GOOD Statement by Brett Herron,
GOOD Secretary-General & Member of Western Cape Parliament
06 May 2026
Premier Alan Winde’s answers to parliamentary questions reveal the extent of the Western Cape’s political dilly-dallying over police resources for the past seven years.
In 2019, amid spiralling violent crime just before the General Election, the province declared an intergovernmental dispute with the national government over the allocation of police resources to, and within, the province – only to withdraw from the process the month after the election in favour of pursuing a “good faith” agreement.
Seven years later, in February 2026, delivering his State of the Province Address amid a resurgence of violent crime, Winde threatened to declare another intergovernmental dispute with the national government over the matter.
In reply to written parliamentary questions by GOOD MPL Brett Herron in April, however, Winde walked back his threat. Now, he said, his threat reflected his “growing frustration with the slow progress” of the province’s good faith efforts.
Declaring an intergovernmental dispute “remains an option of last resort should the many good-faith efforts made to engage and work with the SAPS and Ministry of Police continue to proceed at a slow pace”.
The Democratic Alliance and its Western Cape Government have persistently complained about the allocation of police resources in the province. Yet, despite their legal and constitutional powers to take action provided for in the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, to declare and litigate intergovernmental disputes, they have failed to do so. Instead, they just keep announcing the threat to do so.
Winde is a paper tiger. He speaks tough – in another election year, with violent crime in the province still totally out of control. How many lives lost and communities traumatised while he awaits his so-called good-faith resolution for seven years?
Winde’s endless waiting reflects ineffectual leadership. He and his colleagues in the DA-led provincial government blame crime on the national government-led police to deflect attention from their own under-investment in fixing crime-incubating and hellish ghetto environments on the Cape Flats.
Instead, the Province has prioritised investing Billions of Rands in its own police, called the LEAP Programme, while violent crime continues to soar.
| * Compounding Winde’s dithering is ongoing litigation relating to a 2018 ruling by the Equality Court that the system for the allocation of police resources in the Western Cape unfairly discriminated against black and poor people. The discrimination has never been remedied. According to Winde, the Western Cape Government “decided to allow the judicial process to proceed to determine a remedy”. April 2019 | Western Cape declares inter-governmental dispute |
| May 2019 | General Election |
| May 2019 | Winde sworn in as Premier |
| June 2019 | Winde’s MEC for Community Safety meets Police Minister Bheki Cele |
| June 2019 | Western Cape withdraws inter-governmental dispute in “good faith” |
| July 2019 | Army deployed to assist police fight rampant gang violence |
| Feb 2026 | President announces army to return to Cape Flats |
| Feb 2026 | Winde threatens to declare inter-governmental dispute |
| April 2026 | Winde says inter-government dispute still an option, but good faith better |
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