The lack of police intelligence in fighting gangsterism and drugs on the Cape Flats will be a primary focus for new MEC for Community Safety and Police Oversight, Reagan Allen, who was officially sworn in this week.
After years of rekking his bek in parliament to advocate for more efficient policing in the Western Cape, Allen, 37, says he will make sure there is a coordinated effort to tackle skollies and keep them behind bars.
Allen grew up in Mitchells Plain and after matriculating at Glendale High School in 2001, he says he became fearful when a close relative became involved in gangs and drugs.
“That is really where it all started for me. Someone told me: ‘Reagan it’s not safe for you.’
“I had just come from an international soccer tour and was playing for Mother City and I felt unsafe in Rocklands.
“I wanted to make something of my life and took a lot of guidance from my coach Duncan Crowie.
“I left Mitchells Plain where I joined an organisation and became a member of the Impact Team. We were a group of seven men who worked with street children.
“They would be taken into the programme at GC Williams House in Bridgetown where we took them on camps and helped to reintegrate them with their families.”
In 2010, Allen says he became interested in service delivery in communities and became active on Twitter.
Here is where he met former Sea Point ward councillor Beverley Schafer and she introduced him to politics.
“I blame Beverley but she reached out and helped me and I officially joined the party in 2010.”
In 2014 he ran as a parliamentary candidate but failed. He worked even harder until 2019 when he was elected as the chairperson of the Standing Committee of Community Safety and Cultural Affairs.
“I have always been concerned about the crime in Cape Town and especially the Cape Flats. I have lived it first hand and I know how easily vulnerable children get into gangs.
“As the MEC, I take my oversight role very seriously and I am very concerned about the lack of intelligence in tackling these gangs.
“As things stand, the Anti-Gang Unit still does not have an official head despite Major-General Andre Lincoln retiring months ago.
“This is worrying especially in a province overrun by gangsterism.”
Allen replaces Albert Fritz who was sacked by Premier Allan Winde after he was found guilty of sexual misconduct.
Allen says he was surprised when Winde approached him for the key position but got an even bigger shock when he heard about the allegations against Fritz.
“I got a skrik, I had no idea. But any person in a leadership position who committed such acts should be dealt with.”