Community Safety
With reference to the investigation where a young boy, aged 15, was found in possession of a zip gun as reported in the Cape Argus on 4 May 2021:
(a) How many such incidences have been identified in the (i) 2016/17, (ii) 2017/18, (iii) 2019/20 and (iv) 2020/21 financial years, (b) what are the trends relating to young people being involved in gang-related crime in the province and (c) what efforts does his Department undertake to mitigate the effects of the adverse social circumstances that may lead young people to gangsterism?
The reply of the South African Police Service (SAPS):
(a) (i) 9
(ii) 7
(iii) 4
(iv) 3
(b) The number of persons arrested under the age of 18 for the possession of firearm (zip gun) showed a continued year-on-year decline for the periods 2016/2017, 2017/2018, 2019/2020 and 2020/2021. The top stations where these arrests were effected are Atlantis and Worcester, where the majority (10) of these cases were reported. The twenty (20) of the 23 minors arrested were aged from 15 and 17, whilst the youngest accused were 13 years of age in 2 cases reported. The majority (22 out of 23) of the minors were arrested in identified gang stations.
The reply of the Department of Community Safety (DoCS):
(c) The Department has put in place a number of measures under the auspices of the Western Cape Safety Plan to bring an end to the violence in the Western Cape.
The objective of the Western Cape Safety Plan is to halve the murder rate in the Province over the next ten years via integrated law enforcement, social cohesion and urban design interventions. These interventions are at all times based on data and evidence and is designed at addressing the challenge of violence holistically.
The Department of Community Safety offers opportunities to youth from communities across the Province through various initiatives. The Chrysalis Academy offers youth a 3-month residential training programme to deepen their resilience and unleash their potential through mental, physical, emotional, spiritual and skills development. Work placement opportunities are offered, where youth are placed with safety partners including municipalities, Western Cape Government Departments and Non-Government Organisations.
The Safety Ambassador Programme is an integrated youth development programme which seeks to create work opportunities for youth whilst they develop valuable skills and resilience to enable them to exit into further opportunities. The Safety Ambassadors will work as violence prevention facilitators to enable the implementation of violence prevention interventions through our Area-based team approach.
Furthermore, the department, in partnership with the Western Cape Education Department, places school resources officers at schools with high-risk profiles to ensure the enhancement of safety on school premises.
The Department also partners with the City of Cape Town (CoCT) to improve safety at schools in identified high-risk areas. The partnership concerns the training of school resource officers by the CoCT who are then placed at vulnerable schools in high-risk areas. The school resilience scorecard, which a risk assessment done by Security Risk Management Programme in the Department, is used to determine at which schools school resource officers will be placed.
The Department leads the Anti-Gang Priority Committee established through the Provincial Joints of SAPS. The Committee developed a strategic response to the National Anti-Gangsterism Strategy, to address the gang phenomenon, particularly the involvement of youth in gangs, which was approved by the Provincial Joints in June 2021. The Department is working in a collaborated way with the relevant role-players to implement the strategy. The WCG also has a youth development strategy which informs the approach to deterring young people from joining gangs.
In partnership with the City of Cape, the Department launched the Law Enforcement Advancement Programme (LEAP) which seeks to deploy 1000 law enforcement officers in the crime hotspots for enhanced law enforcement capacity. These officers are deployed on a 24 hours/7-day shift system that ensure the following:
Increased visibility 24 hours a day
More stable deployments
The number of officers deployed are aligned to the prevalence of murders in the hotspot areas, based on Health, and SAPS data, as well as the profile of an area.
A Reaction unit of LEAP members was also rolled out to deal with flare ups in areas where the violence and murder patterns indicate this necessity.
The focus for implementation of the deliverables of the Safety Plan is in priority areas using a geographical approach with there being 16 areas of which 11 is in the Metro and one area in each of the 5 District municipalities. The implementation will be led by Area-Based Teams (ABTs), that brings together National, Provincial and Local Government role-players, as well as community-based structures, NGOs and experts. The Department will also support safety partners with interventions via the ABTs and thereby contribute to the efficiency of our safety partners.
The Department continues to work closely with all law enforcement agencies, NHWs, CPFs, faith-based organizations and other partners.
