All posts relating to Bobby Dubulirhamba Stevenson, Chief Whip in the Eastern Cape Legislature
While the national unemployment rate remains unchanged at 29,1%, and six of the nine provinces recorded decreases in unemployment, the Eastern Cape continues to haemorrhage jobs, with unemployment growing to a staggering 39,5%. The expanded unemployment rate is also up, to 47,7%. Not only is the province the worst preforming in terms of job creation, it has the highest unemployment rates in the country. What this means is that almost …
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A multi-million-rand state-of-the-art police building, built in 2016 for South African Police Service admin personnel in Aberdeen, is standing all but empty, because they did not get the basics right. I am determined to fight for a fully resourced police service so that we are able to reduce the climate of fear and give residents of Aberdeen peace of mind. Earlier this week, I conducted an oversight inspection of the …
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The number of reservists in the Eastern Cape SAPS, has declined to a third of what it used to be, resulting in a massive blow to community safety in the province. The Department of Safety and Liaison, together with SAPS in the Eastern Cape, are failing to take bold measures to ensure that we recruit police reservists to beef up the war against crime. There are thousands of volunteers out …
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A collective effort is needed from society as a whole if the rampant violence against women and children in the Eastern Cape is to be curbed, where 80 women and children a day are victims of crime. With 16 days of activism for no violence against women and children starting tomorrow (25 November 2019), we need to acknowledge that it will take more than speeches from politicians and community leaders …
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I welcome the fact that detective training in the Eastern Cape, with a particular focus on basic fraud investigations, will be prioritised in the 2020/21 financial year. However, along with the upskilling of existing detectives, priority needs to be given to the recruitment of new detectives to bring SAPS up to full strength in this division. The detective division is one of the key pillars in the war against crime, …
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It is clear that Premier Oscar Mabuyane has no solution to combat the rising unemployment in the Eastern Cape, which is robbing the food off the tables of the people. This after the Quarterly Labour Force Survey, released by Stats SA today, showed that unemployment in the province continued to rise, with the third quarter up by 1.1%, from 35.4% to 36.5%. The Eastern Cape continues to have the highest …
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The day to day operations of SAPS in the Eastern Cape are being severely compromised, with more than half of the members not completing their firearm competency testing. This requires urgent intervention as we want bobbies on the beat, not officers in offices. According to a response for oral reply, Safety and Liaison MEC, Weziwe Tikana, said that so far in the 2019/20 financial year, only 5 531 out of …
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Yesterday the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature took a historic step in adopting my motion, with amendments by the ANC, dealing with the preparedness of the province for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The thrust of this motion is to ensure that the province is fully prepared for this new period, which entails the converging of digital, physical and biological technologies and is characterised by fast moving change involving big data, automation, …
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Service delivery protests are on the rise in the Eastern Cape and continue to contribute to an environment of chaos and disorder, with almost two protests taking place every day. MEC of Safety and Liaison, Weziwe Tikana, said in response to a parliamentary question, that 674 service delivery protests took place in the province between the 1st of April 2018 – 31st March 2019. This is a staggering increase of …
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The latest Eastern Cape crime statistics highlight what a brutal and violent society we are living in, where we are haunted by the fear of the criminal element and our general feeling of the lack of safety. We are losing our moral values and basic humanity. There is no longer respect for human life, with people engaging in senseless and brutal crimes. Criminals clearly no longer fear being caught. We …
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