It’s high time government addressed gang violence
IT IS time for an urgent intervention in the gang violence which is out of control across the city. This is not normal anywhere in the world and the national government cannot carry on pretending that it is.
As a councillor, I am fully aware of the city’s efforts to curb gang violence.
The administration has done as much as possible.
Since the DA took over the city in 2006 we have committed as much money and staff towards stopping gang violence as is possible for a municipality to do, but clearly it’s not possible to fight this war alone.
Over the years, mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith has implemented a number of initiatives to combat gang-related violence and drug use.
These include the K9 sniffer dog unit, installation of Shotspotter in Hanover Park and Manenberg and the empowerment of neighbourhood watches and a stabilisation unit in Manenberg.
The DA in Cape Town even went as far as launching neighbourhood safety teams in the precincts of the 10 police stations with the highest crime rates.
I will be making an extra effort to ensure that the city budget increases policing resources sharply so that we can rescue communities where SAPS is not able to fight gangsterism on their own.
I will also be calling on the premier to urgently engage the national government to address its constitutional responsibility of fighting crime and preventing it.
It is clear from information made available to the City last week about the number of SAPS members at various police stations that our most vulnerable communities are badly under-serviced by the police, and the police stations in the areas with the highest crime rates have the least police officers deployed to them by the national government.
As a councillor in Scottsdene where the failure by the ANC government to adequately protect and defend our communities is painfully clear, I commit myself to changing this and delivering a better life to our people and making progress possible for safer communities.