Warwick Bruce Chapman

STATEMENT BY CLLR WARWICK CHAPMAN
Umbilo Ward Councillor
eThekwini Municipality

MEC Willies Mchunu declines to hold Police accountable

DURBAN, 2 April 2012 – KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Willies Mchunu, today spurned a request to secure commitments from the Umbilo Station Commander and the Provincial Commissioner of Police to embrace the CPF and the community, and to commit the Unbilo Police Station to fighting crime; a request that Democratic Alliance Cllr Warwick Chapman views as not only essential to addressing the problem of crime, but also in line with the police mandate in the South African Constitution.

During a 4-hour public meeting on 2 April 2012 to deal with the long running problems at the Umbilo Police Station, the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Willies Mchunu spurned a request to secure commitments from the Umbilo Station Commander and the Provincial Commissioner of Police.

The Umbilo SAPS has been in the media over the past years for all the wrong reasons. Umbilo SAPS’s poor handling of rape cases, allegations of Police involvement in crime, particularly the explosion of drug-related crime, lack of action on known crime threats and lack of commitment to work with the CPF angered much of the Umbilo community. These frustrations boiled over into a public protest outside the Police station in February which caught the attention of the MEC who received a memorandum and committed to meeting with the community.

The situation exploded last week when Mthokozisi Ngcobo of Oliver Lea Drive in Umbilo was fatally stabbed by three attackers in Umbilo Park. Umbilo Park is a serious crime hotspot which has repeatedly been brought to the attention of Umbilo SAPS without any significant intervention ever having taken place. Police officers are said to have reverted that since they cannot drive their vehicles into the park, they cannot patrol it, dismissing requests that they do so on foot.

During the latter part of the public meeting I rose to acknowledge the intervention which had taken place by the MEC and Provincial Commissioner and request a commitment from the Station Commander to embrace the CPF and the community and commit his station to fighting crime, and that the Provincial Commissioner commit to handling any allegation of Police involvement in crime.

The MEC immediately rose and told the meeting “We are not here to hold the Police accountable. We are not here to extract commitments from the Police.” He then instructed both the station commander and the Provincial Commissioner that they need not build any such commitments into their responses to the issues raised during the meeting.

The MEC is absolutely incorrect. The problems at Umbilo SAPS are entirely the result of an absence of accountability and a lack of commitment from the Police. The community crime fighting partnership relies as a precursor on SAPS fulfilling its constitutional mandate to “effectively prevent, combat and investigate crime”. Securing a commitment from SAPS and ensuring they are held accountable are entirely appropriate under the circumstances.

The MEC in partnership with the Provincial Commissioner has a legal responsibility to play an oversight role and to ensure effective and accountable management of Police stations in KZN. To spurn a request to secure public commitment from the Police to do their jobs properly can be seen as nothing other than the MEC shielding the failure to deliver by SAPS management.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES:

Cllr Warwick Chapman
083 7797 094
warwickc@da.org.za

Dear Editor

Firstly, to the resident who SMS’d last week about the derelict house in Somerset Ave, the formal processes for remedy have been exhausted and the issue has now been handed over to the enforcement team for action to be taken against the property owner. Unfortunately these things do take time but you can rest assured that in the background the cogs are moving.

To the land owners in Essex and Enfield roads who are working to clean up their derelict buildings, thank you very much for doing your bit to rid this community of grime and contribute to our efforts to combat crime. With the support of eThekwini officials we are also following up on other derelict houses including those in Evans Rd, Davenport Ave, Macdonald Rd and Bartle Rd.

You might ask what it is that you can do as a member of this community, or any other for that matter, to contribute to cleaning up and improving safety? In short, you can help in one of two areas: crime and grime. Combating crime is only effective when the community partners with SAPS, and getting involved with the Community Policing Forum is the most effective way of achieving that. Neighbourhood watches which work in conjunction with the CPF are another. Ridding our community of grime makes criminals feel less at home, and when we feel safer to be out and about in our numbers, we reduce the spaces in which criminals operate. We do this by maintaining our buildings, keeping vacant plots and bushes under control, cleaning our parks, and ensuring our public infrastructure is in a good state of repair.

