Cape Town - The Nyanga community praised the police, the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape government for their sterling work in making sure the area was no longer regarded as the murder capital of South Africa.
For years Nyanga has been considered the murder capital. However, over the past four financial years its murders have fallen by more than a third (34%). The figures in this financial year stand at 131 murders.
Just four years ago, the Western Cape accounted for 10 of the top 30 police stations in terms of murder, but to date only eight Western Cape police stations appear on the list of the quarterly crime statistics for the third quarter of 2021/22, released by Police Minister Bheki Cele last week.
Nyanga ward councillor Sandile Matini said during his time as the Nyanga Cluster Community Policing Forum (CPF) chairperson it was known as the murder capital.
He said they have since seen good improvement and that all community structures and stakeholders joined hands in fighting against crime in the area.
Nyanga CPF chairperson Martin Makasi said another reason for the improvement was that police had played a pivotal role, supported by the Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP) deployed to complement the work done by the police.
“CPF sector forums, most importantly neighbourhood watch (NHW) structures from four sectors in the Nyanga police precinct, did a very good job,” Makasi said.
Premier Alan Winde, said: “These statistics demonstrate clearly that our Provincial Safety Plan interventions are making a difference.”
Winde said they have seen decreases in the murder rate at Kraaifontein at 40.5%, Harare at 14.5%, Khayelitsha at 21.1% and Nyanga 24.1%.
“These account for the most significant decreases in murders among the top 30 murder stations in the country and are also areas in which we have deployed significant Leap resources as part of our plan to reduce the murder rate by 50% by 2029,” he said.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said LEAP has delivered 1100 officers to date in communities impacted by high crime rates.
“We are greatly encouraged by these results and are determined to build on this progress towards making Cape Town safer by investing in more safety resources,” he said.
Hill-Lewis said that includes increasing boots on the ground, expanding their capacity to train more officers, smart safety technology investments, and resources to build on the safety partnerships in communities.
The community safety standing committee chairperson in the legislature, Reagan Allen, said over the past decade the community had been victims of endemic gangsterism and illicit drug trading.
Allen said that as such, the safety plan was developed to bolster crime fighting efforts and assist in making communities safer.
He said to better understand the role that the Western Cape Safety Plan could have on combating crime in specific communities, he will invite the Department of Community Safety to provide an update on the implementation of the safety plan.
“While we have seen great improvement, by the police and LEAP, we remain concerned about the under-resourcing of the hard-working men and women in blue. Areas such as Delft, Mfuleni and Kraaifontein have remained within the top 30 police stations in terms of murder,” he said.