Provincial Policing Needs and Priorities (PNPs) for 2021/22 presented by the Department of Police Oversight and Community Safety

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed all to the meeting and made special mention of Mr G Pretorius (DA) joining the meeting as the newest member of the Committee. The Chairperson welcomed the presentation from the Department of Police Oversight and Community Safety.

Minister’s Remarks

Mr Reagan Allen, Minister of Police Oversight and Community Safety, thanked the Chairperson and informed the Committee that the presentation would be on the policing needs and priorities for the 2021/2022 financial year.

He reminded the Committee of the briefing on policing needs and priorities that had taken place in March 2022, where he had served as the chairperson. He said the submission of the briefing on policing needs and priorities had been consistent, which was defined as a constitutional mandate that Ministry would never negate due to the submission to the National Minister of Police that had to be considered.

Ms Amanda Dissel, Director: Policy and Research, Western Cape Department of Police Oversight and Community Safety, delivered the presentation.

Provincial Policing Needs and Priorities (PNPs) for 2021/22

Section 206 of the Constitution required the Minister of Police to determine the National Policing Policy after consulting with provincial governments and considering the policing needs and priorities of the provinces as determined by the Members of Executive Council (MEC).

The National Policing Policy could make provision for different policies in respect of different provinces after considering the PNPs of the provinces.

In terms of the Community Safety Act, 2013, it is required that the MEC had to report annually to the Provincial Parliament on his/her PNP findings. The MEC had to formulate recommendations on PNPs, forwarded to the Minister of Police. The MEC had to submit approved PNPs to the National Minister to be considered when PNPs for the Province were formulated. There was no definition of what a PNP was, nor how it had to be considered by the National Minister or the national or provincial SAPS and other departments.

The Objectives of the PNP research project were to:

• Influence the allocation distribution and utilisation of policing and safety resources in line with the identified PNPs and safety concerns.
• Determine PNPs to increase safety in the Western Cape.
• Make policy recommendations to decision makers.
• Publish annual policing provincial PNP report.
• Distribute report widely to several key role players.

PNP Process for 2020/21 Financial Year:

• Conducted analysis of key PNP findings and recommendations made in PNP reports since 2014/15 to 2019/20.
• A summary of key issues was tabulated and each issue raised three or more times, was included.
• Desktop analysis was conducted to determine what progress had been made on the issues identified.
• Other secondary sources such as the SAPS annual reports, and Victims of Crime Survey (VoCs), were included.
• Included oversight reports and documents generated by the Department.

• In addition, any new key policing and safety concerns and issues in the province and developments during the year were identified.
• The 2020/21 PNP was presented to the Standing Committee in March 2022. It was updated with information from 2021/22 and presented to Cabinet.
• Cabinet adopted the report on 18 August 2022.
• It was submitted to the Minister of Police, SAPS Commissioners and other key stakeholders, and distributed widely.
• The report was printed and is also available on the WCG website.

Key Findings and Recommendations:

Murders in the Western Cape:

-increased in 2021/22

Police Resource Distribution:

-Shortage of human and physical resources in the SAPS

-population to police ratio had continued to increase.

Impact of Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP) on Murder:

-LEAP had had an impact, especially in the areas where it was implemented for a longer period.

Gender-based Violence Findings and Recommendations:

-5.3% of murders were related to domestic violence in 2020/21.

-SAPS had to ensure that: the victim-friendly rooms met the requirements, proper training was provided to the units and departments involved, police stations had access to DNA collection kits, backlog of GBV cases be addressed, proper informing and support be given to victims, WCG had to continue to address GBV through its Transversal GBV Steering Committee or similar.

Substance Abuse Findings and Recommendations:

-substance abuse and drug dealing have been identified as crime generators.

-Root cause needed to be addressed and proper support and treatment had to be given to drug-abuser. Harms-reduction approach to policing and enforcement had to be followed. Law Enforcement (LE) played a key role in policing the ‘B’ crimes and allowing the SAPS to concentrate on more serious forms of crimes. There was a need to strengthen enforcement around liquor outlets and ensure that the officers were trained in de-escalation strategies. The WCLA had to continue ensuring compliance with licensing conditions.

