MP: Kick druglords out of council homes

2012-08-21 22:18

City of Cape Town

Cape Town - Gangsters and drug dealers should be booted out of houses owned by the Cape Town city council, Parliament's portfolio committee on police heard on Tuesday.

"Kick them out of council houses," the committee's acting chairperson Annelize van Wyk said.

"There's a law that says you're not allowed to use city council houses to run businesses," Van Wyk said.

MPs were briefed by the Western Cape police commissioner, Arno Lamoer, and the secretary of police, Jenni Irish-Qhobosheane.

Briefing MPs on the Cape gang situation, they called on local government and provincial and national government departments to play their part.

"Some gangs see themselves as an alternative to local government," Irish-Qhobosheane said.

Van Wyk said she would like to see more co-ordination between different departments and levels of government.

"It doesn't help the different levels of government to argue about these problems. They must come to us as lawmakers with these problems, so if needs be we should look at law changes, so we can win the fight against gangsterism," she said.

The City of Cape Town previously complained that it took time to evict suspected criminals from council homes.

- SAPA