You can help by taking initiative where you see a problem to either mobilise community members and tackle the problem ourselves or to work with public officials to find a solution. We have much to do in both combating crime and ridding our community of grime but a collective desire to improve will ensure we see the change we need. Inch by inch, with the support of community members, we will make Umbilo and Glenwood among the safest and most friendly places to live in eThekwini.

Warwick Chapman, Ward Councillor for Glenwood and Umbilo

Statement by
Ronnie Veeran
DA eThekwini Mayoral Candidate

24 April 2011
Release: immediate

Note to editors: This is a plan to resurrect the eThekwini Metro Police jointly presented by DA Mayoral Candidates for eThekwini and Cape Town, Ronnie Veeran and Patricia de Lille, drawing on the successes of the DA government in Cape Town.

The Durban Metro Police are tasked with enforcing our municipal bylaws supporting the SAPS with crime prevention. A good Metro Police force will supplement the work of the SAPS.

Durban Metro Police have currently 1056 vacant posts out of about 2200. Cape Town had a 25% vacancy rate when the DA took over, which they regarded as a crisis, yet with a 48% vacancy rate the Dubran Metro Police spokesperson says there are “more than enough” staff (Independent on Saturday, 23 April).

As a result of the shortage of staff in the Metro Police, communities are being affected:
· When the Umlazi Metro Police branch was recently established, the core members of the Chatsworth Anti-Drug Team were moved to Umlazi as a result of a shortage of officers, effectively disbanding the team.

· The community of K-section KwaMashu had to stage protests before council would take measures on the notorious Nkonjane Rd which has claimed the lives of schoolchildren as a result of speeding. Speeding must be controlled through effective enforcement by speed timing.

· On an evening in April only 1 Metro Police officer instead of 14 were on duty for the entire Pinetown and Queensburgh areas.

As a result of a properly implemented urban management strategy and a revitalised Cape Town Metro Police, crime in the Cape Town CBD was reduced by 90% within 2 years of the DA taking government. The same strategy is being rolled out across the Cape Town Metro with a view to reducing crime in the rest of the Metro.

When the DA took the City of Cape Town over from the ANC in 2006, the Metro Police was dysfunctional and had been crippled by cadre deployment. The number of officers had been reduced by 800 members. One out of every four posts in the metro police service in Cape Town was vacant and there were severe shortages of equipment and specialised skills. The Metro Police had a reputation for corruption, inefficiency and ill-discipline.

A DA government in eThekwini will immediately invest funds to attracting experienced officers to the Metro Police. We will ensure they are properly equipped and trained. We will establishe specialised units to combat crime, copper theft, drinking and driving and speeding.

In the DA’s first 100 days in office, emergency funds were utilised to fill critical posts in the metro police. Extra money was allocated for police equipment. In the DA’s first financial year, the Metro Police received a bigger capital budget than it had had for the entire five years before that.

Cape Town now has a Metro Police engaged in more real police work than any other Metro Police in the country. They don’t just enforce by-laws. They go after the criminals who terrorise our communities. And they catch them.

Breaking the Chain: The DA’s Plan to Fight Drugs in eThekwini

Drugs and drug addiction are having a devastating effect on the eThekwini community. Residents of Chatsworth, Phoenix and other suburbs such as Claremont, Umlazi and KwaMashu have been caught in the stranglehold of notorious drugs such as sugars and whoonga.

Widespread addiction to these drugs has contributed to the tearing of our social fabric, broken families and a high incidence of crime and criminality. The local community bears the burden as dealers battle for turf and addicts look for every opportunity to fund their habits. In some suburbs of the city addicts have even resorted to preying on HIV patients to steal their ARV’s for the production of whoonga.

In Chatsworth the Metro Police were making exceptional breakthroughs in the fight against drugs and drug dealers and yet the unit’s special drug team was effectively disbanded when its 5 members were moved to the new Umlazi station, leaving the drug lords to operate with impunity. This is yet another indictment of how the effectiveness of our Metro Police is compromised by the poor management which has left the force with a 48% vacancy rate and thus only half the personnel it needs.

