Cape Forum demands a referendum on the devolution of police services at official launch
4 May 2022
The Cape Forum as a new civil society organisation in the Western Cape believes that a referendum should be held on the devolution of police forces to the Western Cape. The organisation made this announcement this morning during their official launch in the Bo-Kaap.
Heindrich Wyngaard, Executive Chairperson of the Cape Forum, said this morning that a letter about such a referendum had already been sent to Alan Winde, Premier of the Western Cape. Winde was asked to indicate whether he would be in favour of such a referendum and, if so, the Cape Forum will help to obtain legal certainty about it through a court case.
Cape Forum is a non-profit organisation that, through its ten focus areas, aims to develop into a mass movement. These focus areas are: safety, taxation, housing, energy, water, food security (land affairs, agriculture and fisheries), criminal justice system, education, infrastructure (public transport, ports and rail network) and health. The Cape Forum believes that these state functions should be devolved to the province, municipalities and communities.
Policing will be the organisation’s first focus as it affects all communities on a daily basis. The police’s inability to curb serious crime, such as gang violence, murders and farm attacks, is just one indication of how the ANC’s obsession with centralization and cadre deployment paralyzes state functions.