SACP Western Cape Memorandum to SAPS, NPA, WC Community Safety & CoCT MMC for Safety
SACP South African Communist Party
South African Communist Party
25 June 2021
SACP Western Cape Memorandum to SAPS, NPA, WC Community Safety & CoCT MMC for Safety
When : 25 June 2021
Where : Provincial
Police Headquarters
Green Point, Cape Town
Memorandum delivered by the South African Communist Party in the Western Cape for the attention of, respectively; the South African Police Services, the National Prosecuting Authority, Western Cape Community Safety and the MMC for Safety.
To the police and prosecutorial authorities, we say:
· No progress can take place in unsafe and insecure living conditions;
· No development can take place in circumstances of rampant crime and criminality;
· No investment can be sustained in conditions of criminal impunity;
· No stable and thriving community life can take place in situations of permanent gang violence;
· No law enforcement can claim legitimacy if it is corrupt;
· No law enforcement can have credibility if it is manipulated for political motives.
The City of Cape Town as a microcosm of the Western Cape Province is ostensibly a crime scene of dangerous proportions. For the longest time, townships in the Cape Metro, in particular, have been exchanging the status of being the murder capital according to various iterations of the annual crime statistics. This happens against the background of Cape Town being amongst the highest-ranking world’s most dangerous cities.
Every facet of life in working class communities in the Western Cape is choking under the stranglehold of crime and police fraud and corruption which continues unabated to this day. Since time immemorial the Cape Flats communities have been living under the weight of violent gang wars and proliferation of drugs. Gang bosses and other criminal masterminds have their tentacles in every facet of community including the police top-brass. The most dangerous manifestation of this infiltration of law enforcement is epitomised by general police collusion with criminals and more recently the surveillance of police by the criminal underworld.
The recent killings of detectives including lawyers is a dangerous development which suggests that criminals are emboldened and capable of reducing our constitutional democracy into a gangster state.
Gangsters and criminal syndicates have taken control of communities, acting with complete impunity in terrorising communities, businesses and even hijacking developmental projects. The notorious protection fee rackets that are running amok without any fear of the state apparatuses are an example of descension of state into anarchy. Government services in the form of electricity technicians, municipal workers, emergency services, health workers are unable to freely perform their duties due to ever imminent threats of being harmed by thugs.
In what we have characterised as the nexus between the criminal underworld, law enforcement, business elites and unscrupulous politicians; we observe morbid symptoms that paralyse communities. Development projects are stopped or hijacked by thieves demanding 30% protection fees. Extortion syndicates have become a prevalent feature in particular in the townships where shopkeepers, salons, hawkers and ordinary workers are targets.
All kinds of criminality are pervasive and becoming entrenched within our communities from drug lords and merchants, cash in transit heists, credit card swindlers, car hijacking syndicates, copper thieves, house break-ins, common or petty thieves all cumulatively reduce our province into a criminal enterprise and haven.
Gruesome and violent crimes such as murder, rape, hate crimes, gender-based violence, femicide, abduction and killing of children have become widespread in this province. In addition to this grim picture of violent crimes there is another layer which includes taxi killings as well as a pattern of assassination of political activists. There is a clear correlation between hitmen in the taxi industry and hits of political activists. There are many cases of assassination of political activists which remain unresolved and they include to mention a few:
- Charles Khanku - Crossroads - (2014)
- Ndoda Ngemntu- KTC/New Crossroad 2015
- Siyabulela Thwalani - Khayelitsha – (2017)
- Elese Depouce - Crossroads - (2018)
- Luyanda Mbhele – Kraaifontein – (2018)
- Siyabonga Gaji – Crossroads (2019)
- Siyabulela Siswana – Mfuleni – (2020)
This list is not exhaustive but crystalises the depth of the problem of poor investigative and convictions within this province in particular. We are acutely aware that the problem is deeper and wider than what is immediately comprehensible. It is for this reason that we have been appealing for the higher echelons of police to focus on core functions rather than internecine palace politics and factional infighting.
