994 murders recorded between April and June in Western Cape

The murder rate in the Western Cape continues to rise and more needs to be done.

The Cape Flats Safety Forum says police can’t do it alone.

They are calling for community-based organizations to recognized and integrated into crime-fighting plans.

994 people were murdered in the province between April and June this year.

The Western Cape government says areas like Mitchells Plain, Kraaiforntein, and Harare – which are synonymous with violent crime – have seen a significant decline.

For the first quarter of 2022, Khayelitsha recorded a fourteen-point-three percent decline in murder. Due to this, it falls out of the top 10, to the 16th position.

Community Safety MEC, Reagen Allen, has pinned this drop on partnerships between SAPS and other law enforcement agencies.

Allen said, “we would ideally like to see a zero crime in our province, what we’ve seen in the last quarter there was a 8,2-percent reductions in murder where leap officers are deployed and that should be welcomed and we do know there is a long way to go, but if I look at gang related murders it is deeply problematic.”

“We need to make sure that fire arms are taken off our streets. Leap officers since its inception have taken 222 fire arms off the streets which could have been used to kill further people and innocent bystanders.”

“So, we are seeing progress and we will continue with our interventions to make sure that [what] we do see is safer communities.”

The Cape Flats Safety Forum says although it’s labelled a vigilante group because of its crime fighting efforts, provincial government must allow community organisations to be part of the fight as guns are widely available in the area.

The Cape Flats’ Safety Forum’s Lynn Phillips said, “we have genocide in the Cape Flats and there’s no real strategy to deal with these things, but beside of just having an arrest what is the successful incarcerations of these arrests.”

“Where are the murder weapons because yes, we can have a successful incarcerations person has been apprehended, but the murder weapon is nowhere to be found and the murder weapon is on the streets in our community. So, we as the community say we want to take ownership of our communities.”

Francina Lukas, who chairs the provincial community policing forum, is calling for more support for local structures.

And that should the province attain powers of police control, they look forward to supporting them – so long as they prioritize community safety.

Lukas said, “our focus is to make sure that our communities are safe, if we must work with the province we will work with the province, if we must work with national we work with national.”

“Because we believe in an integrated approach. We see it working I think the crime stats now being released is a testimony to that.”

The Western Cape government and police will table provincial crime stats on Monday.

Source: eNCA

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