Western Cape Community Safety MEC Alan Winde on Thursday said he was disappointed that Police Minister Bheki Cele has rejected a request for the deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to gang-affected communities, to serve as a peacekeeping force in the province.
According to a statement from Winde, Cele had reportedly said in response to the request: “The crime situation is handled by the South African Police Service. There is no need for the SANDF to be deployed in the Western Cape, the current interventions are yielding positive results.”
Winde said: “Minister Cele would do well to inform residents of the Western Cape where these positive results are being yielded or where SAPS are handling crime, as they ought to.
“In fact, if Minister Cele is so confident in the results, he should release the quarterly crime statistics, so that everyone can see these positive results, which should also include the conviction rate. These stats are due to us by law, but he refuses to hand them over,” he said.
“I’d like to advise the Minister to come back from his fantasy world, as the reality in communities is the complete opposite, people are living in constant fear, residents are being held hostage in their homes, scared they might be hit by a stray bullet.”
According to Winde, there are reports of 25 murders this month in Mitchells Plain alone, and 17 murders in Bonteheuwel since the beginning of the year. “We know there are 10 murders and 10 attempted murders a day in our province, we know that 7 out of the top 10 murder stations are in the Western Cape. If this is not horrific enough to move the Minister to respond to the cry of the people, nothing is.
“I will be engaging our legal team to advise me about the steps that can be taken, which includes the option of declaring an intergovernmental dispute, to, at a bare minimum, compel Minister Cele to immediately address our under-resourcing in the Province,” he added.