GOOD Press Statement by Jonathan Cupido
GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor
17 October 2023
Yesterday we learned that 10 people were murdered in Cape Town over the weekend, and that 170 shooting incidents were recorded in one two-hour period.
Last week, media reported that 130 people in the Western Cape were killed in one week. Last month, it was reported that crime had increased in at least five townships regarded as hotspots, including Mitchell’s Plain and Gugulethu.
These numbers tell a graphic story about the impact of the City of Cape Town and Western Cape Provincial Government’s massive expenditure on fancy technology and private police… a very different story to the Mayor and Premier’s breathless PR.
Instead of Cape Town’s self-styled lawman Councillor JP Smith riding to the rescue last week he was too busy counting the number of shootings recorded by his listening devices, leaving his nemesis, the national Minister of Police, to announce that the province is to get 2600 new police recruits this year.
More boots on the ground is good, but will only yield short-term dividends. As a strategy, it doesn’t have legs unless the solution to crime is for South Africa to become a police state.
Cape Town needs better trained police on the ground, and more intelligent and strategic management of police resources. For that, the ANC-led national government must be held accountable.
But what Cape Town needs more than anything else, if it is to contribute to reducing lawlessness, is for its politicians to prioritise fixing the broken environments that spawn broken families and cultures of crime. For that, the DA-led city and province must be held accountable.
Local and regional government can’t really be held responsible for the unemployment rate, or for poverty, but they are directly responsible for developing communities which don’t further contribute to hopelessness and indignity.
Those who argue (not altogether without merit) that giving more money to a structure of national government is like pouring water in the sand should ask themselves about the impact of the resources that the province and city are pouring into their own nice-to-have police force and technology.
Media Enquiries:
Jonathan Cupido, GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor
Cell: 084 865 8122
Email: jonathanc@forgood.org.za
Janke Tolmay, GOOD Media Manager
Cell: 073 367 1223
Email: janke@forgood.org.za