MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

Debate On Violent Crime, Gender-Based Violence And Femicide In Nelson Mandela Bay

By

Dear Editor

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the decision to approve a debate on “The impact of escalating violent crime, Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) cases in our communities” during the first day of Taking Legislature to the People, which starts tomorrow in Nelson Mandela Bay.

This follows a request by the DA and reaffirms our commitment to confronting the scourge of crime that continues to grip our communities.

Violent crime and GBVF are devastating lives across the province, leaving residents in constant fear. This debate is a critical opportunity to demand accountability and action from all stakeholders, especially as crime rates soar and government intervention remains inadequate.

The Department of Community Safety has a significant budget shortfall, as it has been allocated a mere R144.84 million—just 0.15% of the total provincial budget.

In contrast, the Western Cape allocated R763.4 million to the Department of Police Oversight and Community Safety. This budget, at 0.3% of the total Western Cape provincial budget, reflects a commitment to enhancing community safety amid significant financial constraints faced by the province

Our Provincial government had the opportunity, through the delayed budgeting process post-elections, to prioritise additional funds to do its part in fighting violent crime but failed to do so.

I will call on the Legislature to ensure this failure is corrected during the adjustment budget process.

This lack of funding severely hampers our ability to invest in necessary resources. The DA strongly believes that modern technology must play a central role in our fight against crime.

The deployment of state-of-the-art surveillance and reconnaissance technology, such as those being deployed in the Western Cape, will revolutionise our approach to crime prevention.

The DA called for this debate at the beginning of the month following the horrific massacre in Lusikisiki, where 18 lives were lost in a senseless act of violence. Since submitting our request, several violent mass murders have taken place.

Just this weekend, three men were killed and a woman injured following a deadly shooting in Willowvale, while five family members were murdered and two others seriously injured in a shooting in Bityi, near Mthatha.

When quoting statistics, it is easy to lose sight of the devastating impact that violent crime has on our people. The trauma does not go away just because it’s a new reporting cycle. It is a daily reality that erodes trust in our public institutions.

Our citizens’ safety and security must be prioritised to restore hope and stability in our communities.

This debate is taking place in Nelson Mandela Bay, where the DA has been at the forefront of driving key safety initiatives. While it is common cause that Mayor Van Niekerk’s time is ending, we will hold him and his successor to his promise of Nelson Mandela Bay being the safest city in South Africa by Christmas.

The DA has worked tirelessly to address these challenges, and we welcome this platform to reinforce our call for meaningful solutions. The time for action is now, and we urge the Legislature to use this debate as a launchpad for real, lasting change.

Regards

Yusuf Cassim MPL
Shadow MEC for Community Safety

The following two tabs change content below.

Port Elizabethan

This author is a 'catch-all' for occasional articles and letters written to MyPE. The Author of each article can be found in the signature at the bottom of each individual article.