Community Safety
With regard to the implementation of recommendation 3 of the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry:
(1) Whether this recommendation has been fully implemented; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) what are the details of the steps that have been taken by his Department (a) to support the full implementation of the recommendations of the commission and (b) to ensure the undertaking of the oversight tasks of the monitoring team as required by the recommendations, including reports of dockets not brought to court from the cluster detective coordinator, and (c) to ensure that such failures have been investigated and addressed?
(1) Following the release of the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry report in 2014, a Task Team was established to oversee the implementation of the recommendations. The Task Team consisted of representatives of the South African Police Service (SAPS), the Department of Community Safety, as well as Community Police Forum (CPF) and community representatives. Recommendation Three required that a Monitoring and Oversight Team be established to ensure that the Inefficiencies at the three Khayelitsha Police Stations and the Khayelitsha Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Unit are eradicated. In 2018, the Department of Community Safety, in consultation with SAPS undertook a detailed review of SAPS’ implementation of Recommendation Three at each of the three Khayelitsha Police Stations. This was presented and discussed with SAPS, and the report was finalised in September 2018.
To date some of the recommendations remain unresolved due to environmental design or social cohesion challenges. The expansion of informal settlements and the SAPS’s inability to police these areas remain one of the main outstanding challenges emanating from the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry.
(2) (a) The Department of Community Safety led the joint Task Team together with SAPS to oversee and coordinate the response and implementation to the Khayelitsha Commission recommendations. The Task Team met regularly from 2015 to 2017. During 2018, the Western Cape Government adopted the Whole of Society Approach (WOSA) concentrating on selected areas, one of which was Khayelitsha. The Task Team and the Khayelitsha Priorities Committee became integrated into the Khayelitsha WOSA initiative. The focus then moved away from pure oversight to attempting to address the social and structural issues giving rise to crime and violence in the area. The Khayelitsha WOSA was attended by a broad range of stakeholders including SAPS, City Law Enforcement and Metro Police, relevant provincial departments and councillors and some civil society representatives. The WOSA initiative identified safety as a central issue, but also focused on spatial issues, the social sector and economic development. The aim was to coordinate the work of different departments around these issues while connecting with the Western Cape Safety Plan. The WOSA Committee last met in January 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in the country.
However, Khayelitsha continued to be a key focus area of the Department. In response to the COVID pandemic, the Province adopted a hotspot approach with Heads of Department coordinating the integration of services in different health sub-districts. The Department of Community Safety adopted the role of coordinating the Khayelitsha and Eastern WOSA/Hotspot. While the meetings were primarily concerned with a response to COVID, it has also been concerned with safety, policing and other issues of social cohesion. The Khayelitsha and Eastern WOSA meetings continue on a fortnightly basis.
Aligned with this, and as part of the implementation of the Western Cape Safety Plan (2019), the Province has adopted an area-based approach to addressing safety which is data-based, and evidence informed. One of the areas identified for the establishment of the Area Based Teams is Khayelitsha. The Law Enforcement Technical Team has been established in this area, and the social cohesion and urban design streams are in the process of being established. The Department also supports the City of Cape Town to deploy Learner Law Enforcement Officers (as part of the LEAP) project to Khayelitsha. They work in close cooperation with SAPS.
(b) The Department established a Court Watching Brief (CBW) unit to identify systemic issues why cases are struck from the court roll which are brought to the attention of the SAPS. Since the establishment of the CWB unit to monitor these cases, the SAPS has made a noticeable improvement to address some of their inefficiencies.
(c) Same reply as 8. (2) (b).
