The police ministry says it is perplexed and "disillusioned" by the Democratic Alliance claiming credit for crime reduction in the Cape Town township of Khayeltisha.

“Credit must be given where it is due,” Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said in a statement on Thursday.

“No political party can make this claim as any crime reduction and success remains the hard and smart work by police and the Khayelitsha community.”

DA police spokeswoman Diane Kohler Barnard said last week that in just five years, the DA-led city had reduced crime in the township by 70 percent.

However the ministry said in the statement that Khayelitsha was declared a “presidential” police station in early 2000.

At the time, government announced an urban renewal programme that looked at crime prevention through creating upgrading of communities and solid law enforcement.

In addition the provincial department of community safety which in 2000 had not been under the control of the DA, together with the police initiated a project to improve resources at Khayelitsha police station.

Said Mthethwa: “For this political party to claim the project’s success as theirs is insincere.

“We reject their attempt to claim easy victories as misleading, opportunistic and setting up a narrow political propaganda that is devoid of integrity.”