Murder and serious violent crime findings and recommendations:

-The was a need to ensure proper policing approaches, implement collaborative area-based approach with stakeholders and implement Firearms Harms Reduction Strategy

Gang-related Crime findings and recommendations:

-Gang violence was found to be rife in the WC.

-There was a need to capacitate the SAPS Anti-gang Unit, adopt a multi-stakeholder approach, focus on investigating and prosecuting organised gang crime, and Implement the Provincial response to the National Anti-Gang Strategy.

Policing Approach: Firearms and Ammunition findings and recommendations:

-continued focus on firearm recoveries and confiscations through stop and search & intelligence-led operations, close management of firearm stockpiles, confiscated firearms needed to be destroyed more regularly, there was a need for further regulation of the sale of ammunition, and a need for thorough investigation of firearm-related offences, ProvJoints was to implement Firearms Harms Reduction Strategy.

-The was a need for greater collaboration & integration of the SAPS and the Law Enforcement authorities.

Strengthen SAPS Resources findings and recommendations:

-The number of police officers had declined.

-New SAPS members had to be recruited, trained and deployed to the Western Cape.

-There were frequent concerns about the shortage of police resources such as equipment, police uniforms, vehicles, horses, bicycles, community service centre (CSC) space, etc.

-Vehicle fleet management needed to be improved, personnel-to-vehicle ratio needed to be improved, police stations requiring upgrades needed to be attended to and CCTV cameras and security installations had to address security risks.

Strengthen Police Resources

-Vandalism of infrastructure, arson and coach vandalism had caused extensive damage to the railway environment and the train set. Theft of copper led to a dysfunctional railway system. Reservist numbers had declined.

-There was a need for effective policing of the railway environment to ensure the safety of commuters and staff and railway assets and infrastructure.

-The SAPS intended to start a recruitment campaign for new reservists.

Strengthen Police Resources: Detectives:

-The Western Cape did not have sufficient detectives to investigate the spate of criminality and gangsterism in the province.

-Advanced and specialised detective training also needed to be made available.

Strengthening of SAPS Resources:

-Detectives had to be trained on the implementation of the Integrated Case Docket Management (ICDMS)

-All stations needed to appoint vetted members to manage the Dockets Archive Stores.

Strengthening of SAPS Resources: Corruption

-Attention needed to be paid to police culture to ensure corruption did not flourish.

-The SAPS Anti-corruption unit needed to continue investigating allegations of corruption and ensure that corrupt members were prosecuted.

Strengthening of SAPS Resource: Forensic Laboratories

-Forensic laboratory in the Western Cape reported to the Western Cape Provincial Commissioner

-The procurement of buccal sample kits needed to be improved and distributed to priority stations.

Strengthening of SAPS Resources: Sick Leave

-The SAPS need to address the abuse of sick leave and work towards achieving its target regarding sick leave.

Strengthening of SAPS Resources: Effective Deployment of Members

-The deployment of human resources had to be dependent on accurate crime and demographic data down to a geographic micro-level.

Role of Provincial Role Players:

• The Safety Priority approach envisaged a role of multiple role players.
• PNP identified role for the province, local and district municipalities.
• The PNP called for collaboration across sectors and role players.
• Improving law enforcement effectiveness and coordination
• Improving safety infrastructure in public spaces
• Strengthening social protective factors against violence

PNP Process for 2022/23:

• Review the state of policing in each district & province, and make recommendations for implementation by the stakeholders.
• Five rural District Engagements: August 2022 – January 2023 – Rural Safety Summits and PNP engagements
• Between 120 and 180 participants in each engagement from national, provincial & local gov & CPFs, NHW, farm watches.
• 2 City engagements: Metro East and Metro West
• Desktop analysis of oversight reports

• To strengthen the nature of the policy recommendations, DoCS commissioned 6 policy briefs on key policing issues from policing experts (listed on slide 34)
• DoCS held a workshop with the experts to discuss the findings and recommendations.
• Recommendations would be integrated into the PNP report.
• Separate policy briefs would be published.

See attached for full presentation

Discussion

Ms A Bans (ANC) thanked the Chairperson and informed the Committee that she had only a few comments. She expressed disappointment at the lateness of receiving the presentation, preventing adequate preparation for the meeting, and appreciation toward receiving the booklet upfront.

