Dan Plato
The Western Cape government’s whole-of-society approach to increase safety in our province recognises that meaningful partnerships are essential if we are to be successful in the battle against gangsterism and drugs in our communities.
We need meaningful partnerships that allow us to speak frankly about the problems, challenges and difficulties faced when dealing with gangs and substance abuse, yet remain solution-driven in approach and ensure equitable responsibility and commitment from all role-players.
The Western Cape has a drug problem, and the drug floodgates opened the moment the specialised drug and gang units were disbanded. The statistics speak for themselves: Between 2003/04 and 2012/13 drug-related crimes in the Western Cape increased from 19 940 to 82 000 reported cases. During the same period the Western Cape contributed close to 40 percent of all drug-related crimes in South Africa.
Though increased arrests can be attributed to better policing, one would expect that if that was the case we would start seeing a reduction in the number of these crimes. Instead these crimes continue to increase and the drug trade has now spread to rural areas – an indication that policing efforts are insufficient to address the problem.
What is extremely worrying is the increase in youth gangs and young people’s involvement in gangs. Children as young as 10 to 14 are running around with guns, and peddling drugs.
The prevalence of guns in our communities is also cause for concern, with up to 35 weapons being confiscated per week on the Cape Flats. These weapons are used to kill our innocent children, members of our communities, and our police officers. Some of these weapons are licenced, and while citizens have a right to become licensed firearm owners, they have a duty to secure their guns.
It is critical that police intelligence begins focusing on the trafficking of weapons in the province.
Why has SAPS intelligence not found where the guns and drugs are coming from, and why are these criminals not off our streets?
An answer applicable to the Western Cape is the serious shortage of policing resources that is crippling crime prevention.
Last year, the then minister of police, Nathi Mthethwa admitted that 128 out of 150 police stations in the province were understaffed. Eighty five percent of police stations in this province do not have enough police officers, and the number of police reservists on duty has been reduced by more than 50 percent over the past five years.
The police in the Western Cape are experiencing a shortage of 1 012 members. This accounts for 61 percent of the police shortages nationwide.
While some have said that employing “more police” is not the answer, I must point out that we are not asking for “more”, we are simply asking for the bare minimum, which we do not have.
We need specialised gang and drug units to be reintroduced. These units possess the resources and expertise to investigate and make arrests, and come with a track record of success.
The national police commissioner, General Reah Phiyega, recently boasted that since the re-establishment of the SAPS’s Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences specialised units four years ago, a total of 36 225 years in prison sentences and 695 life imprisonments were meted out in combating crimes against women and children. We need the same approach to achieve success in combating gang violence.
I believe the provincial police commissioner is trying to do the best that he can with the limited resources available, but the problem needs urgent intervention by the national government and the first order should be redirecting police resources from those provinces which have a clearly identified over-resourced police service.
A senior police general in the Western Caper recently admitted that police in the province are not able to beat gangs on the Cape Flats.
This is why the Western Cape government has at times called for the temporary deployment of the SANDF in hot spots facing gang violence and shootings. As a visible peacekeeping force, the temporary deployment of the army can free up the police to do the investigative work needed to ensure arrests. These arrests must translate into convictions to take gangsters off our streets.
The army was recently deployed in other provinces to restore calm in situations of community unrest, but not in the Western Cape where people are dying from gangsters’ bullets.
If they do not have adequate resources to eradicate the problems, how can we expect the police to curb the violence and crippling effect of gangsterism and drug abuse on our communities?
The Department of Community Safety and the Western Cape government, has already adopted a whole-of-society approach to increase safety in our communities.
Through our partnership with the religious fraternity in the province, we are providing educational and development alternatives to youths at risk during school holidays. For this year’s June holidays the department made more than R1.6 million available to more than 80 organisations in the province, reaching more than 14 000 young people.
The implementation of the Western Cape Community Safety Act will see the establishment of the police ombudsman – a first for the Western Cape and the country. The police ombudsman will address complaints from the public about inefficiencies in policing and poor service delivery from the police. We believe that by identifying and addressing systemic problems in the police, as was done recently through the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry, the police will be able to provide a better service to our communities.
The act will also introduce a more structured approach to co-ordinating the work of neighbourhood watches to ensure that they maximise the service they provide.
Through our Chrysalis Academy, we are providing development and training opportunities to youths between the ages of 17 and 25 to empower them economically, morally and spiritually. The programme links graduates with EPWP work placements and aims to place more than 1 500 graduates in the 2014/15 financial year.
The success of the Chrysalis Academy is being replicated with the establishment of a second, similar academy at Wolwekloof just outside of Ceres.
The recent findings of the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry, welcomed by all safety role-players, show that there are very real policing inefficiencies in our communities, especially with regards to gangsterism and drugs.
One of the commission’s recommendations is that the SAPS mechanism for determining human resource allocation is reviewed immediately by national police management. This will go a long way toward giving those stations most in need the resources to deal adequately with drugs and gangs.
The Western Cape government is fully committed to playing its part in addressing the scourge of drugs and gangs.
We need all role-players – especially the national government through the SAPS – to play their part. We require President Jacob Zuma to make good on his promises made in the past to provide answers and resources to those areas crippled by gangsterism and drugs.
l Plato is Western Cape minister of community safety.