WC Premier Winde responds to calls for gang violence disaster amid rising crime

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde says calls for a disaster declaration in response to escalating violent crime in the province are receiving urgent attention, but stressed that the authority to declare such a disaster lies with national government.

Winde made the remarks at a press conference held to provide an update on water security challenges and ongoing wildfire threats, where he was asked about mounting pressure to declare crime a disaster amid persistent gang violence and extortion-related killings.

He said crime prevention and law enforcement remain national competencies, meaning the province cannot act unilaterally.

“Our legal team has given us all the opportunity and advice, but we can’t because it has to come from national,” Winde said.

The Premier confirmed he will engage acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia and Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Velenkosini Hlabisa to raise the requests for a disaster declaration and discuss alternative approaches to managing high crime levels.

Winde acknowledged the desperation in communities hardest hit by violence, saying residents are increasingly alarmed by the frequency of multiple killings and are urging government to “please do something”.

The comments follow renewed pressure from Rev Dr Llewellyn MacMaster, chairperson of the Cape Crime Crisis Coalition (C4), who has urged the province to show the same urgency toward gang violence as it does toward natural disasters.

In his letter to Winde, MacMaster wrote: “Civil society is exhausted by political blame-shifting, with each sphere of government blaming the other while communities continue to bury their dead. This is not a symbolic or populist call — it is a response to a sustained humanitarian emergency that local systems cannot contain.”

He added that the violence has caused “severe social and economic disruption, with schools shut down due to gunfire, healthcare services overwhelmed, businesses facing extortion and entire communities living under a pervasive climate of fear”.

Responding to criticism around resource allocation, Winde rejected claims that provincial safety resources favour wealthier areas.

“We’ve got extra resources. Beyond that we’ve got 1 200 LEAP officers in the six highest crime areas. Not one of those areas are in the leafy suburbs. They are where crime happens,” he said.

He added that provincial investment in schools, clinics and hospitals is concentrated in poorer, high-crime communities.

“Politically, you can make allegations, but if you look at the budget and look where the money goes, you will find a map of where that money goes,” Winde said.

Minister Cachalia has admitted that the South African Police Service aren’t up to the job of arresting gun violence in the Western Cape.

Cachalia made the remarks during a visit to the Nelson Mandela Bay metro on Wednesday, where he chaired a crime-focused engagement with local stakeholders.

“I do not believe we are currently in a position to defeat this crime,” Cachalia said. “They are on a killing spree in the Western Cape, with a similar pattern emerging in the Eastern Cape.”

“I have made some observations, and I have indicated that the challenge of organised crime in the Western and Eastern Cape is one we still have to confront."

Meanwhile, crime statistics for the second quarter of the 2025/26 financial year revealed the Western Cape recorded the highest murder rate per 100,000 people in the country, while the Eastern Cape ranked second.”

He cautioned that establishing anti-gang units on an intermittent basis amounted to an ad hoc response.

“I am waiting for the strategy that the police are working on to be presented to me,” Cachalia said

In response, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis continued to call for a devolution of policing powers: "Given his alarming comments, we call on the Minister to end the delay in granting more policing powers for our City officers to investigate crime. City police are immediately ready to build prosecution-ready case dockets to secure more convictions for gang, gun, and drug crime."

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