What were the rural safety engagements spoken about in slides 17,33 and 34 and what were the outcomes and the progress made through the rural engagements?

In a previous presentation, in the discussion about physical resources, the apparent shortage of police vehicles was shown. After oversight was completed, and results were requested to be shared from the oversight, especially for the area of Kannaland.

On safety priorities, it was stated that the role of multiple role players had been envisioned. Who were those role players, how did the PNP identify them and what had been done so far regarding those role players?

She re-emphasised that receiving the presentation sooner would have been appreciated, to give time for paying closer attention, specifically, to the gender-based violence statistics as they were not recorded sufficiently enough in the rural areas. The recommendations on gender-based violence were noted.

What was the transversal steering committee?

She expressed interest regarding the vacancy rate spoken about by the Minister and requested clarity on the exact vacancy rate and where that number was obtained from?

The Chairperson reminded the Members that only the Department was being engaged, and that the SAPS would provide input on 7 March 2023, when their report would be submitted to the Committee.

Ms A Cassim (EFF) asked if there were any plans to roll out mobile SAPS and law enforcement facilities, especially in farms and informal settlements far from police stations?

She explained that the prevalence of gender-based violence, rape and crime in those areas was high and posed a challenge for residents when seeking assistance. Due to not having education, women thought that it was permissible to be abused or a safe space for them to seek refuge in abusive situations, making it likely for cases not to be recorded.

What were the plans to remove drug dens and gangs from the communities, specifically beyond the area of the Cape Flats?

Ms Cassim recounted her personal patrolling experience, which enabled her knowledge of where drug dens were located, drugs were sold, and gangsters resided with illegal firearms in their possession.

There was a failure in confiscating the weaponry in some of the major gang-related and drug-infested communities, specifically the Cape Flats area.

The response of law enforcement and the SAPS was said to be extremely slow. The example demonstrating the slowness of law enforcement was provided from when Ms Cassim was at an oversight with Sub Council 17 in the City's Control Room in the area of Goodwood, where operators watched live drug dealing and did not log a call to law enforcement at the time to drive out to the area until they had been questioned to do so by Ms Cassim. There had been four vans in the area, but not a single van moved into the area before an hour had passed, where the individuals had left when law enforcement arrived.

On the mobile SAPS facilities, areas that had been flagged as a “red zone” proved to have difficulties experienced by the residents, wherein ambulances were not entering the informal settlements due to fear for their own safety as those emergency service officials were scared to enter.

What plans did the SAPS and law enforcement have to assist those in informal settlements?

Mr M Kama (ANC) welcomed the presentation and drew attention to a note made at the beginning of the presentation which indicated that there was no definition of what the policing needs and priorities were. How did the police respond to that report? What had been done to make suggestions from the Department's side on what the definition had to be and how the National Police Ministry had to take them into account?

Which stakeholders had been used on integrating systems and technologies, which was referred to multiple times in the presentation?

There was a need to ensure that when dealing with organised and other serious crimes, there would be vetted individuals within SAPS to deal with those matters. A situation where un-vetted characters had access to practice systems would not be ideal.

How far was the Department in the process of making sure that there were laws dealing with alcohol-harm reduction?

Regarding drug dealing or drug abuse activities, the Ombudsman was said to have an investigation around those issues. Was the Department doing an analysis on the closing of drug houses? How many of those drug houses were properties owned by the City of Cape Town? SAPS was noted to have struggled with the City of Cape Town to have those drug houses closed.

Ms D Baartman (DA) congratulated the Ministry for seeing the outcomes on slide 11 with the minus 12 percent in the rollout of LEAP one. LEAP 2 and LEAP 3 were noted to have increased, but compared to national averages and the progress made over time, it was shown that something was being done that caused the programme to be working.

What was the feedback from the SAPS officials from respective police stations where LEAP had been implemented towards the Department? Had they been able to share what the difference had been in their work? What, specifically, were the elements in the work environment that had changed?

On slide 13 regarding the Police Ombudsman's investigation into the SAPS' handling of drug-related crimes, what were those outcomes and were they available? What had been discovered that needed to be done to improve that?

On slide 17, in addition to the request for greater collaboration, what would that greater collaboration look like? What was currently preventing that greater collaboration that was mentioned?

