Attention editors: Please see English audio by MPP Gillion Bosman attached.
Of the Western Cape’s 151 police precincts, 116 suffer shortages in staff, and only five are staffed according to SAPS personnel targets. These figures, which once again reveal the depth of SAPS’ failure to allocate sufficient resources to the Western Cape, were revealed just days after the latest crime statistics showed a worrying uptick in violence in the Western Cape.
The figures, which were revealed in response to a DA parliamentary question on the matter, paint a clear picture of a pervasive staff shortage which affects some of the most troubled and violent areas of the Western Cape. Vacancy rates in these areas include:
- Bishop Lavis: 17.1%
- Cape Town Central: 18.6%
- Delft: 16.9%
- Grassy Park: 21.9%
- Gugulethu: 14.2%
- Kensington: 19.4%
- Khayelitsha: 14.9%
- Langa: 16.5%
- Manenberg: 17.1%
- Mfuleni: 17.1%
- Nyanga: 21.1%
- Ocean View: 18.2%
In total, there are now only 15 327 operational SAPS members deployed to the Western Cape’s 151 police stations – in spite of a SAPS-prescribed minimum of 20 000. This means that SAPS numbers in the Western Cape are now at their lowest ever level, and in apparent freefall. The number of detectives has shrunk even relative to earlier this year, with 2 565 left in the Western Cape.
In conjunction with the most-recent crime statistics, these numbers prove that Bheki Cele has abandoned the people of the Western Cape to crime, and has failed to fulfil his mandate of delivering safety to Western Cape residents. In spite of a national police budget that dwarfs that of the entire Western Cape Government by more than R20 billion, Bheki Cele and the ANC have proven unable or unwilling to make a difference in the Western Cape. Decades of mismanagement and corruption have now resulted in an untenable situation, and lives are being lost as a result.
The DA reiterates its urgent call that policing powers in the Western Cape be devolved to the provincial government, and that Cele be removed from office.