2022/23 DOCS Budget Appropriation Speech

WESTERN CAPE MINISTER OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS AND SPORT, ANROUX MARAIS

2022/23 DOCS BUDGET APPROPRIATION SPEECH

28 MARCH 2022

Honourable Speaker

Premier

Cabinet colleagues and Members of the Provincial Parliament

Head of Department and Managers of the Department of Community Safety

Our partners in safety

Members of the media

Residents of the Western Cape,

Introduction

Speaker, today I present the Western Cape Department of Community Safety (DOCS) appropriation budget for the 2022/23 financial year, acknowledging safety as a key priority of the Western Cape Government as we bring into fruition the Provincial Safety Plan. I am indeed honoured to have been entrusted with this significant role as Acting Minister to ensure the continuity of the pivotal programmes of the Department of Community Safety.

The lack of safety in our communities is one of the foremost challenges we face as a country and with this appropriation budget to now be presented, the Department will fulfil its constitutional mandate of oversight to improve safety for all who call the Western Cape home.

To create safer communities and to further promote professional policing through effective oversight as legislated and to capacitate safety partnerships with communities and other stakeholders, the total budget allocated to the Department has increased from just over R559.3 million from the adjusted appropriation in 2021/22 to approximately R776.1 million in the 2022/23 financial year.

A budget to bring into fruition the Western Cape Safety Plan for YOU

Speaker, the increase of 38.77% to the appropriated budget is indeed welcomed as it mainly relates to the allocation of R400 million to the Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP), of which the previous allocation in the adjustment budget for 2021/22 was R165.2 million. Regardless of political affiliation, I am sure we can all agree that the LEAP programme has made significant strides in the Western Cape Safety Plan in its efforts to halve the murder rate by 2029, informed by evidence and implemented using data and technology to create safer communities in the Western Cape.

To emphasize the successes of the Provincial Safety Plan’s interventions in response to the all-round under-resourcing within the South African Police Service (SAPS) in the Western Cape, I call to mind the recent release of the quarterly crime statistics for the third quarter of 2021/22. Speaker, covering the period of October to December 2021, the statistics show a 6.9% decrease in murder and a 24.5% decrease in attempted murder compared to the previous quarter in the province. It demonstrates clearly that our Provincial Safety Plan interventions are making a difference. We have seen decreases in the murder rate at Kraaifontein at 40.5%, Harare at 14.5%, Khayelitsha at 21.1% and Nyanga 24.1%. These account for the most significant decreases in murders among the top 30 murder stations in the country and are also areas in which we have deployed significant LEAP resources as part of our plan to reduce the murder rate by 50% by 2029. Since the inception of the plan, 1056 LEAP officers have been deployed to crime hotspots. The working hours of these LEAP members were also extended to a 24-hour shift system which resulted in an increase in deployments over weekends when murders increased according to our data. Furthermore, a Reaction Unit consisting of LEAP members was established to urgently respond to outbreaks of violence when it occurs.

Decreases in criminal activity in the Western Cape over the past quarter were further recorded for:

• Sexual offences at 10.7%;
• Assault - Gross Bodily Harm at 5.6%;
• Common assault at 1.2%;
• Common robbery at 8.9%; and
• Robbery with aggravating circumstances at 10.9%.

Speaker, there are of course areas in which we have seen increases in criminal activity which include attempted sexual offences, bank robbery, malicious damage to property, and commercial crime. This department will, with the budgetary investment of R700 million over the next two years for the LEAP Programme, play its part to give effect to its Constitutional mandate of oversight, ensuring that gaps are identified to address them – making the province safer for all who live in it.

A Whole of Society and Whole of Government Approach to create safer communities

As outlined by Premier Winde in the State of the Province Address, the Department intends to take this oversight role even more seriously, and not only at the national level, but at the local level as well because a Whole of Society and Whole of Government Approach is pivotal to creating safer communities. Going forward, the department will significantly expand its monitoring of police stations across the province, with a focus on GBV and domestic violence responses, police conduct, visible policing, and crime investigation efficiency. The Department will also accordingly be renamed the Department of Police Oversight and Community Safety in the Western Cape.

Guided by this collaborative approach, the Department will implement an evidence based and holistic transversal response to violence in our society with a sense of urgency. The purpose is to achieve safe and cohesive communities in the Western Cape. Its realization is an imperative, as crime and fragmented communities reduce the life chances and opportunities of individuals, further destabilising communities in a vicious cycle, and hinder socio-economic and personal development. To strengthen our partnerships in relation to the Provincial Safety Plan to afford safer spaces:

