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The Democratic Alliance in the Northern Cape has raised concerns about the criminal underresourcing of the South African Police Service in Steinkopf near Springbok with the Member of the Executive Council for Transport, Safety & Liaison Nontobeko Vilakazi.

We need a honest, professional SAPS which fights crime without fear or favour. And for SAPS to get the basics right, they first need to be given the basic tools of the trade. After all, you cannot expect any professional to perform his or her job well if you do not give that person the necessary resources.

But this is exactly what is happening in Steinkopf, where I learned from discussions with SAPS that officers are expected to protect the community without resources. It is no wonder that community members I spoke with are frustrated, fearful and feel they have nowhere to turn!

The Democratic Alliance wants the MEC to dispatch a few of the 79 vehicles she promised to the police in her recent budget speech to Steinkopf without delay. At the moment, SAPS relies on a bakkie borrowed from Vanrhynsdorp in the neighbouring Western Cape. Since the headlights don't work, they have to use the blue lights on the roof just to see where they are driving.

While the provincial SAPS commissioner use police helicopters as his personal taxi, the only vehicle available to officers sworn to protect our people is a bakkie without headlights.

Responses to emergencies in town or reports of attacks on nearby farms are determined by how fast the relevant officer can run. Suspects can escape or flee from crime scenes easily. Without a van, suspects cannot be arrested or transported to the Magistrate's Court in Springbok.

Without the necessary equipment, no roadblocks can be set up. Stop and search operations are crucial for a town less than 70 kilometers from an international border.

Without suitable vehicles, it is impossible to patrol either the Namibian border or the stretch of the N7 linking Steinkopf with the border post at Vioolsdrift. Cross-border crimes like the unregulated entry of people into South Africa, smuggling of diamonds or trafficking in drugs thrive under cover of underresourcing, because police are not given enough flashlights to shine in the darkest corners of the province. With unemployment and poverty rates rising in the region, it cannot be a surprise if desperately poor people are resorting to crimes committed out of economic need - and yet the lack of resources provided to SAPS means we cannot calculate the full cost of crime in this community.

We do know that economic need breeds social ills like substance abuse, especially among young people who have no hope for the future. But without the necessary resources, SAPS can neither detect the illegal drug trade nor investigate drug-related crimes properly.

We also know that, like women in the rest of the Northern Cape, women in Steinkopf live in fear of abuse, sexual assault and gender-based violence. More than 16% of moms are too afraid to let their children play outside, for example, and nearly 11% won't let their kids walk to school or walk to town themselves. Their fears are not unfounded when one considers that Northern Cape levels of rape, sexual assault and abuse continue to increase.

To provide some form of visible policing, there are officers who patrol Steinkopf on foot. We appreciate that there are hardworking officers who are honest and professional. But foot patrols are not effective in the dark or across a great distance in a rural area. In fact, a couple of police officers walking on the side of the N7 which links Steinkopf to Springbok does not look like strategic visible policing. It just looks like off-duty officers are hitchhiking.

Political rhetoric of inaugural and budget speeches, where the MEC described safety as central to human dignity, must now become a practical reality. The Provincial Crime Prevention Strategy cannot remain a document endlessly discussed by government, but must become an implementable tool of safety.

Issued by The DA