Statement by Brett Herron, GOOD Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament and Secretary General
WESTERN CAPE SAFETY PLAN SHAM:
The Western Cape’s Safety Plan is to ignore half of the murder hotspots in the province; and send one third of the promised 3,000 law enforcement officers, armed just with pepper spray, to the other half.
7 May 2020
Today I tabled a discussion in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament on the so-called Western Cape Safety Plan. I have raised my concerns about the falsehoods and broken promises after reviewing the actual detail of the proposed additional law enforcement officers, their training and the proposed deployment strategy.
Last year Premier Winde promised us a Provincial Police Force. Later in 2019 he promised 3,000 new law enforcement officers who would work to halve the murder rate.
Eradicating crime from our neighbourhoods and making the homes, streets and public spaces in our province safe again is critical. Today I called for a discussion because, having finally discovered some of the details, I see that what is being planned doesn’t match the promises that have been made.
The details of this plan have been hidden away from the members of this Parliament – I have been asking for the plan for months and never got it. We just got a fluffy working document.
It was only when the City of Cape Town Council had to approve the Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (the LEAP) that we could finally see some real detail.
– The Western Cape Parliament was asked to divert hundreds of millions of Rands to fund a promised 3000 new law enforcement officers that would be deployed to the crime hotspots to reduce violence.
– As recently as 14 November 2019 the Minister said “3000 new law enforcement officers deployed where and when crime happens”.
– Yet 3 weeks before that, on 23 October, the Cabinet had considered 4 deployment scenarios presented by the city and resolved to approve the roll out of only 1000 officers.
– We were promised 3000, but we are getting 1000.
We know we have a major crime problem and that Cape Town is the murder capital of the country. I support any initiative to reduce crime and the murder rate in our province and provincial capital.
The Safety Plan identifies the top ten murder police precincts in the Western Cape.
– Both the Safety Plan and the Minister promised that these new law enforcement officers would be deployed “where and when crime happens”.
– But now I see that this is not what is going to happen.
– The City of Cape Town’s LEAP deployment plan doesn’t match the murder hotspots. The new law enforcement will go to Nyanga, Philippi East, Delft, and Kraaifontein, but they will not go to the murder hotpots of Bishop Lavis, Harare, Gugulethu or Mfuleni.
Out of the ten murder hotspots, the DA will only deploy more law enforcement to half of the precincts. Other units that the City plans to deploy are not in these top ten hotspots.
There’s no doubt that many other communities are also ravaged by crime – but how is the Premier planning to halve the murder rate if he will not send any new law enforcement to half of the murder hotspots?
Not only will many of the worse crime-affected neighbourhoods not see any of this additional support, those that do will be getting pepper-spray wielding learner law enforcement staff.
The 1000 law enforcement officers being sent out onto the frontlines of half of the city’s most violent crime precincts are actually LEARNER law enforcement officers. They will initially be deployed after receiving basic training – which includes peace officer training, a traffic warden certificate and training on the City of Cape Town By-Laws.
Later, in groups of 125, they will undergo a further five weeks of training and it is only them that they will BEGIN to get BASIC firearm training. The accredited basic firearm training qualification requires 20 hours of training – 12 hours of theory and just 8 hours of practical training.
When these boots on the ground get to their new precincts, they will be forming part of the Neighbourhood Safety Teams (NSTs). According to the City’s Annual Police Plan the NST’s functions are:
-
Building relationships with communities
-
Assisting communities with social service interventions
-
Uplifting communities by providing support in reporting matters.
I am concerned by the glib handling of this plan, but I now see that the detail had to be hidden so that no one would uncover the level of deception about one of the most critical issues affecting the lives and prosperity of the people who live under threat of death every day.
The so-called plan is a sham. It’s a shameful, cynical hoax and the DA should hang their heads in shame. 100 of the 1000 officers will form part of an expanded anti-land invasion unit. How will this help reduce murder rates?
People have been desperate for some relief from the relentless killing fields they live on. But this “Safety Plan” is a cruel and despicable false promise.
Ends…