The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape has repeated our call on SAPS to mitigate the effects of the R50 million shortfall to address policing vehicle allocations to stations following the ongoing high incidence of violent crime in the province.
According to the Quarter 3:2024 Crime Statistics as released today, the number of Northern Cape stations appearing on the country’s top 30 lists for attempted murder, sexual assault and other serious crimes increased from two to over five in the last three quarters. The province is among four provinces reflecting an overall increase in common assault and assault GBH, which increased with 126 cases in just three months. The province also retained its position as having the third highest ratio of rape to population in the country since November 2023, and recorded four rape cases at educational institutions.
The police are not equipped to respond to crime timeously. Even the former Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, conceded that the province was the slowest in responding to crime last year, with the average response time calculated at 60 minutes and 10 seconds.
The Provincial Police Commissioner, Lt Gen Koliswa Otola, recently confirmed in a written response that, in addition to SAPS needing a further R50 million to cater for all vehicle needs at police stations, the province also has a shortfall of 157 vehicles. This especially has an impact on more rural and far-flung stations.
The DA is concerned that the portfolio committee on safety, transport and public works is dragging its feet in responding to our requests for urgent oversights to be conducted at crime weighted stations and answering on poor response times to serious crimes. We have repeated our request to the committee to prioritise these oversight inspections.
The DA will fight relentlessly to ensure that the province receives its necessary resources to address crime.