Hon Speaker, the DA congratulates the former National Director of Public Prosecutions, Adv Vusi Pikoli, on his recent appointment as the first Provincial Police Ombudsman in South Africa. Western Cape Premier, Helen Zille, appointed Adv Vusi Pikoli after unanimous endorsement by the provincial Parliament's Community Safety Committee.
The office of the Provincial Ombudsman was created by the pioneering Western Cape Community Safety Act, which aims to tighten up police practices and to offer the people of the province protection against police misconduct and inefficiency. The DA further congratulates the Western Cape Parliament and government for the sterling work in drafting, passing, and implementing this Act despite vehement opposition from the ANC government to improve police oversight and community safety.
It is the first of its kind in South Africa and provides a meaningful provincial mechanism to monitor police work; the treatment of people in custody; to assess the police service and its effectiveness as a whole; and evaluate relations between police and communities.
The DA challenges the other provinces to enact similar legislation to assist with improving the safety of all people through effective oversight of policing, making safety everyone's responsibility and optimising safety and security risk management. They can even copy and paste this Act, Madam Speaker. It is that good. Thank you very much. [Applause.]