Premier

I have been informed that:

The Western Cape Government’s current strategy toward crime for represents a deliberate shift toward an integrated, targeted, and system-wide approach, which combines violence prevention, strengthened community safety, and more effective law enforcement into a coordinated framework aimed at achieving sustained reductions in violence.

The Western Cape Government’s approach to safety – informed by the 2025-2030 Provincial Strategic Plan (PSP) has three strategic outcomes:

• Integrated Violence Prevention;
• Safe and Secure Communities and Infrastructure;
• Effective and Responsive Law Enforcement;

Our most notable interventions are thus aligned to these outcomes, expressing a recognition that any approach to violence prevention must be deliberately targeted to where it will be most effective.

We see this in our Area-Based Teams, convened by the Department of Health and Wellness's Violence Prevention Unit, government departments and local partners jointly diagnose the specific social and environmental conditions driving violence in priority areas and coordinate targeted, context-specific interventions.

These interventions are reinforced by programmes that build social cohesion, resilience and youth opportunity. Interventions include improving access to parenting programmes and rollout of the Early Adolescent Skills for Emotions (EASE) programme, as well as initiatives like the Chrysalis Academy, MOD Programme, and Khulisa Care initiative.

This House has also been briefed several times on the Planet Youth survey, which works to understand and address specific problems facing our youth, as directed by their responses.

Ultimately though, the greatest tool we have against crime is the creation of jobs through economic growth. The YearBeyond and PAY Internship programmes are specifically geared toward ensuring our young people have a foothold in our growing provincial economy. Nothing stops a bullet like a job, and our stellar record on unemployment in this province represents not only a substantial indicator for the wellbeing of our people, but also one of our most important weapons in the fight against crime.

But despite the fact that this question asks us to ignore boots-on-the-ground interventions, we cannot lose sight of the fact that a strong investigative and enforcement capacity is still necessary, especially from the SAPS. That is why we have gone above and beyond to work with our partners in other spheres of government. Among other collaborative initiatives such as the Provincial Joints Priority Committee and the Anti-Gang Implementation Plan (AGIP), as well as our collaboration agreements with the City of Cape Town and SAPS, we also maintain the provincial safety council. This is where we bring together stakeholders from across government spheres, the justice system at large, academic contributors, and other stakeholders to ensure alignment on strategy.

I am sure the member would agree that, in order to fully realise a safer future, we must make progress along both avenues – enforcement and prevention. We do everything within our mandate to create safer communities; but it is also vital that the SAPS, the NPA, and every part of the justice system do the same.