Thursday, August 25, 2016, marked the second anniversary of the release of the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry’s final report. The Commission sat in 2014 in what many describe as a ground-breaking process in which it uncovered systemic issues with policing not only within Khayelitsha, but across the country. The inquiry’s report detailed police officials’ inability to deal with issues such as safety, justice and other social issues. In response to the report, members of the Social Justice Coalition (SJC) and Equal Education this week marched into the City of Cape Town to hand over a memorandum of demands to the Western Cape Provincial Government.This comes as result of the Provincial Government’s failure to implement twelve of the 20 recommendations that were submitted to the Khayelitsha Police Commission of Inquiry.

The proceedings were marked by a minute silence in memory of 33-year old Delft woman who was murdered and burnt beyond recognition a month ago.

Equal Education’s Nishal Robb, as well as SJC’s Chumile Sali led marchers through the streets of Cape Town to the Provincial legislature.

Addressing marchers at the legislature, Sali said the DA, as well as premier Hellen Zille have failed to heed to their demands as this has been demonstrated in their failure to implement the recommendations two years after the report was released.

Accepting the memorandum on behalf of the Premier, Spokesperson for the Premier,  Micheal Mpofu, said the recommendations were about to be implemented.

He further noted that the provincial government was doing everything it could to ensure the safety of learners and the general public.

Mpofu also disputed claims by the organizations stressing that the provincial government has made progress in all the Khayelitsha recommendations.

He added that it was the provincial government that took up the matter to the Constitutional Court in order to ensure that the commission was set up.

VOC  (Kangwa Chibwe)