DA hiding behind 'rhetoric' over policing failures, say opposition

OPPOSITION parties in the Western Cape have accused the DA of continuing to shift blame for its failure to tackle crime to the national government, saying demanding more policing powers will not lead to reduction of violent crimes.

Speaking during a podcast, Portfolio Committee on Police chairperson, Ian Cameron, and Safety and Security mayco member JP Smith, reflected on their party’s call for devolution of policing powers.

“The ANC single-handedly destroyed the South African Police Service. We should say it unapologetically,” said Cameron. “We’ve come to a point now, where, if we use the Hawks, for example, they are running at 47% capacity at the moment.”

Smith added that they have consistently written to a whole variety of channels for the exemption of powers.

“If we do not do crime prevention, it is still SAPS’s job… These failures have very real consequences.”

Leader of the Opposition in the Western Cape Provincial Legislature, Khalid Sayed, said: “Our approach remains that you must have an intergovernmental approach; the constitution makes provision for that.

Cameron said legislation already allowed the devolution of powers to enable the provincial government to play more of a role.

He accused the ANC of abusing the lack of clarity regarding where the police's responsibilities lie.

“The ANC actually released a statement, I think two, three weeks ago, where they said that the Western Cape Government has failed etc. And I happened to sit next to the guy that released the statement last week on the plane, and he said, ‘I saw you reacted to my statement’. I said to him, ‘But you’re deliberately lying. Like, why would you do that?’ And he just laughed. So, there’s a deliberate attempt to mislead the people and create this perception,” Cameron said.

“The Memorandum of Understanding, signed by both the City, the province, and the national government, makes provision for that. All spheres of government have their role to play. The DA in the Western Cape and the City of Cape Town have not played their role.

“While we have admitted, and we’ve made it very clear, that SAPS does need to do its work, it does need to ramp up, the solution is not devolution. We also believe that they are on a tirade to consistently undermine the image of SAPS.”

GOOD Secretary-General & Member of the Western Cape Parliament, Brett Herron, said that the DA’s podcast comments 'are a masterclass in political deflection, more interested in scoring points than saving lives'.

“While the DA continues to demand more power, it has consistently failed to use the powers it already has. The Western Cape’s Safety Plan, backed by billions in public funds, has failed to stem the tide of violence in communities like Philippi East, Mfuleni, and Kraaifontein, which remain among the deadliest places in South Africa. Since the Safety Plan’s inception, the murder rate has gone up, not down.

“The DA’s solution is to shift blame to the national government while ignoring its own failures in addressing the root causes of crime,” Herron said.

“Crime does not emerge in a vacuum. It thrives in communities where poverty, unemployment, trauma, addiction, and spatial injustice remain unresolved. But instead of investing in youth opportunities, housing, mental health services, and community partnerships, the Western Cape government hides behind policing rhetoric.”

Cape Times