Cape Town - The battle lines were drawn in the Western Cape legislature as opposition parties ripped into the DA-led government on Thursday, accusing it of failing to address the scourges of gangsterism and drugs.
DA members retaliated, saying the ANC was punishing the people of the Western Cape because they did not vote for them.
Social Development MEC Albert Fritz challenged: “Every child that is dying in Hanover Park, in Mitchells Plain, is an indication of that punishment that the ANC is dishing out to our people in those communities.”
MPLs from both sides of the House were spewing venom as they debated ongoing gang- and drug-related killings in the province and the effect they have on children.
The ANC’s Pat Lekker blamed the DA for getting rid of initiatives like the Bambanani volunteer system, and for criticising police efforts while their community safety MEC, Dan Plato, was “entertaining” notorious Cape Town gang bosses.
“He entertains hardened criminal drug lords and gang leaders. He fights the police from every possible platform – even funerals,” she said.
Criticising the community safety department’s oversight efforts, Lekker said that instead of working towards fixing the problems, the department “sends people to mortuaries and courts to count bodies and cases in numerical futility”.
In response, Plato called for more police resources and specialised units as he painted a grim picture of the alarming increase in gang violence, with 311 bystanders falling victim in a year.
“Convictions around gang-affected areas are as low as 10 percent, with Khayelitsha being as low as 1 percent...”
ANC member Richard Dyantyi called on the DA to stop talking and to act to save lives. He reminded members that Premier Helen Zille had previously been part of a “lame duck government” with Hennie Bester as MEC for community safety at the time when Pagad was blowing up the Cape and scaring away tourists and investors.
“Only the ANC brought that under control, had the high flyers removed, and brought back stability. Now under her watch drug crimes, gangs, and even vigilantism is again on the rise.”
Calling it a case of déjà vu, Dyantyi said at the time Bester and Zille thought the only solution to the problem was calling in the army, having more police, creating a gang unit and creating more laws and regulations.
The EFF’s Nazier Paulsen said the army was not a solution. Living areas like “concentration camps” on the Cape Flats bred gangsterism.
“Drugs and gangs do not just kill children, but traumatise those who survive for life.”
DA member Mireille Wenger said “eight out of 10 murders (in the province) will not result in a conviction, and for gang-related murder cases this statistic is likely even worse”.
And she asked if gang violence would ever fully be eradicated. “Probably not, but it is reasonable to believe that gang violence can be reduced if each of us plays our part.”
But it was the DA’s Masizole Mnqasela who really had opposition members seething as he launched a scathing attack on President Jacob Zuma, saying they were disappointed the president did not see the importance of moral regeneration.
“We are talking today about the kind of challenges confronted by the Western Cape children, the youth – ravaged by gangsterism and ravaged by drugs and abuse. Go and tell our president to please come and assist the Western Cape in the programme to fight gangsterism and drugs.”
He added: “You cannot punish voters for rejecting corruption, for rejecting maladministration… We want a clean government, we want an accountable government, but most of all we want a government that has values and principles.”
Fritz asked why drug lords were not being removed from society.
“You want to tell me that we do not know who the drug lords are, and I sometimes wonder why… because I’ve seen one of our former deputy ministers is also under investigation for drug peddling, and I wonder sometimes what that means.”
Fritz said the DA wanted the army to come in to stabilise the area.
“We’re not saying the army must come and shoot everyone. We asked because there’s a crisis.”
In the Eastern Cape it took two weeks for the army to stabilise the gang situation, he said, but the same could not be done for the Western Cape.
“We asked for the same, but they refused because the people of this province did not vote for the ANC.”
Cape Argus