Top cop hints at ‘source’ of illegal firearms

The Western Cape has recorded hundreds of murders in just seven weeks, prompting urgent interventions from the police and a direct warning to gang leaders from Acting Minister of Police, Professor Firoz Cachalia.

From July 1 until August 23, 2025, hundreds of people were killed in the top 30 stations of the province.

“I’m going to engage with religious leaders who have taken the initiative to talk to me,” Cachalia said.

“I’ve addressed a communication to my office for a meeting so that I understand what is required, with religious leaders taking the initiative to talk with me on Monday. Hopefully, from those engagements, I will decide what needs to be done. I plan to be back in Cape Town to pay dedicated attention to this matter. If urgent steps are required, further steps will be taken once I’ve gone through this process.”

He condemned the ongoing killings and issued a strong warning.

“Where you have unruly gangs shooting people in the streets, it’s not acceptable. So I can say it is a message to those gangs: they must stop. Because I do not regard the status quo as acceptable.”

Cachalia confirmed that a submission on the devolution of policing powers to the Western Cape and the City had been received by his office.

“I am going to look at it carefully, because there are obviously legal and constitutional questions that arise. I want to make sure that there aren’t such obstacles. In principle, my thinking is this, but I also need to go through a process of engagement and consultation with relevant stakeholders in the city before I can come to a point of view.”

Reflecting on the constitutional framework, he said: “Thirty or forty years ago, when we negotiated the Constitution, we had a set of considerations in mind. We wanted to create a unified government. We did not want a proliferation of police forces in the country with different mandates. But today, local and provincial governments, faced with the pressures of improving safety and security in their areas of jurisdiction, are faced with new questions.

"I think the expectation on the part of the City that this matter be given a fresh look, is one that I have an open mind on. The constitutional framework is sufficiently broad and flexible to allow for variation across the country.”

He added that relations between the SAPS and the City were improving.

“There were, at some point, some problems with cooperation, and we resolved them. We are attending to those problems so that they can work together. We are assessing what we can improve, and we will implement new strategies.”

National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola said additional police officers had been deployed to the Cape Town metro.

“We have over 200 police in the province, actually in the City of Cape Town, and those are coming from other provinces. They’ve been fighting crime here,” he said.

Masemola noted that gang violence often escalates when leaders are released from prison.

“The complication of shootings now and then happens when some gang leaders are released. That always creates a problem when there is a vacuum of leadership. But we have arrested a number of gang-related suspects who have appeared in court. One was shot as he left court recently. So those are the challenges we face, but we are in the process of reassessing and saying: what is it that we need to change in terms of implementation as we move forward?”

“We expect to change our strategies and make sure that the current situation is unacceptable. We don’t accept it, and we will definitely make sure that we come up with new strategies to fight this gang violence.”

Masemola said progress had been made in identifying the source of firearms.

“We now have an idea where the firearms are coming from. The notion that it is stolen firearms is not true. Now we know where they are coming from, and we are dealing with that matter.”

Cape Times