Cape Town - The purpose of the Western Cape Safety Plan is to halve the murder rate over the next 10 years, says Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz.
He was speaking during the seventh virtual meeting of the legislature, where he was asked by EFF MPL Nospiho Makamba-Botya about the role of Premier Alan Winde’s Safety Plan, which had promised to “prevent crime where and when it occurs”.
Fritz said: “Due to the continuing increase in the number of Covid-19 infections in the province, Law Enforcement Advancement Programme (Leap) officers are being deployed in the targeted Covid-19 hot spot areas. But it must be emphasised that we will not take our foot off the accelerator in terms of the gang hot spots. That will always be data-led.”
Makamba-Botya asked what role the City’s law enforcement officers played in the prevention and interception of domestic violence during the lockdown period.
“In our application of policing, when our Leap officers together with the SAPS and metro police go out on patrol and get alerted to an incident of domestic violence, they will immediately respond and deal with it.
“They will arrest whoever needs to be arrested and also assist the victim in channelling her to firstly lay an official criminal charge, but also if need be, to get the woman to a safe space for accommodation,” said Fritz.
DA MPL Louise Botha asked about recent high-level resignations of officials from the Cederberg municipality and what it had cost the provincial government.
Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell said: “The municipal manager, Louis Volschenk, resigned from the municipality and accepted another position at Saldanha Bay municipality, while the chief financial officer, Elrico Alfred, resigned from the municipality and no reasons were offered by him upon resignation.
“No packages were paid out to either Alfred or Volschenk upon their effective resignations,” added Bredell.
Good MPL Brett Herron said that the mayor and Mayco of the City of Cape Town should face personal punitive legal costs order for its litigation against the SA Human Rights Commission in respect of the Strandfontein Camp for homeless.
Herron said: “The courts have demonstrated, for example through legal costs awards against the public protector, that they will impose personal and punitive costs awards against reckless and vexatious litigants.”