‘Where’s your plan?’ opposition MPLs ask Winde

“We have welcomed the Premier’s decision to have a Safety Plan, but I have not been able to find the actual plan... so far it seems it is nothing more than a media statement and a video,” said Western Cape Good party MPL Brett Herron on Thursday 3 October.

Thursday’s Western Cape Provincial Legislature sitting was scheduled for a debate proposed by Democratic Alliance MPL Reagan Allen, titled “The annual national crime statistics released by the National Minister of Police and the impact it has on the citizens of the Western Cape”, but this went sour for the DA. Opposition members constantly questioned where the details were for the premier’s Safety Plan, launched amid much fanfare in September 2019.

The Safety Plan, at a cost of R1-billion a year, would include 3,000 new safety officers along with 150 new investigators, Premier Alan Winde said. This is intended to halve the murder rate in the Western Cape over the next 10 years. Winde has promised that his head will roll if the plan does not work.

“I must say, I can’t actually find the plan, only a video,” Herron said during Thursday’s sitting. This launched a flurry of comments from the ANC opposition benches as members began shouting “where is the plan?” while DA members yelled back across the room.

The majority DA members accepted Winde’s plan, including Allen, who said the plan was a “bold undertaking, but a necessary one, as we know that SAPS are struggling to keep our communities safe.” Allen serves as chair of the Standing Committee on Community Safety, Cultural Affairs and Sports in the provincial legislature.

Opposition members were not impressed. As Winde began speaking, ANC members shouted “we want the plan”’ to which DA members responded with shouts of “Zondo Commission”, trying to drown out the ANC.

When Winde said the safety plan was actually “not about the boots on the ground, it’s about every integrated plan of every single department… it is about those long-term plans that make a change in our province”, ANC MPL Danville Smith shouted “10 years later” at which point Cameron Dugmore, leader of the official opposition added, “as if you will last 10 years”.

Winde said there would be an update of the plan every six weeks. His team is still to decide if the briefings will be open to the public. DM