Bolstered manpower for law enforcement agencies and collaborative efforts will be the focus of ongoing efforts to quell gang violence gripping Cape Flats communities. Picture: David Ritchie/Independent Newspapers
Bolstered manpower for law enforcement agencies and collaborative efforts will be the focus of ongoing efforts to quell gang violence gripping Cape Flats communities.
This comes after a week of bloodshed and SAPS confirming that approximately 120 people were murdered.
Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC Anroux Marais this week said she held meetings with provincial police commissioner Thembisile Patekile, Mayco member for Safety and Security JP Smith and law enforcement commissioner Robbie Robberts.
According to a joint statement by Marais and Smith, Patekile confirmed 100 police were deployed in affected communities at the weekend.
The Ottery Civic Association deputy chairperson, Nikki Berga, said residents had shared their messages of “despair, anger, outrage, fear and desperation for more to be done to bring an end to the escalated gang violence”.
“Among the suggestions mentioned by residents are calls for the area to be locked down, for the military to be brought in and for stop-and-search checkpoints to be set up.
“We are grateful for the City's Law Enforcement and Grassy Park police station officers patrolling...However, we don't think it's enough; we believe more should be done, as expressed by various residents,” said Berga.
Smith said they have assisted SAPS with resources.
“We have made available all the resources we can and offered access to our Drone Units and ISR (information, surveillance and reconnaissance) eye-in-the-sky platform. Several months ago, we tried our best to get on top of the situation and we approached a senior official within the SAPS to arrange locking an area down for several days by flooding it with resources.
“Our intention was to sift through the entire community, raking up all those who were currently wanted on outstanding warrants, cleaning out an area, before moving on to the next, where we would repeat the cycle. Several months ago, a SAPS general said they would consider it. When questioned again last week, the reply given was a ‘no’,” said Smith.
Police spokesperson Andrè Traut confirmed that 100 additional operational members were deployed to identified station precincts with high murder rates and gang related crime.
“Operational plans are afoot to quell the violence in affected areas and SAPS will not relax the efforts until the situation has been neutralised. The finer aspects of the operational measures cannot be discussed with the media.”
National police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe posted on social media on Monday: “54 guns have been seized during SAPS operations in Cape Town in the last seven days.
20 of these firearms were found in possession of a 28-year-old man who was also found with R200k cash and R3 million worth of drugs in Goodwood. The other firearms were seized in Nyanga and other gang hotspots.”
Cape Times