The Chairperson closed off the round of questions by enquiring on page 26 of the PNP, which mentioned the 12 closed circuit TV cameras. Were those cameras the only stations in the Western Cape with functioning CCTV cameras?

In terms of the firearm stockpile leaks, did the Department have the number of firearms that had leaked from the stockpile and was it something that the Department kept track of?

Responses

Minister Allen said that page 12 had addressed gender-based violence and recommended that the Western Cape Government had to continue to address gender-based violence through its transversal gender-based violence steering committee or similarly extend across the SAPS in the City of Cape Town, rural areas, and Western Cape government departments, with each entity having a key role to play. A greater collaboration would be spoken to, to foster the collective roles played and held accountable.

Addressing Ms Bans' statement, he promised that the booklets would be sent more timeously, and expressed delight that the booklet was circulated via the procedural officers.

On rural safety engagements, stakeholders were in the room over the last nine months, between the values of 120 and 180. That figure included senior SAPS members, street commissioners, relevant District Correctional Service members, relevant departmental members within the Western Cape Government, various stakeholders, including the CPFs (farm and neighbourhood watchers) and security companies. The NPA and IPID were seen at MINMEC, demonstrating the array of safety stakeholders involved.

During the PNP engagement with the SAPS held in March 2022, 720 members were allocated to the Western Cape. A letter was written by Minister Allen, to the PC International Minister on the PNPs, receiving a response back on 11 April 2022. The letter indicated the revised allocation would be 1 118 new recruits coming to the Western Cape.

Increases were said to be always welcomed, and it was worth acknowledging that that amount was still lacking. There was currently a 17 percent vacancy rate, called the granted establishment. The amount of 21267 on page nine was not an ideal projected amount, but a granted budgeted amount.

Currently, there was an amount of 18 867, which differed by 17 percent compared to the ideal projected number of new recruits, which did not bode well for the Western Cape as Public Service Act employees that would not be uniformed gun-carrying SAPS officers amounted to 15 000 individuals.

The demonstrated encouragement of helping to strengthen the hand of SAPS was to ensure that any form of under-resourcing in a particular Province would not occur.

The gender-based transversal committee, which tied many government departments, was involved in many activities and programs. An example was when the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act was monitored, thereafter recommendations were made that were station specific. To further explain the station-specific monitoring, the areas of Mfuleni and Khayelitsha were physically gone into.

The number of protection orders served and training in a particular Khayelitsha unit were referenced as examples of how areas were monitored in implementing the Domestic Violence Act effectively. Several assaults, rape and gender-based violence cases were also monitored to make sure those cases were re-enrolled onto the court to prevent inefficiencies.

He spoke about the role that was played by neighbourhood watchers, with light shed on the training of First Responders in gender-based violence that was being conducted.

Regarding drug dens and the question asked by Ms Cassim, he mentioned that he was due to receive an update in the next two weeks on the last quarter and the number of drug dens that were actually closed. Inviting the SAPS to answer that question was encouraged.

Referring to a request that was submitted to the police Ombudsman in 2020, he said that at the time of that request, 1 557 known drug houses were confirmed to be in existence. The amount of drug houses had since reduced, but the exact reduction amount, was unknown. Minister Allen assured the Committee that when the feedback on the exact figure was received, he would share that in circulation to the Standing Committee as well.

On the question raised by Mr Kama, he said the exact figure was not known off-hand regarding the number of drug houses on private and state-owned properties. Minister Allen assured the Committee that he would source that figure and circulate it to the rest of the Standing Committee.

He gave assurance that both drug houses of rental stocks in any municipality or private property would have to be shut regardless of the ownership.

On the dangers in informal settlements, as queried by Ms Cassim, in the presentation on slide number 28, it was highlighted that the safety priority was improving law enforcement's effectiveness and coordination in strengthening social protective factors. When looking at the root causes of crime, improving safety infrastructure in public spaces was also acknowledged.

In Mfuleni, over the last ten years, the population has doubled. After visiting Mfuleni, despite the increase in population that the precinct had to be servicing, an increase in SAPS members in the precinct was not observed at the SAPS stations. During COVID, Mfuleni was compounded when an additional three informal settlements popped up in the Mfuleni area, one named “Covid City”.

