Political tensions rise over ANC's motion of no confidence against WC Premier Winde

Political tensions flared in the Western Cape Legislature on Thursday when the DA used its majority to block a substantive motion brought by the ANC against Premier Alan Winde.

The motion related to the Premier’s earlier claim that the Western Cape was “the murder capital” when the Safety Plan began.

Opposition leader Khalid Sayed said the move “exposes the DA’s double standards and its ongoing effort to shield the Premier from accountability.” He argued that “misleading the House on such a critical issue—especially in a province facing severe gang and gun violence—cannot be ignored.”

Responding to the criticism, Premier’s spokesperson Regan Thaw said, "The Western Cape Government was justified in launching a safety plan due to the region having the most violent police precincts in 2019."

"The ANC's implied claim that no urgent safety crisis existed is disrespectful to victims of violence. It is disappointing to see opposition parties engaging in ridiculous attempts to score political points, when instead they could be standing with us to seek the resources and capabilities we so desperately need to defeat crime and make our communities safer."

This confrontation unfolded as the province, the City of Cape Town and civil society intensified demands for stronger action against gang violence.

Premier Alan Winde, opening Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting with SAPS leadership, warned, “Crime is a big issue for so many communities. A horrific number of our residents are being directly and indirectly impacted by crime.”

He said the provincial government is “doing everything in its power on safety to assist law enforcement agencies,” adding, “We commit over R4b annually… Gangs cannot be allowed to run this province.”

SAPS, led by Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile, briefed Cabinet on the Integrated Crime and Violence Prevention Strategy. This includes intensified intelligence-gathering, major drug crackdowns, LEAP support and evidence-based hotspot policing.

Winde said the province must keep testing the approach. “We must continually evaluate whether this approach is working. We are currently developing a new Western Cape Safety Plan.”

On allegations of SAPS infiltration, Winde said, “An effective measure we have at our disposal is to conduct lifestyle audits on the police service’s leadership in the province.”

IPID has also requested a meeting linked to the Thulare judgment.

At City level, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis welcomed Parliament’s decision to probe violent crime. He said, “We can turn the tables on gang, gun, and drug crime, but this is only possible if we increase conviction rates, which remain extremely low.”

Hill-Lewis added that the probe is “an opportunity to put the national spotlight on the urgent solutions we have been calling for.”

Civil society groups said the Premier’s measures still fall short. #GangsterismMustFall convenor Roscoe Jacobs said the announcement “largely repeats measures that have been promised for years without producing the safety breakthroughs people on the ground desperately need.”

He said “the steps mentioned do not meet the urgency or scale of the response we have been calling for,” and renewed calls to “declare a Provincial State of Disaster on Gangsterism and Extortion.”

Jacobs insisted communities need “an extraordinary response to an extraordinary crisis.”

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