ANC spin doctors way off the mark

WHENEVER anybody tries to put the facts on the table about the state of crime and explain the legal roles of the different spheres involved, you can be sure that the paid ANC letter writers will respond on demand to confuse the facts and place blame. Such are the letters from Colin Arendse and Fadiel Adams (Page 8, August 30).

Arendse seems to live in a dreamland where statistics replace the reality of thousands of people confronted by the ravages of gangsterism. Quoting stats of the one conviction you had in 2014 does not help any of the victims of gang violence today.

I am glad he acknowledges that the SAPS, controlled by the national ANC government, has limited resources and is severely under-deployed in the Western Cape, and that almost all police stations are well below the national average of police officers relative to residents. At the stations with the worst crime statistics, their deployment is at its lowest.

He also raises the Social Justice Coalition, which is taking the national government and SAPS to court to force them to increase their deployment to meet their own (SAPS) standards, and to deploy their staff where the crime is at its worst.

Arendse acknowledges the 2 000 firearms that corrupt SAPS officers sold to gangsters, which the SA Cities Network report identifies as a key driver of gang violence. How can you expect the City to protect our people when the police force arms the gangsters?

Adams is incorrect that the City spends R35 million on animal welfare. What we are spending R35m on is recruiting police officers to flood one of the top-10 worst crime areas in the city through a programme we call Neighbourhood Safety Teams.

There are many good people in the SAPS who are working hard to combat crime. But there are too many political deployees in the SAPS, like the ones Arendse and Adams write for, to allow it to be the police service that Cape Town needs. COUNCILLOR MZWAKHE NQAVASHE Chairperson of the Safety and Social Services Portfolio Committee City of Cape Town