The Democratic Alliance (DA) called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to appoint a permanent police minister during a rally in the Eastern Cape [1, 2].
The demand comes amid escalating violence in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro’s northern areas, where party leaders argue a lack of stable leadership is hindering public safety efforts. The DA said that the absence of a permanent minister leads to wasted funds and ineffective crime prevention strategies [1].
During the rally, party leadership highlighted the severity of the security crisis in the region. The DA said that about 400 murders occurred in the municipality during the first quarter of 2026 [1]. This spike in violence has fueled local demands for a more robust, and permanent, administrative structure within the police ministry [1].
The party believes that a permanent appointment is necessary to ensure accountability and the strategic deployment of resources. Without a dedicated minister, the DA said that the government is failing to address the root causes of the crime wave affecting the Eastern Cape [1, 2].
This call for leadership follows a period of instability in the police ministry's top tier. The DA leadership said that the current situation is unsustainable for citizens living in high-crime areas of the Metro [1].
“The Democratic Alliance called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to appoint a permanent police minister.”
The DA's demand reflects a broader political strategy to pressure the Ramaphosa administration over public safety failures. By linking the lack of a permanent minister to specific crime statistics in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, the opposition is framing the security crisis as a failure of executive governance rather than just a failure of police operations.
