Statement by George Michalakis MP – DA Parliamentary Leader:
The DA backs the City of Cape Town’s move to declare an intergovernmental dispute with Acting Minister of Police, Firoz Cachalia, to obtain investigatory powers for the City’s Metro Police officers.
The intergovernmental dispute will, should the City succeed, see its high-performing Metro Police officers finally able to investigate crime – not just to identify and confront crime when it happens.
This is the kind of public safety improvement the DA wants to see for Cape Town and other Metros with capable Metro Police services. It will allow the Metro Police to work with the South African Police to ramp up the fight against crime; prevent it before it occurs, actively investigating offenders, criminal syndicates, organised crime, and gang violence.
Currently, Metro Police officers hand over all evidence, suspects and investigations to the SAPS, and in some crime categories, less than 10% of cases make it to successful prosecution.
We believe that capable Metro governments, running successful Metro Police services, must have the power to investigate crime – yet Acting Minister Cachalia and his predecessor ANC Ministers of Police, have stubbornly refused to empower Metro Police forces to do so.
The dispute now forces a mandatory mediation process, as urgently as possible.
During this time, Parliament will also be briefed on the Acting Minister’s own SAPS Amendment Bill. This is a golden opportunity for the Acting Minister to take a stand, amend his own Bill, expand policing and investigative powers, and allow Metro Police to investigate crime.
We stand ready to support such an amendment to the SAPS Act in Parliament.
We commend the City of Cape Town for taking the route of an intergovernmental dispute, which opens the door for the Acting Minister to lead the Parliamentary process amending the law; which could avoid a court action on this matter.
The intergovernmental dispute comes exactly a year after the City of Cape Town proposed to Acting Minister Cachalia that he does the right thing, and that he agrees to the powers needed by Metro Police, but in that year the Acting Minister (like his predecessors) has failed to do so.
We will not sit back while residents face violence, and a Minister blocks progress.
We will take any legislative steps necessary to empower Metro Police to investigate crime.
