DA anti-crime march joined by thousands

The roads of Gelvandale and Schauderville were awash with a sea of blue on Friday morning as about 2,500 people joined the DA leadership on their anti-crime march.

DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis, along with Yusuf Cassim, Solly Msimanga, Andrew Whitfield, Bax Nodada, Retief Odendaal, Georgina Faldtman and thousands of DA supporters marched from Gelvan Park, along Stanford road and up Searle Road to the SAPS 10111 Centre in Schauderville.

Hill-Lewis addressed the crowd and said that SA needs to fix every broken link in the criminal justice chain.

“This march is for every family who has buried a loved one, every police officer failed by a broken system, and every community that refuses to accept gangsterism, extortion and murder as normal.

“I believe Nelson Mandela Bay can work. I believe South Africa can work — for everyone.

“Not just for the powerful, not just for the politically connected, but for every parent who wants their child to walk safely to school, every entrepreneur who wants to trade without extortion, and every community that still believes this country is worth fighting for.”

Recently appointed deputy minister of higher education Cassim said that he had started his morning at the northern areas home of three-year-old Emilio Hutchinson, who was gunned down in 2024.

“I am a resident of the northern areas, and if you speak to any of us, you will know that we have become really accustomed to the tragedy of losing children to stray bullets in the streets.

“I had to start there. Just to sort of remind myself why we are here today, because a lot of what we’re doing here today started there.

“We marched from his home in 2024 to the Gelvandale police station, where we handed over a petition.

“Ian Cameron, when he became the chairperson of the parliamentary portfolio committee on police, then gave us a platform where I presented to them, and where the report went to parliament, but even those decisions have not been implemented.

“So we are here for action around these abnormal conditions that our people are living under.”

DA Eastern Cape leader Andrew Whitfield told the crowd that under a DA leadership the province would benefit from their plans to rebuild the chain of policing from arrests to convictions.

“Good, honest, hardworking South Africans just want to live a life without fear in safe communities and go to bed with the sound of silence, not the sound of gunshots.

“Between January and March this year alone, the Eastern Cape recorded 949 murders, 1,853 sexual offences, 524 attempted murders ... in just one province.

“The majority of these violent crimes were committed right here in Nelson Mandela Bay.

“Kwazakhele was ranked as the police station with the highest number of murders in South Africa.”

Whitfield said the DA would strengthen detective services and restore reliable forensic and ballistic services, improve crime scene management and strengthen co-ordination between the SAPS, Hawks, NPA and metro police.

“We will deploy specialist investigators and prosecutors to target gang leaders in the northern areas.

“Organised crime syndicates in KwaNobuhle and kidnapping networks in Motherwell.

“Our message is simple. A criminal should not fear arrest alone. A criminal should fear conviction.”

Hill-Lewis said he had written a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday, demanding that a permanent minister of police be appointed.

“I’m calling on President Ramaphosa: South Africa needs a permanent minister of police.

“We cannot continue paying the salary of two ministers.

“This weekend marks one year since the acting minister of police [Prof Firoz Cachalia] was appointed. A whole year where two ministers are being paid for the work of one.

“The suspended minister of police [Senzo Mchunu] is still getting his salary of over R2.6m while he sits at home. With that money, we could employ eight more detectives full time.”

In the letter, Hill-Lewis said that SA’s crime crisis was a national emergency.

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