Faced with high crime and an underperforming police force, government is clearly not shy to throw money at the problem.
Trevor Manuel is providing an extra R3,8bn for the safety & security department next year. This will allow the police to hire 8 500 more officers and raise the total number of police on SA's streets to 201 000 by March 2011.
Government will also build 40 new police stations - adding to the 1 115 in operation - and it plans to spend R250m on upgrading police forensics laboratories.
Given the looming 2010 soccer World Cup and the natural fears of potential visitors about SA's 52-a-day murder rate, another R640m has been set aside to pay for travel and accommodation for the 31 000 police officers who will be deployed directly to the World Cup to ensure the tournament proceeds without too many incidents of crime.
But it's a moot point whether greater police numbers alone will provide a solution to SA's crime problem, given the view that quality, rather than quantity, is the real problem.
Last year, for example, the police "lost" 3 856 firearms.
One hopes some of the extra budget money will be diverted into upgrading the police's technology systems so they do what treasury intends: "providing the platform for better control of vehicles, dockets and firearms".
Econometrix chief economist Azar Jammine notes that the 11,1% growth in spending on police, prisons and courts exceeds the overall budget increase of 10,6%.
But he expresses a common sentiment when he says: "It's not really about money, it's about whether the money is spent appropriately."
Manuel agrees. The fight against crime, he says, "is both about effective institutions and appropriate mobilisation of resources".
Overall, treasury is dedicating R64,9bn to the entire criminal justice system of police, prisons and courts in next year's budget - nearly 10% of all spending.
Courts, which have been notoriously underfunded for years, will be one of the biggest beneficiaries. Hampered by a paper-based system where dockets are routinely lost, while underpaid magistrates are swamped by an excessive caseload, the system has long been on the verge of busting apart.
By last year, the backlog of cases clogging up the courts had reached 36 130 - even though the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) finalised nearly 380 000 cases during the year.
In legal matters involving children, it routinely took 18 months for many cases to come before a judge.
The budget also sets aside an extra R562m to reduce the backlog of criminal cases. This money will be used for things like putting up temporary courts in areas where there are a large number of outstanding cases, and hiring more staff to man these courts.
Says a treasury official: "This money is earmarked specifically for reducing the backlog. It must be used for that, and nothing else."
Of course, getting the people to hear these cases is another issue. To try to remedy this, treasury is setting aside R300m this year to hire another 50 judges and 170 magistrates. The Legal Aid Board, which appoints public defenders to represent those accused in criminal cases, also gets an extra R110m, which must be used to hire 170 lawyers.
Treasury says the NPA's new electronic case flow management system - for which Manuel provides an extra R65m - will also address "long case cycle times".
Also in need of more and better funding are SA's prisons, currently groaning with 163 000 inmates. A report by the Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons in November said SA's prisons were overcrowded by at least 40%.
However, by 2011, there should be six new prisons - in Paarl, East London, Port Shepstone, Nigel, Klerksdorp and Kimberley. Once operational, it is intended that these prisons will house an additional 15 000 offenders.
Five of the six prisons will be built as public-private partnerships with investors.
Treasury's Budget review says a further R300m will be allocated in the next three years to cover staffing costs at the new Kimberley prison.
According to a treasury official: "The new correction facilities will provide an additional 15 000 beds and reduce overcrowding by 13%."
That will help but not solve the problem. In theory, it will simply reduce overcrowding to 27%. "It's not enough, but it's some money," says the official. "The correctional services department got exactly what it asked for."
With prisons, as with police, the problem isn't so much money as capacity. Part of the overcrowding problem stems from the fact that, at last glance, more than a quarter of those in prisons (nearly 50 000 people) were awaiting trial. The money to be spent on reducing court caseloads should therefore also help reduce this number.
South Africans assailed by crime should not begrudge this use of taxpayers' cash. More police, better crime-fighting facilities, more prisons - it sounds almost too good to be true. We should all hope it isn't. At a time when the Scorpions - the most efficient corruption-busting unit in SA police history - is in danger of being disbanded for patently political reasons, government still has a lot of work to do before convincing the public it is serious about addressing the country's longstanding and seemingly intractable crime problem.
