SAPS, WC government and city reach agreement to improve security

An agreement has been reached between the Western Cape Government and the City of Cape Town with the SAPS to ‘strengthen’ security in Cape Town, Cape Town etc. defeated.

The agreement does not entail a “decentralization of police powers,” but authorities have stated that security would be improved and support for the metropolis’ police services would increase.

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Yesterday, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu held a meeting before the police, city and provincial governments approved an agreement.

After meeting with the city, Mchunu said delegating police powers was “not the only way to tackle crime in South Africa”.

“We have come up with this agreement for all three of us. For us, this is the best model. This is the beginning of every other discussion that we can have in the future on every other issue,” Mchunu said.

He said that due to budget cuts they could not get more police to help, as reported by News24.

“We cannot increase the number of police officers on the ground due to budget constraints. The City of Cape Town has 600 uniformed (sic) police officers, and they will be augmented by our members,” Mchunu said.

“This is what people want to see. On the ground, people want security. They want to see security and see that the government cares about them,” Mchunu added.

The deal was struck amid “ongoing gang violence” on the Cape Flats.

The Public Prosecution Service has lobbied the national government to transfer ‘police powers’ to the WCG, because the constitution provides for this.

According to the provincial government, there was a ‘solid basis’ for the decentralisation of the police to the provinces, but calls for this were ignored.

JP Smith, Mayco Member for Safety and Security, said they had asked for more powers in the areas of investigation and crime intelligence of the national police.

“We are short about 8,600 investigators. Our investigators have a caseload of over 300 files. Realistically, they can only handle 25, and that is justice that is being denied to many victims,” Smith said.

“The city has 40 investigative officers and we are willing to share those resources. We can do more with our resources (…) This agreement is not about transferring authority. It says we are going to talk about legislative changes, which is encouraging,” Smith added.

Anroux Marais, Community Safety MEC, claimed that the relationship between different levels of government in relation to crime control in the Western Cape was “confrontational” rather than cooperative.

“Our people are suffering at the hands of extortionists – whether they are petty criminals who rob the lady desperately trying to make ends meet selling vegetables on the busy sidewalk, or thugs who demand protection money from bars and nightclubs, or the self-proclaimed construction mafia that is massively draining the nerves and fibers of our economy,” Marais said.

“Our people are suffering at the hands of murderers, gangsters, robbers, rapists, hijackers and every other type of criminal. This process must lead to a safer Western Cape, otherwise it is not worth the effort,” Marais added.

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