Debate in Western Cape Parliament: Tackling crime and housing challenges

"Apartheid 2.0", a shrinking housing budget, and more than 30 murders in the Western Cape in August alone.

These were just some of the hot topics tossed around during a sitting of the Western Cape legislature on Thursday, as deputy speaker Reagen Allen had his hands full trying to keep order.

The sitting kicked off with a fierce debate on crime, with GOOD saying Premier Alan Winde’s safety plan had flopped because it "prioritised policing over prevention".

"This government has deprioritised investing in the environmental and socio-economic conditions that are conducive to violent crime," MPL Brett Herron said.

"The premier introduced the Western Cape's safety plan in 2019 as a comprehensive plan to reduce and prevent crime.

"The crime reduction component was to increase policing resources, the 'boots on the ground' [campaign], while the crime prevention component was a favourite buzz phrase, 'a whole of society approach', with every [MEC] having specific interventions aimed at addressing the root causes of crime.

"Two weeks ago, when I asked the premier what crime prevention interventions had been implemented he was unable to answer – he cited examples of what is in the safety plan but he couldn’t say what had actually been done.

"Had I asked him about the crime reduction programme – the boots on the ground – he would have easily rattled off how many LEAP officers have been deployed. This is because the safety plan has prioritised policing over prevention.

"Sadly, the emphasis on the 'boots on the ground' has failed to show the results we were promised."

Winde said the statistics were "horrific".

He said to address these issues, he scheduled a meeting with the new police minister Prof Firoz Cachalia for next week Thursday.

DA MPL Benedicta van Minnen said crime was "out of control" as over 2,000 people have been shot with firearms province-wide since January.

She said it averaged nearly 13 victims per day.

"Children cannot walk safely to school," she said.

"Mothers and grandmothers patrol the streets in reflective jackets because they no longer believe the state and SAPS can protect them.

"Which frankly, it cannot.

"Just yesterday a naked man managed to grab a gun from an armed officer outside the [Western Cape] High Court, turn off the safety and fire off several shots, right outside our door downstairs.

"And the take away image? An armed and uniformed officer running away from the guy along the pavement."

Van Minnen added that since early June there had been over 30 murders in mass shooting incidents across the Cape Flats.

"But on Monday the provincial police commissioner described the weekend as not having many shootings in Mitchells Plain whereas at least 12 people were shot dead.

"That says everything about uncaring and non-responsive SAPS management, and it is no surprise that community structures across the Cape Flats are calling for his removal."

She said between February 2024 and February 2025, 2,395 parolees were released across the Cape Flats.

"Alarmingly, 254 reoffended within a year — a 10.6% rate."

Winde also said parolees reoffending was a problem.

"At home, my wife's got a tracker on our cat," he said.

"You can track each other on your phone. But we can’t track a parolee — and then they rape again. They murder again.

"Track these parolees. And of course, let the victims know.

"Let the victims know that those parolees are out again, because those victims become victims again."

DA MPL Gillion Bosman said across the Western Cape, families were living "through a nightmare".

"In just one month, August 2025, more than 30 murders were reported in our province, including mass shootings in Delft, Gugulethu, Muizenberg, and Eerste River," Bosman said.

"Behind each shooting lies the same question: where is the state when people need protection?"

ANC MPL Rachel Windvogel said the housing crisis in the province was "a direct consequence of the DA-led government’s systemic neglect and its application of what can only be described as apartheid 2.0".

"This is a conscious strategy of marginalisation, where the government’s failure to act is a de facto policy outcome, maintaining the status quo of inequality," she said.

"The facts are damning.

"In the 2024/25 financial year, this province received R1.6bn in the human settlements development grant and R382m for the informal settlements upgrading partnership grant.

"These were a lifeline for the hundreds of thousands living in squalor in over 683 informal settlements in Cape Town alone, 186 of which emerged since the pandemic, many in hazardous floodplains and without basic sanitation.

"Yet, by August 2024, the DA’s department of infrastructure had betrayed that trust spectacularly, spending shamefully low amounts.

"Most concerning, they forfeited R300m — money meant for toilets, water, and houses — because they do not have the urgency to build human settlements for the poor."

DA Human Settlements and Infrastructure MEC then jumped up and said despite having a smaller budget, his department still delivers.

"Between 2014 and 2019, the Western Cape received around R2.3bn a year for human settlements," he said.

"Since 2019, our allocation has declined every year — down to R1.688bn in 2024/25.

"Yet despite this and including my department’s [quarter one] 25/26 data we still delivered 57,458 opportunities to date which includes the Building New Ground programme, First Home Finance, sites, services, and individual subsidies, in a fiscal environment where we have lost close to R2 billion cumulatively compared to if the 2019 baseline had been sustained.

"In real terms, after inflation, today’s budget is 30–35% smaller than it was in 2019.

"Fewer rands, more efficient delivery.

"The 2014/15 – 2018/19 allocations were relatively stable, averaging around R2.2 – R2.4bn per year.

"My department continues to deliver despite cuts."

Leader of the opposition in the legislature, Khalid Sayed, said: "Instead of presenting real solutions like the ANC's Benson Ngqentsu and Rachel Windvogel did, premier Winde shockingly compared the crisis facing our communities to cats.

"This trivialises the daily pain and danger our people endure.

"Our province needs urgent action, not cat comparisons."

Winde said his government was making a difference and that opposition parties needed to study his safety plan before asking "frivolous" questions.

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