President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit to the White House has ignited a massive conversation on the internet platform, but while the world’s attention may have been fixed on the viral video clip, this was not the only dramatic moment in the Oval Office.
Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has recently defended his party, the Democratic Alliance, against claims made by South African billionaire Johann Rupert for his perspective on crime in our country.
Johann, a renowned businessman, was part of a group of handpicked delegates invited to accompany Cyril Ramaphosa to meet U.S. President Donald Trump.
During the heated interrogation into the alleged killings of white farmers in South Africa, Johann highlighted that whites are not the only ones who fall victim to crime. He later highlighted that bad governance by the Western Cape provincial leaders ensured that coloured communities had been affected too.
Speaking at a media briefing in Hanvover Park, the Cape Town mayor responded to the billionaire’s comments.
“Mr Rupert knows full well that the entire criminal justice chain, from policing, to investigation, to prosecution, to incarceration in the prison system is entirely in the hands of the national government.”
Speaking on the role of provincial government, he said:
“We are supposed to constitutionally do traffic and bylaw enforcement. Over the years, we have greatly expanded behind traffic and bylaw enforcement, to try and stand in the gap, and try and fill the huge gap between the policing that South Africa needs, and the policing that South Africa has and insert what resources we have.”
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With Johan alleged to be “knowing this full well”, the mayor asked that he should render his support for a devolution of criminal investigative powers for municipal police officers to help build stronger cases for prosecution.
