City responds to COSATU's criticism of enforcement priorities
COSATU's absurd press release criticizing me for the Traffic Service's recent cell phone blitz once again points to a fundamental misunderstanding of the functions of local government and justifies calling for Mr Ehrenreich's resignation or dismissal.
As Mr Ehrenreich well knows, crime prevention and fighting gangs is the exclusive competency of national government. Every component of the criminal justice system is under their control: the SAPS, who have an exclusive investigative focus (Metro Police is not allowed to investigate crime and murder), the National Prosecuting Authority, the Department of Justice and the Department of Correctional Services.
In spite of this, the City has gone above and beyond its mandate to dedicate resources to fighting crime by establishing a Gang Unit as well as a Drug Unit (amongst others) to assist the SAPS in executing their duties. The City of Cape Town also piloted a project in 2013 to deploy School Resource Officers to six high-risk schools across the metropole and is in the process of finalising a plan for the further rollout of this initiative.
When gang violence erupted in Manenberg in August last year, it was the City and the Western Cape Government who joined forces to safeguard school children whose lives were put in danger as a result of the indiscriminate shooting incidents. The City's Metro Police maintained an extraordinary deployment in the area until the end of the school year - a deployment far outweighing the SAPS resources in the area, but at the expense of visible policing in other communities.
The City has gone further than any other city in South Africa in its fight against gangs and disrupting their criminal activities as they relate to drugs and illegal firearms. We work tirelessly to support the SAPS and other nationally mandated law enforcement agencies who are the key players in the fight against crime.
In fact, under the DA administration, the City is currently spending R28 million per year dedicated to combatting gangs and preventing gang violence. Under the previous ANC-controlled Council, the City had no plan of action and no dedicated funding.
Whilst gang violence is at unacceptable levels in the City of Cape Town, the fact remains that many more people die on our roads from preventable accidents than die in gang violence and slowing down the high levels of carnage on our roads saves many lives, especially those of pedestrians (who make up the majority of road fatalities) who cannot afford cars and have to walk. Every driver who stops using his cell phone while driving and pays better attention to the road makes road users safer.
It is Mr Ehrenreich's party political colleagues and their mismanagement of SAPS that needs to be called to order. The facts are:
- 85% of the police stations in Cape Town are under-staffed
- 60% of all the national SAPS vacancies exist in the Western Cape Province
- SAPS terminated the paid reservist programme the moment the ANC lost control of Province thereby slashing the reservists from more than 22 000 to slightly over 2700 in 2012.
We are currently, according to figures supplied by SAPS, seeing a conviction rate for gang violence that is 12% or lower (as low as 2-5% in some other suburbs). This means that Ehrenreich's colleagues in national government have created a situation where the odds strongly favour gangsters with little fear of being brought to justice.
Road safety and the Traffic department is a local government competency. Cape Town is the only city where the road accident has come down year on year since 2006 and this means over 1000 lives saved.
I, and my colleagues at the City of Cape Town, will continue to use all our resources in our efforts to create a safe city for all our residents, at all levels and through all means possible.
Statement issued by Alderman JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, City of Cape Town, January 23 2014
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