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After starting the month of November in Delft with his regular First Thursday engagements, Premier Alan Winde returned to Delft this week to see for himself how services are being delivered to residents.

With safety being a top priority of Premier Winde, he accompanied Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP), Metro Police, Cape Town Traffic Services, and South African Police Service (SAPS) members on a patrol of Blikkiesdorp.

As Delft is one of LEAP’s priority areas, additional LEAP officers were deployed to Delft earlier in the year to help reduce crime in the area.

Ahead of the walkabout, the Premier was briefed on how through partnerships, in which community members are key, and the coordination of resources and strategies through the use of data and evidence, inroads are being made in addressing crime, namely the confiscation of firearms. “Every firearm taken off our streets means fewer people will be harmed,” said the Premier at the meeting.

Senior police officials singled out gangsterism and extortion as among the two biggest challenges in the Delft area.

It is incumbent on the provincial government to assist the SAPS through various mechanisms to be able to deliver a professional and dignified service.

One such way is through the 2023 Policing Needs and Priorities report, compiled by the Western Cape Department of Police Oversight and Community Safety, which provides a raft of recommendations to the provincial and national management of the SAPS on how to improve policing.

These include:

• Strengthen the working relationship between the SAPS and the National Prosecuting Authority;
• Strengthen, capacitate, resource, and expand the Anti-Gang Unit and provide a proper investigating unit; and
• Continue the use of an evidence-based approach to policing.

Speaking to law enforcement officials during the walkabout, Premier Winde said, “It is encouraging to see all law enforcement agencies working together, sharing information and resources. This is very much in line with our whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach that we have adopted in the Western Cape Government. By combining our resources, we can make a bigger impact. If we are to continue fostering an enabling job-creation environment, we have to make communities safer. The statistics are showing us that fighting crime is having a positive impact on job creation.”

The Premier interacted with residents, telling a man who raised the issue of electricity infrastructure theft that every single crime is regarded as a priority and that all offences must be tackled with the same amount of intensity.

During an unannounced visit to the Delft Community Health Centre (CHC), the Premier engaged with community members, many of whom raised concerns over long waiting times. Management pointed out that it is doing all it can to treat as many patients as possible each day, but staffing remains a challenge. The population of Delft has grown rapidly and due to budgetary pressures, the CHC has had to prudently maximise its resources to reach as many residents as possible. “It is very important to me that I see for myself how the services we are mandated to deliver are being rolled out. I am acutely aware of existing challenges and that is why I try to get out to communities as much as I can to engage with residents and officials and see how we can use what we have better for you our residents. We know that our budgets are being reduced by national government and so we have to work smarter with our communities to expand and maintain services.”

Issued by Western Cape Provincial Government