Deputy President Paul Mashatile on Thursday emphasised the importance of collaboration between the national government and the Western Cape in the fight against gang-related violence and drugs.

“It’s in the interest of the Western Cape to work with national government,” Mashatile said.

He was responding during a question-and-answer session in the National Assembly to DA deputy chief whip Baxolile Nodada, who asked about interventions to bolster crime intelligence in the SAPS to counter gangsterism and other forms of violent crimes.

Although Mashatile had earlier outlined several measures introduced to restore the integrity and performance of SAPS’ Crime intelligence, including the National Anti-Gang Strategy, Nodada claimed that the SAPS was broken.

He said the DA-run City of Cape Town will spend R7 billion doing the police’s job for them and that there were 1,300 fewer SAPS officers in Cape Town than four years ago.

“Over the same period, Cape Metro Police deployed over 1,200 new officers to fight crime. In fact, the Cape Metro Police has more operational vehicles, as partners in government and in the interest of keeping communities safe.”

Nodada asked whether the SAPS was indeed broken and why Cape Town should not be given more powers to continue its work in stopping the bloodshed.

National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza observed that Nodada’s question was not new as it dealt with the devolution of powers.

Mashatile said there was ongoing collaboration by national government and the provinces.

“That’s why I was indicating that the Acting Minister, has announced this anti-gang plan in the Western Cape. It means they’ll work with the Western Cape,” he said.

“What we need here is collaboration. If the Western Cape is already doing well, I think we should go for collaboration. We want to work with the Western Cape as national government, and that’s why the minister is here.”

Mashatile stated that the national government was deploying resources all over the country.

“We have the county to run, but some of the resources we will deploy in the Western Cape, and all we call for is collaboration because dealing with crime should not be politicised.”

He said they have to deal with crime and must be serious about it, without playing politics.

“We want to deal with gangsters. We want to deal with drugs wherever they are. We are going to go for these gangsters and these drug peddlers.”

Mashatile earlier said that community policing forums must be drawn in because people involved in drugs live in the communities.

“We know them so let’s pull everything together.”

mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za

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