The proliferation of illegal guns in our communities contributes to the levels of violent crimes and incessant criminality in our communities. But again, police have been found to be complicit in supplying criminals with arms and ammunition. This police corruption contributes immensely to undermining crime fighting efforts.
What makes matters worse is police complicity or collusion with criminals which frustrates the efforts of hardworking and ethical men and women in blue. The evidence of this collusion is the inexplicable withdrawal of protection of Colonel Kinnear which ultimately led to his cold-blooded murder. Given these facts, it is not difficult to conclude that some within the police are aiding and abetting criminality.
The problem of police inefficiency is further compounded by the ridiculous operational competition between the South African Police Service and the Metro police which is not in the interests of the safety and security of majority people in the province. Further, it is clear that the Provincial Community Safety Department is a spectator in the unfolding embeddedness of criminality in communities. Working class communities are being terrorised and innocent lives endangered whilst there is no evidence of implementation of the Safety Plan.
Consequently, basic principles articulated in the Freedom Charter and fundamental constitutional guarantees such as safety, security and comfort; freedom of trade; and freedom of movement have been severely curtailed. What further compounds the problem is that our public office, the South African Police Services and other related law enforcement agencies which should inspire virtue to be an instrument of service to the people, are instead confronting a crisis of declining public confidence.
The National Prosecuting Authority and the justice system in terms of its actions is not assisting in some instances. For instance, they take forever to prosecute many serious cases thus undermining the hard-work of some detectives on the one hand. On the other hand, some criminals guilty of major crimes get released on bail or are granted early parole. As an example, a former top police officer, Christiaan Prinsloo, convicted of gun-running gets early release. What message does this send to those would be corrupt police officers?
Based on the foregoing, it stands to reason that the police system needs to be overhauled through a comprehensive policy shift. South Africa requires an ethical police, with professional and technical capacity, that is effective and accountable. In the meantime, it is necessary to conduct thorough vetting of all men and women in blue including lifestyle audits. This is one of the mechanisms to clean the rot in the law enforcement.
Only an ethical and professional police service will be able to rid our communities of the insidious criminality plaguing our communities.
· We demand police and law enforcement services that are adequately resourced
· We demand police and law enforcement services that are free from corruption
· We demand police and law enforcement services free from political machinations
· We demand justice for all the victims of GBV, hate crimes and political killings
· We demand the protection service of Jeremy Vearey until his matter is fully exhausted
· We demand an end on the purging of MK combatants
· We demand an independent vetting of all police officers
· We call for the establishment of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry to probe the capacity of the police to prevent, combat and investigate crime
· End in extortions in our communities
· An end in Gender Based Violence and Femicide
· End police involvement in crime and corruption
· Transformation of the South African Police Services
· An immediate appointment of the Provincial Commissioner
· Immediate re-instatement of General Jeremy Vearey
· Provision of more resources to the SAPS
· Legislate Law enforcement officers to be accountable
· No to austerity budget against the police
· The City of Cape Town must ensure that street lights remain on at night and further installation of street lights
· Demand fixing of potholes in our communities because they contribute to many car-hijackings
· An immediate probing of Harare Police station, Vredenberg, Beaufort West, Phillippi East
Whilst we fully understand that crime is a structural problem with deep social roots that requires a comprehensive approach, we must emphasise that the starting point is that there is no excuse for police inefficiency, corruption and malfeasance.
For this reason, our demands are justified and we will fight for these demands and mobilise communities across the spectrum in order to ensure safety, security and comfort for all!
Issued on behalf of the South African Communist Party in the Western Cape.
Signed by:
B. Ngqentsu (SACP Provincial Secretary) General T. Patekile (Acting Commissioner)
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A. Fritz (MEC – Community Safety) J. P. Smith (MMC for Safety)
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Adv Nicolette Bell (Deputy Director of Prosecution)
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ISSUED BY SACP WESTERN CAPE
Contact:
Benson Ngqenstu: SACP Provincial Secretary
Mobile : 0827966400
