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Inaction and Delay on Cape Flats Safety Plan Cost Lives

Dear Editor

The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on Acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia and the South African Police Service (SAPS) leadership to immediately provide a clear, funded timeline for implementing the promised Cape Flats safety plan.

This comes after a four-year-old boy died after being wounded in a gang shooting earlier this week. According to reports, this marks the fourth shooting of a child in less than a week across three different communities. Parents, children, and innocent civilians are dying while the machinery of policing appears paralysed by delay and neglect.

A few weeks ago, Acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia stated that he was working on a plan to curb violence in the Cape Flats. Yet despite that promise, there is still no publicly released, concrete, and resourced plan to address the crisis. Communities continue to live in fear, and gang violence remains unchecked.

At the same time, the South African Police Service (SAPS) has yet to release the first quarter (Q1) crime statistics for the 2025/26 financial year even though they were due at the end of August. These statistics are vital for understanding where crime is increasing and for targeting police resources effectively. The continued withholding of data only fuels public suspicion and erodes trust at a time when transparency is desperately needed.

Instead of focusing on essential administrative and operational functions, the SAPS appears to be consumed by internal management crises and time-consuming oversight processes, such as the Madlanga Commission and the proceedings of the ad hoc committee. While SAPS management is consumed by internal issues, crime carries on.

While oversight is important, it cannot come at the cost of day-to-day policing, community protection, and accountability.

We further urge the Minister to ensure that SAPS’s focus returns to its core responsibilities, preventing and investigating crime, protecting vulnerable communities, and ensuring that transparency and accountability are not lost amid bureaucratic distraction.

The police cannot afford to stand still while crime surges and children are being shot in their own neighbourhoods.

Regards

Lisa Schickerling MP
DA Spokesperson on Police

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