Minister Allen expressed concern for the SAPS members, Law Enforcement Officers, and LEAP officers deployed in Mfuleni. Due to structural and lighting matters, the monitoring and policing of those areas remained concerning.

On Mr Kama's question about “no-definition on the PNPs”, he said it was a known fact that each province posed different needs. Where the Western Cape experienced high gang-related murders contributing to over 80 percent of all murders in the country, which would differ from an area such as Limpopo. 19 percent of murders in the last quarter had gang-related motives but that figure contributed to over 80 percent of gang-related murders in the entire country.

Minister Allen mentioned that he was satisfied with the fact that there was no/clear definition of what the PNPs had to be, as that spoke directly to what was being advocated for: the Western Cape's priorities and policing needs. The call for policing powers at provincial level, together with an increase in the metro police for investigative purposes.

The Chairperson answered that there was a 38 percent vacancy rate as of last year. Of the 232 granted positions only 144 police officers were currently deployed. The Committee also knew that those police officers, the AGU officers, were very often taken from stations from their allocations in response to Mr Kama's question on un-vetted members.

Minister Allen explained that one of his engagements with the South African Police Service was ensuring that even the AGU members were all vetted. He affirmed that he was attempting to ensure that certain specialised units doing key work in the province had to be vetted and that fact had to be placed on record.

The figure of 232 AGU members granted, was repeated by Minister Allen as confirmation to the Chairperson. The actual amount of only 144 members, while over 80 percent of all gang-related murders in our country occurred in the Western Cape.

On the question on LEAP officers asked by Mr Kama, working under direct command of each SAPS Station Commander - the LEAP officers were said to work under the command of the SAPS to embrace an integrated approach in collaborating with all law enforcement agencies, and due to SAPS having further powers than those of LEAP officers, including investigative powers.

It was ensured that the LEAP officers were working in collaboration where they were able to increase “boots on the ground”, able to use resources and ensure that the murder rate was being brought down. Tremendous success between the collaboration had been seen in some areas, with improvement due in other areas where the safety stakeholders had to ultimately foster valuable working relationships.

Minister Allen informed the Committee that for the first time, the Western Cape Liquor Authority had been able to visit each licensed premises, with an increase of inspectors that enabled the visitation of the registered liquor outlets.

Section 64 had been implemented, whereby if an outlet was non-compliant, they would not be automatically receiving their renewal to ensure compliance while the balance towards economic growth in a particular area and the business aspect was stricken.

Interventions regarding the LEAP stations and bases were being looked at, teamwork with other law enforcement agencies and NGOs was being encouraged, and further work was being done on gender-based violence regarding youth development and cultural activities.

The presence of the LEAP base at an NGO created visibility and awareness as several females and youth had visited. An example of a particular centre named The Hope was given, and the Committee was encouraged to visit the base themselves.

He gave high praise to the interaction that existed between business NGOs and law enforcement. Sightings of a few garages providing coffee to SAPS members close to midnight created the visibility in certain problematic spots. The feeling of safety was created, which would be attempted as the basis for other bases.

Minister Allen encouraged the Committee to put forward the names of the NGOs that in priority areas would benefit from the presence of the LEAP in a particular area and not only deploying from a SAPS station only, which spoke of the greater collaboration questioned by Ms Baartman.

Greater collaboration was felt differently in each community, whether or not social cohesion factors had been established. The example of Mitchells Plain illustrated how social cohesion factors differed per community, where the social cohesion was higher in Mitchells Plain due to residents living in the area for long periods compared to Delft. 

The Delft area differed due to the influx of new homeowners and the rise of informal settlements in that area. Many of the first homeowners in Delft had since left the area, resulting in the need for social cohesion to be built, specifically in the area. The need for each Department to play a role in the safety of the communities was confirmed, with the intention of obtaining assistance to help build safer communities.

Minister Allen responded that he did not have the exact figure on the firearm stockpile and advised that the SAPS be asked for those directly. He confirmed that the Department had made a number of recommendations concerning a dedicated firearm destruction site.

Ms Dissel confirmed that she would speak more on the question about the Western Cape Liquor amendments. She informed the Committee that the amendments were still being worked on, involving minimum unit pricing and standardised trading liquor hours. Recommendations had been drafted, with public consultations to begin within the current month and the next month to get public comment before the proposals were submitted to Parliament.

