Debate over policing powers: ANC and GOOD party challenge DA's claims

The ANC and the Good Party have clapped back to the recent remarks made by the DA during a podcast where the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Ian Cameron, and Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, tackled the scale of crime and devolution of policing powers.

“The ANC single-handedly destroyed the South African Police Service. We should say it unapologetically,” said Cameron. 

Cameron said that over the last few months, it seems that people are bearing a bigger burden of fear and “we’re not in a good space”.

Smith said that the SAPS is in a very difficult situation, and despite the well-intentioned individuals making an effort to make it work, the “organisation as a whole is in a very difficult space”.

“The figures that the provincial government in the Western Cape got recently show that we’ve atrophied another 2,000 staff (members), so yes, we’ll see the launch of 1,000s of members in a parade somewhere, but in the background, during that same time, we’re losing 1,500 (members).”

Cameron also highlighted how the ANC abuses the lack of clarity regarding where the police's responsibilities lie.

“The ANC actually released a statement, I think two, three weeks ago, where they said that the Western Cape Government has failed etc. And I happened to sit next to the guy that released the statement last week on the plane, and he said, ‘I saw you reacted to my statement’. I said to him, ‘But you’re deliberately lying. Like, why would you do that?’ And he just laughed. So, there’s a deliberate attempt to mislead the people and create this perception,” Cameron said.

Leader of the Opposition in the Western Cape Provincial Legislature, Khalid Sayed, said that they stand firmly behind the statement that MPL, Benson Ngqentsu, made a few weeks ago, in relation to the DA's devolution agenda.

“The Memorandum of Understanding, signed by both the City, the province, and the national government, makes provision for that. All spheres of government have their role to play. The DA in the Western Cape and the City of Cape Town have not played their role, ” said Sayed.

Sayed said it is “quite shocking” that a chairperson of the portfolio committee of police can go and defend a provincial government and a City government when they are at fault.

“He is actually supposed to work with us in the province, regardless of political party.”

GOOD Secretary-General & Member of the Western Cape Parliament, Brett Herron, said that the DA’s podcast comments 'are a masterclass in political deflection, more interested in scoring points than saving lives'.

“While the DA continues to demand more power, it has consistently failed to use the powers it already has. The Western Cape’s Safety Plan, backed by billions in public funds, has failed to stem the tide of violence in communities like Philippi East, Mfuleni, and Kraaifontein, which remain among the deadliest places in South Africa, ” Herron said.

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