Community Safety
- What will he do to ensure that the failed meeting between himself and residents of the Bonteheuwel community will be re-established;
- whether he plans to have similar meetings in the future with other communities, so that there can be an amicable outcome to the ongoing violence on the Cape Flats; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
I have no knowledge of an alleged failed meeting as mentioned by Mr Christians. There was however, a successful public meeting on 25 August 2014, which was well attended by the SAPS, City of Cape Town, and residents who welcomed the meeting. The meeting was intended as a platform to engage with the community on their safety concerns and to identify their issues, find suitable solutions together and foster greater cooperation from all stakeholders towards a safer community in Bonteheuwel. The meeting was the result of a number of letters received by my office from concerned members of the community.
Media reports following the meeting showcased the support for the successful meeting from residents and interest groups such as the Joint Peace Forum who said that gang violence has decreased in recent days as a result of regular patrols by law enforcement officials. One of the forum’s members is quoted in reports on the Forum’s positive response to the meeting as: “We had quite a great response yesterday, there were more than 500 people”.
[2] The Department is currently in the process of conducting its formal public engagements to determine the provincial policing needs and priorities in all 25 policing clusters in the province. To date 11 such public meetings have been conducted across the province. At such meetings communities are given the opportunity to place on record their specific policing needs and priorities which are documented and a report provided to the Provincial Police Commissioner. It is then expected from the Provincial Commissioner to align the resources of the SAPS in such a way that all these needs are addressed and crime is reduced in all our communities in the Western Cape Province as is envisaged by section 206[1] read with section 206[2] of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.
