Winde to continue fight for Western Cape police unit

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde says he won’t be giving up the fight to have a provincial policing unit which would answer to national government.

Winde made this remark while addressing the Cape Town Press Club on Tuesday afternoon.

Winde said safety and security remained the top priority for his provincial government, going as far as revealing that each member of his cabinet had to come up with a security plan for their respective department.

“We have 24 constitutional specialists who are looking into ways of changing the Constitution to allow for a Western Cape provincial policing unit. Not only that, they are looking at how changes in policing in the province can happen within the existing law,” said Winde.

Winde said his plans were all geared towards the ambitious goal of making the Western Cape the safest province, not only in the country, but on the continent.

Winde also revealed that he would be making a “major announcement” on Thursday with regards to safety and security in the province.

Winde kept his plans close to his chest during Tuesday’s address, but acknowledged that keeping the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in the province until next year would help while they worked on their new safety and security project.

On Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa extended the SANDF’s deployment period in the Western Cape by a further six months, with their term now set to end in March 2020.

They were originally deployed to help in joint operations with police in 10 areas with the highest attempted murder rates – Bishop Lavis, Mitchells Plain, Delft, Elsies River, Nyanga, Khayelitsha, Mfuleni, Philippi, Kraaifontein and Manenberg.

Combined, the 10 areas contributed to 42% of attempted murders in the province, News24 previously reported.

Winde said he hoped that the extension would mean the troops would manage to do their jobs better.

“There needs to be a strategy and targets that the army can measure their crime assisting measures against”.

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