The DA-led city of Cape Town has demonstrated that the Metro Police, which are funded by the ratepayers of the metro, can be an enormously effective force in combating the sale and distribution of drugs. Since taking power in the city the DA created a specialized Metro Police unit to tackle the drugs scourge.

As a result, arrests for drug-related crimes soared from 180 in the 2005/6 financial year to a massive 955 in 2009/10 financial year. This has also contributed to the reduction of the overall crime statistics as drug-related offences are often linked to more serious offences such as murder, assault, theft and armed robbery.

A DA government in eThekwini would immediately set about creating a specialized Metro Police unit to tackle this problem head-on. This unit will consist of highly trained and equipped officers and an efficient intelligence gathering arm.

This unit would partner with the SAPS, private security companies and community policing fora to identify where drugs are being sold, how they are entering the city and the drug lords responsible for selling them. Partnerships will also be sought with the prosecuting authority to ensure that arrests, evidence gathering and subsequent prosecutions result in watertight convictions.

Keeping the lights on: the DA’s plan to stem cable theft

The theft of electricity cables within the eThekwini municipal area has reached dramatic proportions, severely hampering the operation of electricity infrastructure in the city. Officials in the eThekwini Electricity Department have revealed to the DA that there are an average of 15 incidents of cable theft per day, resulting in 300 – 400 light poles being blacked out and plunging key areas into darkness.

The theft of copper cables in Cape Town was a major problem. The Democratic Alliance city administration took decisive action and established the “Copperheads” unit within the Metro Police. This specialised unit was tasked with combating cable theft as well as seeking out scrap dealers and individuals who were buying stolen cables. The unit has been extremely successful in prosecuting those who commit crimes of sabotage against the City of Cape Town. Such is the success of the unit, that the cost to the city to replace copper cabling has dropped from R20-million pa to just R500 000 pa.

We would take the following action steps within three months of taking office:

· establish a “Copperheads” unit within the Metro Police. This unit will be staffed and equipped to fight those criminals who target municipal infrastructure and bring them to justice.

· motivate for the re-classification of the theft of electricity cables as sabotage to municipal infrastructure. This classification of sabotage carries a far heavier sentence in the courts.

· table a bylaw amendment to regulate and scrutinise scrap dealers who are buying stolen municipal infrastructure. Should scrap dealers be found to be in possession of stolen municipal infrastructure their business licence will be revoked.

Clamping Down: road safety begins and ends with enforcement

One of the Metro Police’s core responsibilities is to enforce the laws on our roads and keep a lid on drinking and driving. Speeding and drunk driving account for the majority of road fatalities in South Africa. According to the Road Traffic Management Corporation 45% of weekend fatalities are directly a result of drunk driving.

The key to changing driver behaviour is ensuring regular and strict enforcement of the law. Drivers must always be wary that they could get caught if they speed, drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs or break traffic laws.

We will ensure that:

· the culture of minor traffic offences and reckless driving is eradicated through strict enforcement of traffic laws and by-laws;

· an annual community survey is conducted to find the roads must in need of speed enforcement and the necessary applications are made to the Director of Public Prosecutions to enforce the speed limit on these roads;

· an annual community survey is conducted to establish major sources of drunk driving such as taverns, night clubs, sporting events and beach front venues and regular road blocks are set up as a deterrent.

Community Participation: collaborating with SAPS and the community

The primary role of crime prevention and investigating crimes falls with the SAPS who are a Provincial and National run competency. Our Metro Police service do play a role in crime fighting, and must play a greater role going forward. Some communities run neighbourhood watches and vibrant Community Policing forums but many others do not.

In order to enhance collaboration:
- in partnership with SAPS, functioning Community Policing Fora will be established in every policing area in the Metro and will engage in real crime prevention activities;
- Metro Police specialised units will be re-established and revitalised to combat specific crime types and Metro Police will be required to participate in all CPF activities in their area;
- we will increase communication and collaboration between CPF leadership, SAPS station commanders and Metro Police commanders;

Any criminal who enters a neighbourhood with an intention to commit a crime is unable to do so without being seen by a member of the community. Improved communication between community members, the SAPS, private security and Metro Police can be the difference between a crime being committed or prevented.

