Parliament faces protest over lagging legislation for a provincial referendum

In this interview with Chris Steyn, Heindrich Wyngaard, the executive chairperson of Cape Forum, details plans for a protest outside the National Assembly next month over the long wait for appropriate legislation to enable a provincial referendum . “And we are also planning to be present at that Home Affairs Portfolio Committee meeting on the 11th of August to ensure that enough pressure is put on the committee to speed up the process.” Meanwhile, Wyngaard hails plans by the City of Cape Town to establish its own detective force as a significant step towards the devolution of policing powers. “The evidence is clear to whoever is watching the Madlanga Commission's hearings, whoever has been following the Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee sittings that……the state of policing is rotten. The crime stats…has not convinced us or anyone in the country that the police are winning the war against criminals.” As for the SANDF being deployed to Cape Flats, Wyngaard says they are no match for the gangs. "It's deep rooted and has become what I'd like to call an established underworld economy…So it brings us back to the plan of Geordin Hill-Lewis and the Democratic Alliance …to claim detective powers for the Metro Police in order to ensure that we get to where we should get to, which is successful prosecutions of those being caught by the police.”