There was nothing about gang crime and passenger rail mentioned in the SONA last night. Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has expressed his concern that President Cyril Ramaphosa did not mention the crisis of gang, gun and drug crime in his speech.

Nothing about gang crime and passenger rail in the SONA last

The mayor was especially waiting for news on passenger rail in the Mother City. Hill-Lewis, earlier this week, asked the president for an update about the delayed National Devolution Strategy as well as plans to hand the service over to capable metros.

“The President cited national SAPS recruitment figures and arrest stats, but that is not the point. The police remain heavily under-resourced, especially SAPS investigative capacity, and there is a particular problem in gaining convictions,” he said.

 

The mayor also lamented that conviction rates for gang crime are in the single digits. He says the city needs more policing powers, particularly for criminal investigations. In this way, officers can build prosecution-ready case dockets on gang, gun and drug crimes.

Drug turf wars

He says part of the problem is that gangs have infiltrated the Police. At the same time, police guns are also finding their way to gangsters through corrupt back channels. Many innocent lives have been lost in communities, including children. Gun violence reigns supreme during drug turf wars.

Hill-Lewis added, “Crime was at best an afterthought right at the end of the President’s address. What the President needed to demonstrate, especially for us in Cape Town, is strong action to deal with the corrupt elements in SAPS who are conspiring with gangs, as well as urgent steps to devolve more policing powers to municipal law enforcement to help SAPS fight crime.”

 

The city needs more policing powers

According to statistics, 447 illegal firearms were confiscated in the Mother City, in the last 2 financial years. This included police guns which had fallen into the hands of criminals.

READ MORE: Gangs and youth – Insights from Cape Town

At the same time, firearm-related arrests saw an increase of up to 35% in 22/23. Over the same period, there was a doubling in annual drug arrests. This was up from 4 000 to 8 000.

“The President and his Cabinet have the power to confer additional peace officer powers for municipal officers. The City has thousands of officers immediately available as a force multiplier to SAPS for criminal investigations into gang, gun, and drug crime – all we need from the President is the additional policing powers, ” said the mayor.

Urgent devolution of passenger rail

Hill-Lewis says he was disappointed to hear that there was nothing, about the delayed Rail Devolution Strategy, in the SONA. The President had promised last year that the strategy would be out before the end of 2023.

“The lack of safe, affordable, working trains is a daily and costly struggle, especially for lower-income households.”

 

Meanwhile, an ongoing rail feasibility study has revealed that lower-income families could save R932 million a year if there were working and efficient trains. Functional rail would also be able to sustain more than 51 000 jobs and add R11 billion to the local economy each year.

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