Ms Theresha Hanekom, Deputy Director: Safety Planning, advised that the next meeting could include extensive rural safety engagement reporting. However, she touched on the subject very briefly. Ms Hanekom summarised that the Department had realised that farm watchers were required in the province. When asked what the greater collaboration looked like, that needed to be had been learnt through workshops held. Uniting information between law enforcement units of the municipalities, traffic, provincial and local, the SAPS and disaster management units all had different sets of data, was not possible due to there being no platform to combine all the sets of data to create one Intel that was required to act upon. It was also understood that the SAPS was a very closed system that might not share its information, but others were willing to work together. The Department had been looking at a platform to make information sharing possible.

The Department of Agriculture was led by Minister Ivan Meyer, who had set up the Inter-Ministerial Committee. There was mention of the Operational Committee, which had Bheki Simelane as its director sitting on all the Disaster Risk Management from all the district municipalities serving on that committee. The police had a Rural Safety National Strategy and an eight-point plan they were responsible for implementing, with support from the Department.

Regarding private security, the farmers had mostly set up their own CCTV cameras, etc. Enquiries on what collaboration would look like would require the province to approve provincial roads for those cameras to be erected, and in turn, farmers would need to give approval for that footage to be used in court, for example.

The drones that the Department had helped the West Coast to obtain were mentioned; they were used in joint operations when the SAPS did not have the advanced technology yet, but were eager to use the drones.

It was found that law enforcement did not work over weekends but worked from eight until four in the afternoon. The crime occurred at the highest from Friday to Sunday, so to have that combated, in some rural districts, some appointees had received different employment contracts to necessitate them working over weekends.

Ms Hanekom said SAPS had one police member rural safety officer for 300 farms in central Karoo, which meant no policing for many of those farms. This affirmed why an integrated response was so necessary, which would be discussed in greater detail in the next report. 

Minister Allen added that regarding the vehicles, he could confirm that as of 1 November, the entire fleet total for the Western Cape was 5894 vehicles. In the current financial year, as of 1 November, 363 additional vehicles had been ordered, with only 54 delivered on 1 November.

Engagements with the SAPS had occurred as the 54 vehicles delivered were only 14.88 percent of the actual amount ordered. It was advised that there was consistent engagement to ensure all 363 ordered vehicles would be delivered by 1 April 2023.

Police oversight had to lead to better service delivery, ensuring advocacy on behalf of the SAPS occured in the province, and making recommendations that would make the province safer.

Ms Dissel added that there was a question about CCTV cameras reported on page 26, mentioning 12 police stations. The SAPS had reported that those 12 stations had been fitted with CCTV cameras, and the Department had reported the same information. Clarification was made that that amount was not the total amount of stations with CCTV cameras, but rather the number mentioned by the SAPS.

Further discussion

The Chairperson thanked the Ministry for their responses and reminded the Committee that the discussion would be continued at the next meeting on 7 March 2023 with the responses to the PNP from SAPS. The final round of questions was permitted.

Mr G Pretorious (DA) commended all the officials contributing to compiling the report and booklet. He mentioned that the document was awash with recommendations, not options. Was there a budget, staff and a plan to roll out and implement that?

Ms Cassiem asked for the next meeting if it was possible to obtain a report on the number of drug dens closed, when they were closed and who now occupied those specific homes.

The Chairperson confirmed that that report could be requested directly from the SAPS.

Mr Kama appreciated the responses given thus far and touched on the remarks made by the MEC, specifically regarding the process of the PNPs, where the Department wanted to ensure all law enforcement agencies and government departments were role players. The issue of reports given to the Safety Cabinet was raised in the initial presentation. Did that Safety Cabinet still sit, as Mr Kama had not heard from them in the last three years before COVID-19?

How many officers were on the ground per shift? Were there any plans by the Department, the Government and financial institutions to extend the LEAP project? What amount would be looked at? Was there a new recruitment that would happen? Was there a plan to increase the footprint to the rest of the province at large? It was noted that SAPS spoke on how crime shifted to different areas and started to move to other rural parts of the province.

