Community Safety:
(a) How many people have been (i) killed or (ii) wounded in gang-related violence in the province in 2018 to date and (b) what steps have been taken by his Department to address gang-related violence in the province?
- (a) The South African Police Service informed me as follows:
Crime Statistics can only be disseminated after been released by the Minister of Police.
(b) The Head of Department chairs the Prov Joints Anti-Gangs Priority Committee which aims to develop and coordinate a provincial response to the National Anti-Gangsterism Strategy (2016). The following government departments are represented on ProvJoints: the Department of Community Safety, the City of Cape Town (CoCT), the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), the Department of Social Development (DSD), the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJ & CS), the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the South African Police Service (SAPS), the State Security Agency (SSA) and the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), and the Department of Culture, Arts and Sport (DCAS).
The provincial response shall clarify, amongst others, the roles and responsibilities of relevant departments and entities in addressing gang violence and the feeders into gang activities. Oversight over the implementation of the National Anti-Gang Strategy is vested under the NATJOINTS
The Department has prioritised capacity building amongst CPFs as statutory bodies to perform the functions set-put in Section18 of SAPS Act so also the accreditation and support of Neighbourhood Watches in gang affected areas.
The Department of Community Safety conducts Youth Safety and Religion Partnership (YSRP) Programme in conjunction with faith based organisations during the June/July and December/January School Holidays. This initiative of the Department was established to create a safe environment for children and youth during school holidays.
Priority is given to areas with a high prevalence of gang activity and violence.
During the June/July 2018 school holidays the department funded 146 projects with a total investment of R2 286 152. The total number of youth reached was 9151. SAPS and CPFs are members on the adjudication panel. About 60% of the projects are internally evaluated. The programme was recently subject to an independent evaluation.
The recent upsurge in gang violence in Avian Park, Worcester, has led the Department to address the situation. It appointed a service provider in April 2018 to facilitate a mediation process between the different parties involved in the gang violence. The mediation process is showing good progress through the support of law enforcement agencies and the different government departments responsible to deliver basic services to the community of Avian Park. Importantly, the community itself must find the way forward in resolving the conflict and government will support that journey to the best of its ability.
The Department’s Court Watching Briefs programme prioritises the monitoring of court cases from gang stations: The most common reasons for cases being removed from the roll are: Failure by SAPS to secure the docket at court; failure to timeously finalise the investigations; failure to finalise the investigation within a reasonable timeframe where post mortem reports, forensic drug reports and blood alcohol reports are outstanding; and failure to subpoena witnesses to court timeously. At gang stations, in the 2017/18 financial year, cases for the following offences were removed from the court roll: murder, attempted murder, possession of unlicensed firearms, dealing in drugs and possession of drugs.
