“Federal police in South Africa and specifically the Western Cape is the answer to restore accountability and improve service delivery by the broken law-enforcement body that we know as the South African Police Service”, said Ian Cameron of Action Society.
Action Society fully supports Western Cape Premier, Alan Winde’s, suggestion for the devolution of powers of the South African Police Service (SAPS).
“Simply put, it is devolution from a failing national state, so that voters who vote for competent government can get the services they vote for, that will be the case in the Western Cape,” Cameron added.
He explained that it will be much better for the safety of South African citizens, where they vote for competent government officials that support community based policing. They then will not be dependent on a national body that has been tarnished by political interference for years.
The Western Cape for many years, has had the largest majority of vacant posts in the police compared to other provinces. A report by the Public Service Commission published in 2018, found that 85% of police stations in the Western Cape are understaffed. A year later, in 2019 the Western Cape police ombudsman indicated that the ratio of officers to population in the Western Cape fell well short of the UN’s recommendation of 1:200, with SA’s ratio sitting at 1:383.
If the devolution of the SAPS does not happen, it simply means that policing will further deteriorate and we will be increasingly reliant not only on community safety structures, but also on provincial and local government law enforcement structures that don’t always have the same broad mandate that the South African Police Service does.
Although Action Society feels strongly that community based policing structures are important, statutory law-enforcement bodies like the SAPS, are crucial in a country crippled with violent crime.
“We do not want policing and law enforcement to be continually abused by the ANC. Action Society is of the belief that the ANC is deliberately making sure that police in the Western Cape are badly resourced in terms of the SAPS, so that Western Cape citizens get angry with provincial government – most people are not aware that policing falls under national government. We all know that governance in the Western Cape, is far better than the rest of the country. A federal system will also assist in ensuring that money for policing goes to policing and is not abused in another way,” concludes Cameron.
ISSUED BY: Action Society
DATE: 10 September 2021
FOR MEDIA ENQUIRIES:
Ian Cameron
Spokesperson: Action Society,
Cell: 073 388 0474
