Innovative Policing Key to Tackling Western Cape Crime Crisis
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde (left), President Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu at a briefing on the launch of the Cooperation Agreement to Combat Crime held at Erica Park Sports Ground in Belhar, Cape Town on August 30, 2024.
Image: GCIS
Alan Winde
In a recent article published in IOL, Mr. Benson Ngqentsu of the ANC and SACP delivered his analysis of the Western Cape's crime situation. Mr Ngqentsu accused 'international capitalist market forces' of ignoring the reality of the working class in the Western Cape, and claimed that crime in the Western Cape is the result of a transnational neoliberal capitalist effort to undermine the lived experience of our poorest residents.
Ngqentsu's analysis was more concerned with ideological buzzwords than solutions for the residents he claims to fight for. In reality, the truth behind what causes crime, not just in the Western Cape but across South Africa, does not need a high-minded, philosophical explanation. Deliberate exclusion and underdevelopment of specific areas under apartheid, coupled with a stunted national economy and inadequate national government police resourcing have provided fertile ground for crime to thrive.
His so-called 'analysis' of the situation was light on suggestions toward a solution and failed to take accountability for his own party's role in creating, and exacerbating, the situation we now face.
It is important to remind readers, that the Constitution defines policing and prosecution as exclusive responsibilities of the national government. But because crime has such a dramatic impact on the daily lives of our residents the Western Cape Government is intervening where we can, and within that limited scope, we are making a difference.
Over the past five years, this province, with our partners at both local government and community levels, has invested to demonstrate a new way of policing. Our LEAP and other municipal law enforcement initiatives have pioneered a technology-enabled, data-led model of policing far removed from the antiquated approach employed by national government-controlled SAPS. Our approach has had an impact on crime where deployed, with a recent study finding that our data-driven patrol model reduced contact crime five times as much as business-as-usual policing where it was deployed.
These interventions have shown success with a comparatively limited budget and resources. Imagine what we could achieve if we were allocated more power and resources. Over the Medium-Term Economic Framework, the Western Cape Government will spend R3. 955 billion on safety – the most we can prioritise while maintaining our frontline services in health, education, and social development. However, the national SAPS budget currently stands at R133.4 billion. For context, the entire budget for the Western Cape Government – everything that this government does, including safety, education, healthcare, social development, and municipal support – is R89.316 billion for 2025/2026.
Despite this, the national SAPS continues to struggle. Police-to-population ratios in parts of our province exceed 1:1000. We're short roughly 10,000 SAPS officers. Investigative and crime intelligence functions remain in disarray. And the gang kingpins profiting off the misery of our communities continue to evade justice.
Mr Ngqentsu is correct in one respect: the root causes of crime are developmental. But here again, the ANC national government has consistently failed to act. For years, the ANC national government has consistently failed to provide the necessary powers and resources to properly resolve the issues of mobility that keep our working class geographically separated and economically excluded; they have failed to release large parcels of national government-owned land that we could use for well-located affordable housing; and they have consistently passed impractical legislation that does not fix the class divides in health and education, but deepen them.
The GNU has brought a renewed will from the national government to work with us in solving these problems. But too many obstacles still stand in the way of growing our economy and creating the jobs and opportunities that remain the most effective, long-term solutions to crime.
That is why here in the Western Cape we are forging ahead, despite constraints, with an unprecedented effort to grow the economy and create jobs – the only factor that can eliminate crime and its causes. With far more encouraging employment numbers than any other province by far, we are making progress.
As leaders, we all have a responsibility to undo decades of systematic exclusion and underdevelopment that manifest in crime and social dysfunction. I urge Mr Ngqentsu to join us in that work. The time for theory has passed. Our residents need action.
* Alan Winde is Premier of the Western Cape.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.
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