Community Safety MEC, Xolile Nqatha, essentially told the Eastern Cape Legislature yesterday that he has no intention of following through with implementing a resolution of the whole House calling for urgent interventions in the Northern Areas of Gqeberha.
Rather than prioritising the plight of the people of the Northern Areas, who are living in fear, imprisoned in their homes while criminals roam the streets, the MEC showed his contempt for their plight.
The Democratic Alliance will be taking this matter further and will be calling for Legislature Speaker Helen Sault-August to enforce the resolution of the House and ensure that MEC Nqatha fulfils his obligations in terms of the resolution taken and accounts for why he has not yet done so.
I will also be calling for a one-on-one meeting with MEC Nqatha to engage on the matter, as he is clearly not aware of the severity of the issue.
The motion was unanimously passed in October last year, compelling MEC Nqatha to convene a Crime and Safety Summit to discuss ideas and present plans that can be put in place to curb the ongoing gang violence, substance abuse and crime that continues to plague the Northern Areas
The summit was meant to include SAPS, NMB Safety and Security, Provincial Safety and Security, the HAWKS, Crime Intelligence, IPID, Correctional Services, National Prosecuting Authority and Neighbourhood Watch Groups, Patrols, CPFs, Councillors, Church Leaders as well as NGO’s and NPO’s working in the Northern Areas of Gqeberha.
It also called on MEC Nqatha to request assistance at National level for the crime-ridden Nelson Mandela Bay, by doubling the number of members allocated to the Anti-Gang Unit, assigning the best detectives from around the country to support the SAPS in NMB, deploying the SAPS National Intervention Unit / Special Task Force in the Northern Areas, and strengthening crime intelligence and increasing police visibility.
The motion also calls for SAPS Provincial commissioner, Major General Nomthetheleli Mene, together with the Department of Community Safety, to consider investing in Drone Technology to be used as part of the Anti-Gang Unit operations and to consider rolling out ShotSpotter technology to other parts of the Northern Areas where gang-related activities are of concern.
The MEC was given sixty days to implement the resolution, but when challenged on his inaction yesterday during a plenary sitting, MEC Nqatha made it clear he had no intention of implementing the motion, saying the department had a plan and was sticking to it.
Nqatha also said: “The activism of public representatives, instead of coming here and being cry-babies, they must go there and work with the community and with government to defeat these criminal networks.”
Yet, that was exactly what the motion called for. It calls for the MEC, a Public Representative, to engage with the community and all the relevant stakeholders to find a workable solution.
The DA will continue to fight to rescue the people of the Northern Areas from gangsterism and violence.
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