SONA2019: Ramaphosa and ANC have no idea how to fight crime

8 February 2019

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) once again glossed over the severity of crime and violence in South Africa.

Ramaphosa’s State of No Action is indeed in full swing. Instead of addressing the ANC government’s chronic failure to address crime and violence in the country and presenting the nation with a concrete plan to make our streets and homes safer - Ramaphosa put the onus on communities to combat crime.

While the Democratic Alliance believes in a multi-stakeholder approach to combatting crime, ultimately the responsibility still lies with the South African Police Services (SAPS).

Ramaphosa’s SONA was symbolic of a governing party that is completely estranged from the lived reality of its citizens. SAPS remain under-resourced and under-capacitated. This has resulted in the national ratio of police officers to population increasing from 1:369 in 2016/17 to 1:375 in 2017/18. The ideal ratio should be 1:220.

56 people are murdered in South Africa every day and the number of sexual offences against women jumped by 53% from 2015 to 2017 (31 665 to 70 813).

Now is not the time to celebrate the ANC’s crime ‘summits’. Now is the time to question where and why there is no strategy in place to protect our communities and homes.

These statistics are further proof of the need for policing to be decentralised to ensure that provincial governments have real power in protecting communities and fighting crime. The DA will not stand by idly as the ANC continues to allow these numbers to grow, year by year. We want to protect those where we govern, and ideally, we want the opportunity to protect all South Africans.

Ramaphosa and the failing ANC are incapable of combatting crime. The DA is committed to building One South Africa for All, where our communities are safe and protected.

Issued by John Steenhuisen, DA Spokesperson on Crime, 8 February 2019