Cape Town - MEC for Police Oversight and Community Safety, Reagan Allen, has called on residents to remember to make submissions to the Police Ombudsman on the police’s lack of clamping down on drug houses.
Allen said residents only had three days left to make their suggestions and submissions to the Western Cape Police Ombudsman.
A month ago, Allen said that there were 15 77 drug houses in the Western Cape and that police had failed in closing down many.
Today, he is reminding residents that their participation matters.
On Friday, Allen, together with Premier of the Western Cape, Alan Winde and members of the LEAP Reaction Unit, carried out a ride along in the greater Steenberg community, such as Lavender Hill and Retreat, and visited hot spots where drug and gang activity is rife.
“I’d like to firstly thank all those that have already made submissions,” said Allen.
“This information will assist us in uncovering why SAPS is unable to prevent these illicit activities from destroying our communities. This investigation is very important, and I’d like to encourage those that have not yet made submissions to urgently do so, as their contributions will go a long way in eradicating this evil from our society.”
In June 2021, SAPS confirmed that there were 1 577 drug houses operating in the Western Cape. Of these, 53% are situated in the Metro. The prevalence of illicit drug trade in the province, and the rest of South Africa, further threatens the cohesion of communities – particularly those facing many socio-economic difficulties.
Allen said the Ombudsman’s investigation is based on determining the reasons for the police not being able to address the manufacturing and supply of illegal substances in addition to the use, possession and dealing thereof and terminate the operation of these premises.
He added that they were aware that police lacked resources and men on the ground but called on police to be active in decreasing the amount of drug houses operating: “We acknowledge that SAPS in our province is grossly under-resourced, due to a failure of national government to adequately deploy the required resources to our province. The boots on the ground are doing their best to combat crime.
“It is, however, our constitutional oversight responsibility to hold SAPS accountable where they might not effectively protect our people, and this is one mechanism that we’re utilising so that we’re all better placed to ensure that drug houses are immediately closed down.”
Last month, Brigadier Novela Potelwa of the South African Police told Weekend Argus that they had written to the Western Cape Commissioner about the investigation.
“The office of the Provincial Commissioner in the Western Cape has, through written correspondence, been notified of the intended investigation by the office of the Western Cape police ombudsman in relation to police inefficiency in dealing with drug outlets in the Province.
“The SAPS respects the rule of law and will cooperate with the intended probe.
“The scourge of drugs and its manifestations while concerning to all requires a whole-of-society approach inclusive of all government entities as specified in the national drug master plan(2019-2024),” Potelwa said.
This was echoed by Chief of Metro Police Wayne Le Roux, who explained that the pandemic and lockdown restrictions had slowed down the process.
He said for the past two years, they had to place evictions on hold.
Submissions can be sent via email to [email protected] before 20 May 2022.