The DA's push for policing devolution: A potential dangerous precedent?

IOL News

2 days ago

During raids in Hanover Park, suspects were searched for drugs and weapons.
Image: Ayanda Ndamane / Independent Newspapers
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has again ramped up its calls for the devolution of policing powers.
This long-standing party stance has been thrust back into the spotlight after billionaire Johann Rupert raised concerns about the Cape Flats violence during a high-profile discussion at the White House.
The party's push for the devolution of policing powers in the Western Cape has been going on for years, and in recent weeks has remained in the headlines, with the City of Cape Town's Mayco member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, and Portfolio Committee on Police chairperson, Ian Cameron, weighing in.
Last week, the city's Safety and Security Portfolio Committee (PC) also endorsed a motion for the devolution of policing powers to the municipality, where the portfolio committee resolved to table the resolution at the forthcoming Council meeting.
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The PC is calling on the national government to: Devolve investigative powers to the city for crime categories such as gang-related violence, firearm offences, extortion, and drug trafficking.
Devolve the power of crime intelligence to the city.
Assign the function of forensic laboratory testing centres for firearms to the city.
Support the city's continued participation in the Cooperation Agreement task team and endorse the establishment of a joint technical workstream comprising representatives from various stakeholders.
Chairperson of the Safety and Security Portfolio Committee, Councillor Mzwakhe Nqavashe, said: 'Our communities are plagued by crime at all levels and it is clear that more is needed – from the South African Police Service and the city… SAPS does not have the manpower, and the city's uniformed staff do not have the power to undertake investigations.
'Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis wrote to the National Police Commissioner to request a devolution of policing powers to metro police, and the city has not had any meaningful reply. We believe this devolution will enhance the ability and capability of the city to assist SAPS…'
The current reality of life on the Cape Flats amid the high levels of violence remains bleak.
The fifth issue of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime's Western Cape Gang Monitor, an output bulletin tracking developments in Western Cape gang dynamics each quarter, has highlighted a number of issues, among them being poor security at courts.
The report stressed that security measures failing in courts as 'according to several gang sources, firearms are often smuggled into court buildings. 'Many people have been threatened at court at gunpoint, it just doesn't make the newspapers, because when that person was threatened, they left court and were too scared to testify,' one gang member said.'
Gang recruitment continues to drive child murder rates, as more than one child was murdered every day in the Western Cape over three months in 2024.
'This sobering statistic is indicative of a wider trend: more children than ever before are being recruited into gangs in the Western Cape… the rate of child recruitment appears to be accelerating, posing a huge challenge to affected families and communities, as well as to the criminal justice and juvenile detention systems,' the report highlights.
Michael Jacobs of the Mitchell's Plain United Residents Association (MURA) said that every day in a suburb on the Cape Flats, a life is lost through gang and gun violence.
'These violent incidents sketch a picture of abnormality, fear, and the sheer brutality faced by ordinary residents on the streets.
'In 2019, with the introduction of the Western Cape Safety Plan and the introduction of LEAP, they boldly claimed that they would reduce the murder rate by 50%, which never materialised.
'They continue to fail to address the root causes of crime. Unemployment amongst young people remains high, the failure to deal with the huge housing backlog continues to allow our people to live in overcrowded backyards and growing informal settlements, a lack of adequate treatment facilities for substance abuse users, and a lack of political will to deal with the crime problem,' Jacobs said.
'That said, we need to acknowledge that all levels of government - national, provincial, and municipal - have failed our bullet-ridden and gang-infested communities on the Cape Flats, Atlantis, Paarl, and elsewhere where gangsterism thrives.
'No amount of political theatrics and political spin will take away the fear, blood on our streets, death and open coffins on the Cape Flats of Fear,' Jacobs said.
Professor Isaac Khambule from the University of Johannesburg, who lectures on political economy, said that for the DA, the idea of pushing for devolution is that someone centralised the idea of an impetuous civic, but also about the idea of neoliberalism.
'The fact is they say it should be the private sector that is running all of these particular functions, as we've seen in the case of PRASA, because that's tried to bring in more private stakeholders. And we've seen the president giving in to some of these demands, such as bringing private players on by Transnet.
'So, at this particular moment, I think we just need to look at one avenue that says, 'yes, it is something that the DA has been pushing, but since they were swallowed by the GNU, they did not necessarily have space to push for the kind of reforms that they wanted'.
'But now, with the fallout that likely happened internationally, they are finding space and voice to say, 'this is what we've been indicating,'' Khambule said.
'Because now that they've been embarrassed on an international stage, they're going back to the drawing board and saying we forgot to push a particular agenda. So all the failures that we see are the failures of the national government, rather than the provincial government in the Western Cape.'
The embarrassment Khambule referred to was the remarks made by Rupert, who was part of the high-powered delegation accompanying President Cyril Ramaphosa to meet US President Donald Trump in May.
Rupert turned to DA leader John Steenhuisen and said: 'Mr Steenhuisen won't admit to it, but he runs the Western Cape where I live. The biggest murder rate is in the Cape Flats. Gangs. We've got gang warfare.'
Khambule said that moment has contributed to the DA's reinvigorated fight for devolution.
'It was something that the DA was not expecting to be brought up on an international platform. And for them, again, it pushes the narrative that says you can't even govern or keep people safe in a particular, (so) why are you then wanting to speak up about part of this thing as an international landscape? And then it also brings another element in terms of why the DA has a particular renewed voice.
'It's basically the idea of saying, 'look, it is not our fault', because you may recall that for everyone who lives in the Western Cape, who often says the Western Cape is the best place in SA, it then begs the question why should I go into a particular environment where even the richest person in South Africa can call them out, which indicates they are not doing the work that they are supposed to do - keeping citizens safe.'
The DA remains hungry for devolution, with Smith stating that the PC already passed a motion on June 4 to initiate an intergovernmental dispute. He also touted the city's emergency call centre, handing over 16,000 incidents to SAPS in the past 100 days alone, amid 'ongoing collapse of the national 10111 system'.
'We're stepping in where others are failing, and doing more to keep our residents safe.'
Smith has also defended against critics, stating that they should focus on social interventions instead. He said those using this argument 'consistently ignore the wide range of social programmes the City is already implementing — and they never offer a single example of what interventions they believe would work better'.
'That's simply not good enough. Just like the current level of policing Cape Town receives is not good enough. And that's why we're doing this...'