Cape Forum demands a referendum on the devolution of police services at official launch
4 May 2022
The Cape Forum as a new civil society organisation in the Western Cape believes that a referendum should be held on the devolution of police forces to the Western Cape. The organisation made this announcement this morning during their official launch in the Bo-Kaap.
Heindrich Wyngaard, Executive Chairperson of the Cape Forum, said this morning that a letter about such a referendum had already been sent to Alan Winde, Premier of the Western Cape. Winde was asked to indicate whether he would be in favour of such a referendum and, if so, the Cape Forum will help to obtain legal certainty about it through a court case.
Cape Forum is a non-profit organisation that, through its ten focus areas, aims to develop into a mass movement. These focus areas are: safety, taxation, housing, energy, water, food security (land affairs, agriculture and fisheries), criminal justice system, education, infrastructure (public transport, ports and rail network) and health. The Cape Forum believes that these state functions should be devolved to the province, municipalities and communities.
Policing will be the organisation’s first focus as it affects all communities on a daily basis. The police’s inability to curb serious crime, such as gang violence, murders and farm attacks, is just one indication of how the ANC’s obsession with centralization and cadre deployment paralyzes state functions.
Cape Forum believes a referendum should be held so that Western Cape communities’ support on two issues can be tested: 1) whether police forces should be devolved from the national government to the provincial government and 2) whether Western Cape taxpayers’ money, which comes from the national treasury for policing, must be paid directly to the Western Cape government.
“As we put it in our manifesto, the development of community independence will enable communities to increasingly take their future into their own hands. In other words, the future of the Cape should be placed in Cape hands,” says Wyngaard.
Wyngaard also announced the board members for the Cape Forum who will support the organisation in its goals:
Heindrich Wyngaard (Executive Chairperson), William Waugh (Chief Operating Officer), Maryna Marengo-Barnard (lawyer), Carol van der Linde (strategist), William Sezoe (education student and language activist), Kallie Kriel (AfriForum representative), Malixole Gwatyu (agriculturist) and JP Biko Keyter (corporate communications expert and entrepreneur).
“While the Cape Forum leaves room for communities to live out their diversity, we want to become the civil society organisation of choice for all communities. We accept that there may be differences between communities on certain issues, but we believe it is better to focus on what we agree on,” Wyngaard adds. “The Cape has always been a place of gathering for people from different backgrounds, cultures, languages and beliefs. We must build on that by joining hands and building a secure and prosperous future for all communities.”
Issued by Chanté Kelder, Media Relations Officer, Cape Forum, 4 May 2022
