I'll lead charge for a provincial police force, says Western Cape premier hopeful Alan Winde

Alan Winde hopes to succeed Helen Zille as the premier of the Western Cape in May. But he says that will be "only the beginning" of what he sees as his key campaign.

The DA politician then plans to embark on a crusade to lobby other premiers to fight for a provincial police service. Policing is currently a national competence.

Crime-fighting is at the forefront of the community safety MEC's election campaign,and on Wednesday he teamed up with Cape Town mayor Dan Plato and mayoral committee member JP Smith, responsible for safety and security, to announce an extra R165m for the safety and security directorate's war chest.

Winde was unfazed by the fact that his efforts could be construed as scoring political points during an election campaign.

"Election year is when you give the report-back to voters and say, 'this is what we have done and this is what we would like to do should you give us the vote next time'," said Winde.

"After we win this election I’m going to be going to other premiers of other provinces and saying, ‘guys, we need to get together in fighting for this’, because world best practice shows that if you want to make a safer place you need to decentralise the police service.

"Then it won’t be political, it will be about people, and I promise you I am going to get other premiers to fight for this as well."

Winde said his government would focus on behavioural change apart from providing policing resources. He said he had a good relationship with the provincial police management but there were things that made him unhappy.

"I meet regularly with [provincial commissioner] Gen [Khombinkosi] Jula and his team. But I also am deeply concerned with what we have seen in the public domain and we are seeing in top management," said Winde. 

"I am really am deeply concerned and we are busy with processes. We have called for a few investigations. Let me leave it at that."

Smith said anyone who did not see the urgent need for a provincial police force "hasn’t been to a public meeting in a long time or isn’t speaking to normal people".

Plato said he had visited various communities since he replaced Patricia de Lille as mayor in November, and residents everywhere complained about crime.

"As the city of Cape Town, however, I believe there is more that we can do in our communities and that is why we are allocating an additional R165m to the safety and security directorate in our annual adjustments budget," said Plato.

"With this money, we will be able to increase our visible policing presence in vulnerable communities and invest even more funds into much-needed capital projects like fire stations."

The adjustments budget will be tabled at a council meeting on Thursday.