Please see English and Afrikaans soundbite by Lisa Schickerling MP.
On Wednesday, the Portfolio Committee of Police received a briefing on the SAPS Amendment Bill.
The Bill presents the Acting Minister with an opportunity to fundamentally rethink how South Africa uses the law-enforcement capacity it already has – to ensure that capable Metro Police can investigate crime.
This opportunity has been missed by the Minister. While the Bill makes some strides towards fixing the police, it fails fundamentally to address the need for expanded policing powers to capable metros, who are willing and able to investigate and support the fight against crime.
The DA will support amendments to the Bill to achieve this goal.
Despite the Acting Minister repeatedly speaking about a “reset” of policing, the Bill leaves some of the biggest structural weaknesses in our policing model untouched, which is not much of a reset at all.
The Bill itself contains contradictions, which the Minister fails to see. The Bill proposes expanding the functions of Municipal Police Services to include public-order policing, one of the most specialised and high-risk functions in policing, yet when it comes to investigating crime, it refuses to consider granting appropriately trained and accredited Metro Police limited investigative powers.
This issue has become even more urgent following the City of Cape Town’s declaration of an intergovernmental dispute this week seeking investigative powers for its Metro Police.
In a country where SAPS detectives are already under enormous pressure, this artificial divide needs to be challenged.
The DA will therefore push for a proper examination of expanded investigative powers for capable Metro Police services, subject to strict national standards, training, accreditation, docket controls and appropriate oversight.
South Africa cannot afford legislation designed around institutional turf.
The DA will use the SAPS Amendment Bill process to push for practical policing reform that puts additional boots, investigative capacity and resources to work where communities need them.