

2. SAPS BRIEF: PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON WOMEN, CHILDREN AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES OVERVIEW This presentation will cover the following: • Internal and External Focus • Background • Stakeholders • Legislative mandate and policies • Disability Management Budget • Activities in progress • UN Convention

3. BACKGROUND

4. STAKEHOLDERS

5. LEGISLATIVE MANDATE AND POLICIES

6. APPLICATION OF LEGISLATIVE MANDATE • SAPS must serve all victims of crime without discrimination on the basis of disability, race, gender and religion • Police stations must ensure that services are available for the disabled, and must work with stakeholders in this regard

7. APPLICATION OF LEGISLATIVE MANDATE • Provisions of the Domestic Violence Act, 1998, applies equally to people with disabilities in a domestic relationship. More must be done to ensure awareness of the rights of victims, for example application for protection orders. • Specific programmes are in place to ensure that police stations are accessible to the disabled

8. ACTIVITIES IN PR0GRESS • The SAPS has a National Disability Strategy focusing on internal customers. • The Disability Steering Committee is in the process of compiling a comprehensive Disability Strategy to focus on both internal and external customers. • Flowing out of that, a National Directive will be compiled that will provide guidelines for implementation of the Disability Agenda in the organization.

9. ACTIVITIES IN PR0GRESS CONTINUE…. • When providing services to victims of crime the SAPS is guided by the Victim Empowerment National Instruction and Manual which are founded on the following principles: • treating victims with respect and dignity; • providing practical assistance; • providing information and enabling victims to provide information on their case. • providing protection of victims. • Special needs of victims are taken into account in the sense that physical access is provided through ramps at police stations

10. ACTIVITIES IN PR0GRESS CONTINUE…. • The Disability Steering Committee is also carefully designing a strategy relating to the provisioning of sign language interpreters, and services to people with hearing impairments. • The Vulnerable Groups Sub-Directorate is developing guidelines that will guide the policing of vulnerable groups. This process linked to the interdepartmental processes led by the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities

11. DISABILITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGY 2010-2014 (hyperlink) • The aim of the Disability Management Strategy is to mainstream the provision of appropriate resources, database, caring and supportive services to employees with disabilities within the South African Police Service. • It seeks to ensure the creation of equal opportunities for persons with disabilities, the creation of a barrier free work environment, disability mainstreaming, promotion of non-discriminatory, caring and supportive environment for employees with disabilities.

12. SAPS DISABILITY MANAGEMENT BUDGET • The Sub-Section Disability Management has been allocated 4 Million per year (for the past 3 years). • This budget (for internal clients) is utilized to ensure : - reasonable accommodation (assistive devices, technological equipment, specialized furniture and vehicle adaptation) at the work place; - awareness raising and sensitization in Disability Management. • Other internal stakeholders utilize their operational budgets to cater for disability related activities e.g. Supply Chain Management in creating accessible infrastructure. • External service delivery is provided for in the operational budget, which does not make specific provision for specific groups of victims.

13. UN CONVE NTION: PERIOD 2008-2010 FEEDBACK Article 8: Awareness Raising • Disability Awareness Workshops for personnel - Number of workshops held: 527 - Number of participants: 9 555 • Disability Sensitization Workshops for Senior Managers - Number of workshops held: 10 - Number of Participants: 196

14. UN CONVE NTION: PERIOD 2008-2010 CONT…. • Disability-related Calendar Events - Number of events held: 249 - Number of participants: 17 571 Article 20: Personal Mobility • A total of 303 assistive devices, technological equipment, adaptation of vehicles and specialized equipment has been procured to ensure reasonable accommodation.

15. UN CONVE NTION: PERIOD 2008-2010 CONT….

16. CONCLUDING REMARKS • Recognise that whilst legislation, policies and instructions recognise rights of people with disabilities, the practices may not adhere to requirements . When this is the case, we must deal with all complaints individually but also identify changes required to policies, instructions and training. • Recognise that there are still challenges to address but we are committed to working with stakeholders to improve access to services and quality of services to people with disabilities

17. THANK YOU