OUDTSHOORN NEWS - The Western Cape Minister of Police Oversight and Community Safety, Anroux Marais, has welcomed the deployment of more than 400 newly trained South African Police Service (SAPS) officers.
They have joined Festive Season Operations across the province, significantly boosting visible policing and crime-fighting capacity in the province.
Minister Marais said the additional boots on the ground are a positive and encouraging response to the Western Cape Government’s sustained calls for more policing resources to be allocated to the province, which continues to carry a disproportionate burden of serious and violent crime.
“This increased deployment is an important step in strengthening our collective ability to protect communities during the festive season, when crime patterns often intensify and public spaces become busier,” Minister Marais said.
Premier Alan Winde added, “I welcome the announcement of 400 new SAPS officers who will join the festive season operations. This is a good start, but we need to see a lot more boots on the ground. We hope that this is a start of a new wave of SAPS recruitment that dramatically increases deployments across the province.”
Minister Marais stressed that this level of cooperation between agencies is essential in confronting the stubborn and ongoing surge of violent crime in the Western Cape.
“No single agency can tackle violent crime alone. It is only through coordinated operations, shared intelligence and visible joint deployments that we can disrupt criminal networks and restore safety to our neighbourhoods,” she said.
“I also call on residents across the Western Cape to stand with our law enforcement agencies. Support them, report criminal activity, and work with authorities as we confront the ruthless criminals who are holding our communities hostage. Safety is a shared responsibility”, Minister Marais concluded.
The Western Cape Government will continue to advocate for additional policing resources while strengthening partnerships and oversight to ensure that every available officer is effectively deployed to protect lives and uphold the rule of law during the festive season and beyond.
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