Police Oversight and Community Safety
With reference to her reply to question 2 of 17 October 2025:
(1)
(a) With regard to the reply to subsection (4), why have the recommendations of the provincial government not been implemented by the SAPS and (b) what actions are available to her to ensure that the recommendations are implemented;
(2)
whether she has taken actions to address the failure by the SAPS to ensure that those precincts experiencing the highest levels of serious crimes are better resourced; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(3)
with regard to policing needs and priorities and with reference to section 2(a)(i) of the Western Cape Community Safety Act, 2013 (Act 3 of 2013), why has she been unable to ensure that the SAPS effects changes to the allocation of police resources as recommended by the Province;
(4)
with regard to her recommendations contained in the 2024/25 Western Cape Policing Needs and Priorities Report, in particular with regard to the “Station Post Require-ment”, whether she has taken steps to ensure that the SAPS “take account of the specific policing needs and priorities of the province and to direct their resources accordingly”; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(5)
(a) on how many occasions since 2019 has her Department formally engaged with the national Minister of Police on the continued underresourcing of the Western Cape’s highest murder precincts and (b) what were the outcomes of each engage-ment;
(6)
whether an independent research body has been commissioned to evaluate the efficacy of the Safety Plan; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(7)
whether the Safety Plan has addressed inequities in police resourcing in disadvan-taged communities; if so, what are the relevant details;
(8)
whether she will commission an independent evaluation of the Safety Plan; if not, why not; if so, (a) when and (b) will it explicitly include assessment of (i) racial, (ii) spatial and (iii) socio-economic disparities in police resourcing?
(1) (a) Policing is a national competence and the allocation of policing resources to the province is determined nationally, as is the policy and system for the allocation of policing resources to the country, and within the provinces. The South Africa Police Service (SAPS) would be better equipped to furnish the reasons for the non-implementation of a more equitable system for the allocation of resources.
(b) In terms of the Constitution, the province may only make recommendations to the Minister of Police and the National and Provincial Commissioner. These recommendations have been made through the Policing Needs and Priorities (PNP) reports over the years. Other mechanisms available to the Minister include:
- Formal engagements with SAPS leadership and the National Commissioner,
- Raising issues at MinMEC seating chaired by the National Minister,
- Submissions to the Minister of Police under Section 206(5),
- Using intergovernmental structures to escalate concerns and
- Strengthening public accountability through legislature processes and safety structures.
(2) Actions taken by the Minister and her department include:
- Annual PNP reports highlighting under‑resourced high‑murder precincts.
- Crime statistics analysis and homicide reporting highlighting the disparity in the allocation of resources.
- Monitoring and oversight over the SAPS including monitoring of resources at selected police stations.
- Raising concerns around resourcing disparities at the Minister and Members of Executive Council (MINMEC).
- Deploying complementary provincial and City resources (e.g., LEAP) to areas affected by high levels of violence and experiencing limited resources.
- Working with local municipalities to strengthen law enforcement capacity – through training of Peace Officers and supporting entry level Peace Officers through a two-year EPWP contract.
- Working with provincial government to develop and implement violence‑prevention programmes to reduce levels of violence.
- The Minister meet once every two weeks with the Provincial Commissioner and his management to discuss critical safety issues.
- The Minister strategically leads the Department and funds the LEAP programme to the tune of R350 million and partner with the City of Cape Town to bolster boots on the ground at priority high crime areas.
- The Department has recently established the Provincial Safety Council, chaired by the Premier, to address and monitor progress in terms of crime, safety and violence initiatives in the province. The Western Cape SAPS and City of Cape Town (CoCT) top management attends this session and account to the Premier and Minister.
(3) Section 207 of the Constitution provides that the National Commissioner must exercise control over and manage the police service in accordance with national policing policy and the directions of the cabinet minister responsible for policing (S 207(2)). Provinces on the other hand, have the responsibility of determining the provincial Policing Needs and Priorities which the national minister must take into account when determining national policing policy (S 206(1)).
The National Policing Policy, 2025, with respect to the allocation of resources states (p. 18):
“A police station is a designated place at which operational policing functions are performed to deliver effective and efficient policing services to a particular area. A typical functional police station must have the necessary requirements and must be allocated sufficient human and physical resources for police to execute their mandate. These resources must be operable and must not hinder policing services. The resources must include the number of members needed, the requisite qualifications and skills set needed in members, and the actual physical equipment required. The SAPS must review the Theoretical Human Resource Requirement System (THRR) used for each category of police station; aligned to the current population count and policing demands within a specific area that the police station falls. SAPS management must develop norms and standards for police stations in this regard.”
Despite this, due to budgetary constraints, police numbers have not increased significantly nationally and in the Western Cape despite the steady increase in the population in the province. The Minister continues to consistently utilize her mandate to recommend an improvement in the allocation of policing resources particularly where they are needed the most.
(4) The recommendations were formally submitted to SAPS and the Minister of Police. The province recommended that SAPS adjust the Station Post Requirement (SPR) methodology. However, the SPR remains a national competency and no material changes have been visibly made.
(5) (a) The Minister and her predecessors have consistently submitted the Provincial Policing Needs and Priorities (PNPs) and forwarded to National Minister via SAPS Provincial office. The PNPs remains a strategic vehicle through which the Provincial Minister communicates the policing and safety needs of the province to the Minister of Police. The need to adequately resource police in the Western Cape has been and continues to be a recurring theme in the annual PNPs reports. In addition, the Department and Minister raised issues of police resourcing at MINMEC meetings, and various engagements with SAPS over the years.
Finally, in 2022 and 2023, the Premier corresponded with the President and National Minister around the lack of implementation of the PNP recommendations and specifically about a failure to adequately resource police stations in the Western Cape. The Minister responded to other matters raised in the letters, but not specifically to the issue of police resourcing.
(b) Outcomes of these engagements have generally included:
The correspondence and communications have been generally acknowledged. The Minister of Police or representatives of SAPS have indicated they would take into consideration matters in national policing policy and planning. There has been some allocation of additional policing resources to the province through Operation Shanela and similar initiatives. However, the Station Post Requirement has not been satisfactory amended and improvements in the allocation of policing resources in the worst affected areas is still required. Admittedly, there some areas have improved, but more still needs to be done.
(6) The Western Cape Safety Plan is still in its multi‑year implementation phase, and the initial focus has been on operational rollout and internal monitoring as it enters its second iteration (Safety Plan 2.0).A formative and summative evaluation is being planned to be part of this iteration.
(7) While the Province cannot change SAPS resource allocations, the Safety Plan has enabled the deployment of Law Enforcement Advancement Programme (LEAP) officers to police precincts that need intervention the most based on data analysis. The safety plan contributed to the process of allocating provincial safety resources to under‑policed areas; expanded violence‑prevention and youth‑safety programmes; and strengthened coordination with municipalities and community structures in the province.
(8) (a) The Department intends to commission an independent evaluation for the next phase of the Safety Plan. This will be done midway in the implementation of the Safety Plan 2.0.
(b) The specifications for the evaluation have not yet been drafted. The evaluation will be aimed at determining whether objectives of the Safety Plan 2.0 are met and the condition under which they are met. The specifications to be developed are likely assess racial, spatial, stakeholder participation the reach, and socio‑economic disparities in safety outcomes and police resourcing. Recognising that safety is not confined to policing but is a Whole of Government and Whole of Society concern, the evaluation will attempt to assess the contribution of all relevant structures in increasing safety in the province.
