2019 Crime Statistics – SAPS management need to shape up, be honest about their shortcomings and stop blaming society
12 September 2019
In 2018, the National Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, is reported as saying that ‘heads would roll’ if crime was not reduced. Well crime is up, again, in almost all categories and when asked this morning about his 2018 statement, the National Minister replied that ‘we don't see that heads should roll now,’. Instead, the blame was put on ‘societal values’.
If the National Police Minister will not act, then it is time for President Ramaphosa to show leadership and take action to protect our residents from the failures of the South African Police Service (SAPS) management.
There is a complete breakdown in the criminal justice system – from policing to prosecutions. For ten years we have seen the crime rate go up year after year for some of the most serious categories – murder, hijacking and home invasions (robberies at residential premises). These are some of the crimes that residents fear most and they continue to increase with no end in sight.
Yet the same managers have been in charge in the Western Cape under this failure to deal with crime for the past decade.
The policemen and women on the ground are doing their best in very difficult circumstances, but they are hamstrung by management failures and their lives are put at risk.
SAPS management have proven that they are not up to the task. The SAPS Crime Intelligence and Detective Services is dysfunctional, and one just needs to look at the broken passenger rail system in Cape Town – 114 train carriages torched over the past three years and not a single prosecution. Nobody has been held accountable for these economy destroying acts.
‘The facts are that the City is having to use more and more ratepayers’ funds to put in place service delivery that residents are already paying national government for through their income tax contributions. We have had to start combating metal theft, have undertaken liquor enforcement, marine enforcement, rail enforcement and even gang enforcement – none of these are City of Cape Town responsibilities and none of these were performed previously by local government.
‘It is imperative for the provincial government to hasten the intergovernmental dispute against the national government to return the 4 500 SAPS officers that have been lost by the province over the last four years. Even more important than the policing patrol resources, is the crisis around detective services and investigations, closely linked to the failure of crime intelligence. It is widely acknowledged that no detective can realistically manage a case load of more than 15 to 20 dockets, but a recent report published by the Western Cape Department of Community Safety exposed the fact that no SAPS detective in the province has fewer than 200 dockets to attend to. In practise, this simply means that 180 of these cases is never likely to be attended to, regardless of how committed the detective is,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.
These are not easy statements to make, but they are necessary because Capetonians deserve a functional police service.
The City of Cape Town has put measures in place to try and make up for the SAPS resource shortages and management failures, but the more money we spend on law enforcement, the primary function of the SAPS, the less we have to spend on other services for our residents.
I have already made an additional R165 million available during the adjustment budget in January this year, and responded to residents’ calls for increased safety by giving the Safety and Security Directorate the biggest budget they have had in 10 years. This is not enough though, and we need the SAPS Management level to function properly. It is time for President Ramaphosa to intervene and put our residents’ interests first.
Issued by Greg Wagner, Spokesperson to the Executive Mayor, 12 September 2019
