Premier Alan Winde faces backlash over crime crisis in Western Cape

Alan Winde delivers his State of the Province Address at Conville Community Hall in George on Wednesday night. Crime, inequality and infrastructure dominated a heated Western Cape State of the Province Address (Sopa) debate on Thursday, as opposition parties accused Premier Alan Winde of presenting an overly optimistic picture. The Democratic Alliance (DA) defended what it described as a record of delivery.

The debate at Conville Community Hall in George followed Winde’s address on Wednesday night under the theme “Getting it done with kindness”. Crime emerged as the central fault line across party benches, with broad agreement that violence remains the province’s most urgent crisis but sharp divisions over responsibility and solutions. DA MPL Benedicta van Minnen told the House that, according to police figures presented in Parliament, more than 1,100 people were murdered in the Western Cape between October 1 and December 31, last year.

“Between October 1 and December 31, 2025, more than 1,100 people were murdered in our province. Twelve people a day,” she said. Van Minnen further said a parliamentary reply from the South African Police Service (SAPS) indicated that more than 290 000 active criminal cases in the province were being handled by 2 729 detectives.

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“In Pacaltsdorp, a single detective carries 439 active cases,” she told the House, criticising what she described as chronic under-resourcing of detectives and crime intelligence at national level. She cautioned that the recent deployment of the South African National Defence Force could only serve as a temporary stabilising measure. “Soldiers do not build dockets.

They do not run informant networks. They can hold the line. They cannot fix the system,” she said. ANC MPL and SACP Provincial Secretary, Benson Ngqentsu, who serves on police oversight and community safety, accused the Premier of failing to present a “concrete, actionable plan” to confront violent crime.

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