Western Cape crime-fighting efforts boosted

Western Cape crime-fighting efforts boosted by more police officers and motor vehicles.

Western Minister of Police Oversight and Community Safety, Anroux Marais, has welcomed the deployment of more than a thousand new South African Police Service (SAPS) members and 83 new vehicles to police stations across the province to tie in with launch of the provincial Safer Festive Season initiative. 

The 1 013 new constables were welcomed into the Western Cape SAPS at a ceremony in Bishop Lavis on Friday, 18 October 2024.

The SAPS, Western Cape Government (WCG) and various municipalities launched the province’s Safer Festive Season Campaign with a joint parade in Mitchells Plain on Thursday, 17 October 2024.

Minister Marais, national Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Fannie Masemola, and his Western Cape counterpart, Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile, handed over the keys of the 83 vehicles to officers at the event. Most of the cars will be used by detective services.

Minister Marais said, “The Safer Festive Season campaign strives to protect all residents of our province. High density operations under Operation Shanela, which include roadblocks, stop and searches and the tracking and tracing of wanted suspects, will dominate this period to ensure residents and visitors alike can enjoy a peaceful holiday period. While we welcome more policing resources, our province still desperately needs more officers.”

“This spirit of cooperation is precisely the same sentiment we saw at the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the WCG, national government, SAPS and City of Cape Town in August, which will see us working closer together to eradicate crime to make our province safer. I am pleased to report that the negotiations about the Implementation Agreement, which gives practical effect to the principles outlined in the MoU, are progressing well,” Minister Marais added.