‘Investigate police service over Gugulethu killings’ — DA

The DA claims police are losing the battle against crime in Gugulethu due to a lack of resources and an inability to gather and act on crime intelligence.

The party is calling for an investigation into the apparent inability of the police service to manage the area’s crime wave, which the DA said is linked to a glaring lack of resources.

Five people were killed in Gugulethu on Saturday days after another five were fatally gunned down in the area.

“After 10 deaths in less than a week, the DA in the Western Cape echoes the calls of Gugulethu residents for greater crime-fighting resource allocations to the area, and for an investigation into the clear inability of the police to gather and act on meaningful crime intelligence,” the DA said.

“These murders are part of a larger trend of mass killings the police service has seemingly been unable to stop. The Western Cape suffers from a chronic underallocation of police resources with less than 20,000 operational police members working in the province as of 2023.

“The Gugulethu police service precinct remains one of the most under-resourced police installations in the country, with a police-to-population ratio of 1:874. This means one police member may be responsible for the safety of almost 1,000 residents, an impossible task.”

The Western Cape was trying to address the shortfall in national policing by deploying its own provincial officers, but this was not enough to overcome the security crisis, the party said.

DA Western Cape spokesperson on community safety Gillion Bosman said: “It is heartbreaking to see more death and violence in our communities with no signs of improvement. It is vital the police service comes to the table and provides the resources desperately needed so a meaningful impact can be made on the ground.

“When policing is devolved to the provincial level, the DA will ensure the same data-led approach to crime fighting pioneered by the Western Cape government is applied to all policing in the province.

“We are in the process of inviting Western Cape police management to brief the standing committee on community safety in the Western Cape. I will ensure questions are addressed to the police service regarding this matter.”

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