“The killings and gang activities are reaching epidemic proportions and it is not even declared a crisis by the DA.”
|||Cape Town - Cosatu has again called for the dismissal of mayco member for safety and security JP Smith, following his claim in Wednesday’s Cape Times that police leaders and the national government were doing “everything in their power to prevent the Western Cape from winning the battle against gangs”.
Smith added that interference from national government and the “politicised leadership of SAPS” was hampering the province’s fight against crime.
Tony Ehrenreich, the trade union federation’s Western Cape secretary, called on Smith to resign given the province’s high crime rate, saying his statements were an effort to “politicise the issue of crime due to his own incompetence”.
“Smith is trying to pass the buck on the deepening crime situation in Cape Town,” said Ehrenreich in a statement. “During his time in office, JP Smith has overseen the highest number of deaths in Cape Town.
“The crisis of the killings in the townships is a reflection of the inability of the DA to deal with the key social challenges facing communities.
“The killings and gang activities are reaching epidemic proportions and it is not even declared a crisis by the DA,” he said.
Ehrenreich added that Smith was a divisive figure at a time when the city needed a united leadership to fight crime.
Smith said on Wednesday he had stopped taking seriously Ehrenreich’s repeated demands to resign.
Smith added that Ehrenreich called on opposition figures to resign “every five minutes”.
He said Ehrenreich’s allegations that he “alone” was responsible for city crime fighting were false, as policing was mainly a function of the national government.
“The whole system is in Tony’s comrades’ hands,” said Smith.
“Maybe he should resign.”
jan.cronje@inl.co.za
Cape Times