Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool has committed R1-billion to boost security and policing in the province, the Cape Argus reported on Friday.
In his state of the province address in the provincial legislature, Rasool said the money would go to staff, vehicles, equipment and volunteers to beef up police capabilities.
He identified 15 priority areas — mainly on the Cape Flats, and three rural towns — to be the focus of a new anti-crime initiative.
Included were Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha, Manenberg, Gugulethu, Hanover Park, Nyanga, Elsies River, Bishop Lavis, Delft, Kleinvlei, Phillipi, Muizenberg, Vredenburg, Paarl and Oudtshoorn.
”We will not neglect other areas, but given the patterns of crime, gangsterism and drugs, these 15 areas need intensive action,” Rasool said.
Western Cape provincial minister for community safety Leonard Ramatlakane and provincial police Commissioner Mzwandile Petros would complete the deployment of R1-billion worth of police personnel, vehicles, equipment and volunteers to those areas.
Rasool also proposed that Cape Town International Airport be renamed after trade unionist and liberation fighter James la Guma, who died in 1961.
The plan would form part of a campaign over the next few months to ensure the heroes and heroines of all communities, cultures and groups were honoured in public spaces. — Sapa