A reply to a Parliamentary question in the National Assembly reveals that the SAPS Flying Squad in the Western Cape is one of the most depleted units in South Africa.

This situation was also discussed  during  the  public meetings organised by Cllr Riana de Coning and Alderman Dudley Coetzee, last Monday, 14 November 2016.

“This serious situation will be taken  up with the National Minister of Police, Nathi Nhleko, as well as the matter in the Standing Committee Report on police under-resourcing in the Western Cape,” said Mireille Wenger, DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Community Safety.

The Western Cape only has one Flying Squad unit to service the province. In stark contrast, but other provinces with similar populations  to  serve  have several more units. Gauteng has the greatest number of flying squads, seven, and the Eastern Cape  has  six units.

Both Mpumalanga and North West have more flying squad units than the Western Cape has, three each.

In terms of numbers of officers assigned to these flying squad units,  the  picture  for  the Western Cape looks grim.

The number of officers assigned to the single SAPS flying squad in our province has more than halved since 2011, when we had 200 officers.

This has been whittled down to just  90 officers presently, a massive 55% reduction.

While other provinces have seen marginal reductions in their officer compliments, the Western Cape is by far the worst – more  than  double  the  reduction in comparison to the next worst provided province.

This further illustrates the under-resourcing of police in our province. In comparison, the Eastern Cape has more than double the number of officers at 196; the Free State has 232; Mpumalanga  has 135, and Gauteng 720. KwaZulu-Natal has seen  an increase of 8% added to the 120 officers during the same period.

This matter will be taken up with the National Minister of Police, Nathi Nhleko, including the issue regarding Standing Committee Report on police under-resourcing  in  the    Western Cape. The Western Cape Provincial Parliament recently conducted a series of public hearings with regards to under-resourcing  in  the    Western Cape and the matter of the flying squad under-resourcing will be added to the report.

Zoom