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Cape Town - The government will spend R91bn on keeping public order and safety this year.
This represents 8.2% of the total R979.3bn budget tab unveiled by Finance Minister
Pravin Gordhan in parliament.
Crime reduction remains one of government's top priorities, says the budget review.
As a result, the budget for this is expected to increase to R105bn in 2013/14.
In this year’s allocation, a total of R12.8bn goes to the departments of police, justice and constitutional development, correctional services and the Independent Complaints Directorate.
As detailed in the budget review documents, Gordhan has provided R2.1bn for police personnel to increase to 202 260 in 2013/14, from about 190 000 at present.
An additional R140m is allocated to strengthen about 20 trained tactical response teams, and to establish an effective personnel vetting structure for criminal intelligence services.
“The criminal justice system requires modern, integrated systems to coordinate work across agencies, and to track persons and cases. An additional R670m is allocated over the medium term for the upgrade of IT infrastructure,” states the budget review document.
A further R490m is for construction of courts, including new high courts in Nelspruit and Polokwane.
The Financial Intelligence Centre receives an additional allocation of R100m. Provinces are projected to spend an additional R203m on community safety.
A total of R4.7bn from efficiency savings and delayed expenditure on prison construction is reprioritised to cater for other priorities in the cluster.
These, according to the budget review, include the construction of courts, upgrading of information technology infrastructure and additional personnel to boost visible policing, detective services and crime intelligence, and to promote access to justice.
South Africa’s prisons will also get a boost. An allocation of R243m is provided to cater for operational costs of three correctional facilities currently being upgraded, two of which are partly operational. The facilities will eventually accommodate an additional 1 883 inmates.