• The expansion of the Chrysalis Academy will receive R 25.2 million over the MTEF period 2022-2024
• To further roll out the safety plan at the district level, R6. million will be provided in the 2022/23 financial year.
• The EPWP will receive R26.1 m of which R3.8 million is a conditional grant
• Neighbourhood Watch resourcing will receive R5.7 million. I am happy to announce that the Department is currently looking to increase this support as the budget and capacity allows.
• To boost the Department’s support to municipalities for K9 units, R8.8 million has been allocated. Speaker, I am indeed proud of the commendable efforts successfully executed by the K9 units across the province. This weekend past, on 25 March 2022, the joint operations between the Malmesbury SAPS and the Swartland K9 Unit led to the arrest of 4 adult females and 1 adult male for dealing in tik and for the possession of ammunition. The following day, on 26 March 2022, the joint operation between Malmesbury CPU (Crime Protection Unit) and the Swartland K9 Unit led to the arrest of 9 adult males for the possession of an illegal firearm, which was later identified, by its serial number, as the same firearm earlier booked in and stolen from the SAP13 at the police station. 4 We wholeheartedly thank the K9 units in partnership with the respective municipalities for the life-saving measures they actively have in place, risking their own lives to create safer communities for all those who call it home. We look forward to expanding these much-needed K9 Units to other municipalities in the near future, of which Mossel Bay is next in line.
• A total of R6.9 million has been allocated for the resourcing of Reaction Units at Swartland Municipality and Overstrand District Municipality • The Department will continue to drive the reduction of alcohol harms through amendments to the Western Cape Liquor Act and will submit a publication of amendments to the Western Cape Liquor Regulations in respect of fees and fines to be paid in terms of the Act. As the Department is mandated to lead and direct a task team to review and amend the Western Cape Liquor Act to take forward public health-based alcohol-harms reduction strategies and interventions, the Western Cape Liquor Authority will receive its annual allocation of R45.6 million.
• As we take our Provincial Safety Plan to the next level, a new Violence Prevention Unit will be established in the Western Cape’s Department of Health. This unit will use public health data to identify localized strategies to prevent violence before it occurs.

Targeted Approach of Murder Stations and Priority Areas: Area Based Teams

Speaker, the latest crime statistics released also clearly show that the establishment of murder stations and priority areas through Area Based Teams (ABTs) is helping to reduce crime through a data-led and evidence-based approach to fighting crime, which includes both law enforcement and violence prevention interventions. Beyond deploying additional Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP) law enforcement officers, the Department has established the ABT framework (ABT) which aims to collaborate with safety stakeholders at the local level. These ABTs are comprised of three crucial arms to ensure violence prevention, which includes law enforcement, urban design, and social cohesion, which continue to be onboarded.

To date, a total of 16 ABTs areas, which are linked to police stations, have been identified. This includes 11 ABTs in the City of Cape Town and 5 ABTs in the District Municipalities. The Department have further established the Law Enforcement Technical Area Teams in these areas, with a specific focus on areas with the highest rate of murder. The Western Cape has identified the 11 priority areas in the Metro based on their high murder rates. Based on the 3rd quarter crime statistics, reported murders in those areas accounted for 42.23% of the provincial total. The overall 5 number of murders committed within the 11 ABTs, however, has been reduced by 9.35% in the last quarter, showing that the ABT approach is indeed yielding results.

Speaker, I note the concern within the Community Policing Forum structures in the Western Cape regarding what the impact of the establishment of the Provincial Secretariat in terms of Section 16 of the Civilian Secretariat For Police Act 2 of 2011 will be on the continued existence and operation of Community Policing Forums. However, I want to reaffirm that the Western Cape Government, through its Department of Community Safety, is committed to fulfil its mandate conferred by section 206 of the Constitution, sections 66 and 68 of the Constitution of the Western Cape as well as section 5 of the Western Cape Community Safety Act. This mandate, amongst other things, includes monitoring police conduct and overseeing the effectiveness and efficiency of the Police Service in the Province by assisting Community Policing Forums through the provision of funding, training and resources in order to promote good relations between the South African Police Service and communities which will in turn make the Western Cape a safer place for all. It is for this reason that we are awaiting legal advice on the best way forward.

Speaker, together, it is our duty to create an enabling environment through which all those we serve can thrive and feel a sense of safety because contrary to popular belief, we need to understand that we are not a people at risk but rather a people with potential. Despite the many challenges, there exists praiseworthy initiatives in the streets of the Western Cape, and it is long overdue that we showcase these life-changing efforts and build on its successes rather than only perpetuate our adversities. Our role is not only to liberate society once more, but to liberate the minds of society. While the task may seem great, we have power in numbers and together we can create safer communities in the Western Cape.

Conclusion

I wholeheartedly thank the officials of the Department of Community Safety, our partners in the various municipalities and sister Western Cape Government Departments, the South African Police Service and local law enforcement for their collaboration in creating safer and more cohesive communities in the Western Cape. I also thank the SAPS’ provincial leadership, led by General Patekile for the good spirit of cooperation they continue to adopt as critical partners in our fight against crime. Speaker, evidently, in a dismal national fiscal environment, adopting a Whole of Society and Whole of Government Approach inculcating collaborative efforts through sustainable partnerships is much needed to achieve our mutual goals to enable safer and cohesive communities.

I thank you.