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Government’s failure is costing lives

By

Dear Editor

The people of the Eastern Cape are living in terror. In the space of just two weeks, ten lives have been lost in mass shootings—first in Veeplaas, then in Motherwell. In both cases, gunmen stormed into homes, where victims should have been safe, and opened fire without hesitation.

A 16-year-old girl was among those murdered in Motherwell. The walls of that home, scarred with bullet holes, tell a story of unimaginable horror. In Veeplaas, six young men were executed in cold blood. Their families now left to bury them, knowing that justice may never come.

But this is not limited to one area. Across the metro, and especially in the Northern Areas, criminals have turned our streets into war zones, leaving residents trapped in an endless cycle of violence. The murder of Constable Callan Andrews, a police officer who dedicated his life to protecting this city, is proof that no one is safe—not even those sworn to uphold the law.

How many more families must go through this? How many more lives must be stolen before the Eastern Cape government stops pretending it has this under control?

For too long, the Eastern Cape’s Community Safety Department has put forward recommendations to fight violent crime—but SAPS has ignored them. The very structures designed to improve safety in our communities are being undermined by police inaction. What is the point of these safety strategies if they are simply dismissed?

The Community Safety Department, with its R144.84 million budget, has also failed to enforce its strategies, and in so doing, has failed the people it was meant to protect.

The DA is taking the fight beyond words. Where government has failed, we will act.

We are demanding that the Community Safety Portfolio Committee be given real power to enforce its recommendations, ensuring that SAPS and the provincial government can no longer dismiss critical interventions. Those who ignored previous crime-fighting strategies must be held to account.

If they had done their jobs, the families of Motherwell and Veeplaas might not be grieving today.

We are also pushing for a major reallocation of the Community Safety budget—away from bureaucratic dead-ends and into community-driven crime prevention. The money must go where it will actually make people safer:

Strengthening and expanding neighbourhood watches, equipping them with the training and resources to actively patrol high-risk areas.

Establishing community crime intelligence networks to track and report gang activity before another massacre occurs.

Demanding an immediate firearm crackdown, with a dedicated SAPS task team in the Eastern Cape focused solely on tracing, seizing, and cutting off the flow of illegal guns.

The Western Cape has shown that provincial crime-fighting strategies can work, not because of better policing, but because of better governance. Their budget for community safety is five times larger, with real investments in neighbourhood watches, gun crackdowns, and community-led crime intelligence.

If it can be done there, it can be done here, but only if the ANC government stops treating crime as an afterthought.

I will write to Premier Oscar Mabuyane to ask that he introduce bold interventions in the upcoming State of the Province Adress. These commitments must, however, go beyond promises. They must be implemented.

The people of the Eastern Cape cannot wait for another massacre before action is taken. We will not stop until we see real change in the ground, as opposed to more lip service and inaction.

The DA will continue to fight for the people of this province, whose lives are being shattered by violent crime on a daily basis.

Regards

Yusuf Cassim MPL
DA EC Shadow MEC for Community Safety

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Port Elizabethan

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