TSHWANE METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY Item 8, Part 1 - Safer City Policy
SPEECH BY COUNCILLOR RICHARD DINKELMANN (ACDP)
27 JULY 2006
Thank you Mr Speaker.
Listening to the debate, I'm actually sad that we have to hear things
like this in this Council. Initially when I saw the report, which
is titled "Safer City Policy", my heart jumped, because I believe
that's what each and every one of us wants to see – a safer city,
for ourselves, for the people that voted for us, for our children, for
their children, hopefully. But Mr Speaker, the reality we're
faced with is a grave situation. I'd just like to quote from the
report on page 90 - it says "In terms
of crime trends over time, SAPS statistics indicate that the crime
problem in Tshwane has deteriorated significantly over the past decade." That was written about a year ago, as we've heard. "An
analysis of a few serious crime types show that recorded aggravated
robbery increased by 232% in the Pretoria police area between 1994/95
and 2003/2004." It carries on with some other grave
statistics. Now Speaker, it is Government's first responsibility
in my view, and my party's view, that it protect its citizens from
crime. When other citizens commit crime it is Government's
responsibility to act, and to protect them. And unfortunately, in
the ten, twelve years since the ANC's been in power, things have got
worse, a lot worse, and I'm saddened by that. And the appeal is
that something drastic is done. You know, certain areas in our
city are actually war zones. The police are getting so
despondent. My colleague, Cllr Sparg, on her way back from a
late-night meeting in our city had to tolerate a smash-and-grab.
You know that I was speaking to her on the phone at that point, and I
heard this bang. The only prayer that went through my mind was
"Lord, protect her". And, she's here with us today. I thank
God for His protection and that nothing seriously was done to harm her,
but it could so easily have been a gunshot. Sir, this thing is
out of control. And, our Metro Police alone can't do it. In
fact, crime prevention is not a local authority mandate, it's a
national mandate. What we're doing as a local authority is to try
and doctor the situation which has got out of control, and we support
the Metro Police because at least we're trying to do something, but we
need a national initiative. In a few years' time, in four years'
time - we're hosting the World Cup, 2010. How are we going to
host hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors, while our crime
situation is out of control? It is almost too late. If this
ANC government doesn't start acting now, it's going to face a very
serious embarrassment in 2010. So we just urge you once again to
take this thing seriously and act with speed. Thank you Sir.
Richard Dinkelmann
ACDP Councillor: Tshwane Metro
rwdinkel@mweb.co.za
+27 83 263 2664 (mobile)
+27 86 671 9044 (fax)