Summary

Durban Metro Police are grossly understaffed and lacking specialised units. We would urgently address the staffing, equipment and training shortages and establish specialised units to tackle specific crimes. We will emphasise the enforcement of bylaws by the Metro Police in order to combat the present culture of petty criminality.

We want the Durban Metro Police to be regarded as the Guardians of our Metro. Only through effective law enforcement can we build an efficient municipality which delivers for all.

Because the DA delivers for all!

Sithuthukisa wonke umuntu!

Ons lewer dienste aan almal!

Media Enquiries:

Cllr Ronnie Veeran
DA eThekwini Mayoral Candidate
082 371 7698

Mbali Ntuli
Mayoral Spokesperson
072 118 8556

NOTE: This statement is here because I played a role in creating it while eThekwini Campaign Manager in the 2011 Local Government Elections.

Statement by
Cllr Ronnie Veeran
DA eThekwini Mayoral Candidate

21 April 2011

Release: immediate

The Democratic Alliance recognises the need for safe and clean communities where people can live and work free from fear and danger. We recognise that the community itself has a central role to play in the fight against crime and that a partnership between South African Police Service, private security and the community and the municipality is required to reduce crime in eThekwini.

The Democratic Alliance has a plan to reduce the space in our communities which allows criminals to operate.

A DA government in eThekwini would ensure that:

- in partnership with SAPS, functioning Community Policing Fora will be established in every policing area in the Metro and will engage in real crime prevention activities;
- we will establish a small, effective Community Safety unit to initiate and support the establishment of street and neighbourhood watches to work with CPFs based on best practices learned from around the Metro;
- we will support and encourage reasonable partnerships between communities and private security to secure neighbourhoods and streets;
- Metro Police specialised units will be re-established and revitalised to combat specific crime types and Metro Police will be required to participate in all CPF activities in their area;
- we will increase communication and collaboration between CPF leadership, SAPS station commanders and Metro Police commanders;
- all councillors will be required to involve themselves in CPF and neighbourhood watch activities.

The primary role of crime prevention and investigating crimes falls with the SAPS who are a Provincial and National run competency. Our Metro Police service do play a role in crime fighting, and must play a greater role going forward. Some communities run neighbourhood watches and vibrant Community Policing forums but many others do not.

Any criminal who enters a neighbourhood with an intention to commit a crime is unable to do so without being seen by a member of the community. Improved communication between community members, the SAPS, private security and Metro Police can be the difference between a crime being committed or prevented.

Crime is a complex problem, deeply integrated into our social fabric. We recognise that all three spheres of government need to play a role in combating and preventing crime in our communities. A DA government in eThekwini will ensure that the fight against crime is a top priority.

The DA supports any effort which aims to increase genuine participation of the community in the fight against crime. There are three key roles the community must play in this fight, and it is important that all three roles are enthusiastically embraced:
1. Make our own neighbourhoods safer by working together to protect our communities
2. Collaborating with the Police to set the crime fighting strategy and plan and execute operations
3. Most importantly, defend and undertake our oversight role and ensure our Police station is providing efficient service delivery to the community

I would like to quote Major-General Jula, our Deputy Provincial Commissioner of Police who said the following in this hall on Sunday:
“We invite the community to join us in the fight against crime by demonstrating a sense / culture of territoriality over their neighbourhoods and playing a role as whistle blowers and our eyes and ears.”

We must take ownership of our neigbourhoods. We must no longer accept what has become a culture of violent crime. We must ensure that known criminals no longer feel comfortable in our homes. We must blow the whistle on criminals and errant Police officers.

All members of SAPS have sworn to fulfill their obligations as laid out in the constitution and I remind you of them:
- to prevent, combat and investigate crime
- to maintain public order
- to protect and secure the inhabitants of the Republic and their property
- and to uphold and enforce the law

In the course of this partnership it must be remembered that for a partnership to work, both parties must commit themselves. If one of the community or the Police do not play ball, this partnership will fail and crime will be the winner.

We will continue to support the growth and business of Community Police Forums and the formation of neighbourhood watches and street committees affiliated to the CPF. We recognise the role we have to play here and we embrace the opportunity and the responsibility before us.