Responses

Minister Allen thanked the Chairperson and appreciated the follow-up questions. In terms of the Western Cape Safety Plan, where the Premier was said to be very direct on that aspect, there had been budget taken from other Western Cape government departments to fund the LEAP. The LEAP was said to be a prong in the safety plan. The data shows that the figure of 1 308 LEAP members was identified as current, who were deployed across priority areas. Every SAPS station would desire to have LEAP Officers, as it would mean additional capacity. That had been seen in Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha, where positive sentiments were heard from the Station Commander or visible Policing Commander in each sector, as well as rapid assessment and comments made about the integration. The SAPS members on the ground, having interacted with the LEAP officers, showed appreciation. To have an additional 80 LEAP officers to assist in the area of Delft that had been plagued by violence, to help and assist, could only strengthen the arm of SAPS. 

The data and evidence suggested and informed where deployment took place. Emphasis was made on deploying officers in areas of greater need due to increased crime, and the example of deploying eight officers in Khayelitsha compared to Camps Bay, was made.

Rural areas were not forgotten about. Funding had been made available to the rural safety units. Minister Allen explained that while those units might not be called LEAP, funding and interventions were still being done via the district safety plans, also containing components linked to the K-9 units.

The K-9 units and SAPS were commended for doing amazing work over the last two days. One set of firearms was retrieved, which was noted to be a joint operation between SAPS and the Malmesbury-Swartland-K-9 Unit, sponsored by the Department of Community Safety.

Minister Allen confirmed that the 1 308 members in the current approach would be placed in the City of Cape Town as it was a priority area where the biggest impact would be seen.

When information was received on the drug houses, it would be distributed to the Committee, in answer to Ms Cassim's question regarding the drug houses. It was pointed out that this Committee played a vital role in ensuring engaging steps were made and monitoring how many drug houses had been closed.

Further interventions were being examined due to several drug houses linked to certain open spaces that should also be tracked and monitored effectively. The example was given of drugs being sold in a field or box opposite places of residence, and how LEAP, SAPS and the metro police to had had those drug houses closed.

Minister Allen elaborated that out of the initial 1557 known drug houses in the province, 47 percent were outside of the City of Cape Town. He affirmed the awareness of what was happening in rural areas and remarked that the rural areas could not be neglected.

Regarding Mr Pistorious' question about whether there was a budget, he referenced the 2020 Mid Term Budget Policy Statement, where R11.8 billion was said to be taken from the NPA education and SAPS to bail out South African Airways. Minister Allen informed Members that the former finance Chairperson would give information concerning equitable shares in our province.

It was difficult when the shrinking of the fiscus to achieve the ideal number of SAPS members. At station level across our country, the ideal number was 195 000, with the actual number across our country at station level being 105 000, hence the statement of being 20 years behind in terms of resourcing at station level across the entire country, not inclusive of units. 

Proper management was needed to make sure that the granted amounts, the amounts that were budgeted for, were in the service. There was a need for natural attrition when someone passed away sadly or someone retired, that there would be measures in place to pre-empt events to ensure that there was capacity built upon retirement.

Minister Allen agreed that he would consider that there might not always be full budget for each activity, but there were recommendations that were specifically earmarked and spoke to management, implementing processes and policies that could ultimately make our province safer.

The Chairperson reiterated that there would be an opportunity to engage with SAPS and receive their feedback on the PNP, where hopefully, the Minister would be able to attend the meeting as well.

He asked whether the Members of the Committee agreed to hold over the recommendations until the next meeting on 7 March 2023.

Mr Kama recommended that the Members of the Committee be briefed on the process and the concept being the devolution of policing powers.

The Chairperson agreed that the briefing around devolution of policing powers could be discussed in the next meeting and referred to a new model of policing, as termed by the President.

He mentioned that the Premier of Gauteng would be adopting this new style of policing as well. He confirmed for the last time if all Members of the Committee would be happy to roll over to the next meeting on 7 March 2022, to which all the Members agreed.

The Chairperson suggested that notes should be made of the resolutions and formulate them once the SAPS had been engaged with.

The Minister and his team were thanked for the effort they had put into the presentation, and it was confirmed that all the Members had received a physical copy of the PNP which was delivered to the offices on 16 February 2023, were all in possession of an electronic version of the document, the response from the City of Cape Town, as well to the PNP.

The Chairperson thanked the technical staff for enabling the meeting and closed the meeting after thanking all persons in attendance.