MP Imraan Moosa, Principal of Cape Town Islamic Educational Centre Moulana Sayed Imraan Shah Ziyaee, President of Cape Town Ulama Board (CTUB) Mufti Sayed Haroon Al Azhari, Head of Cape Town Ulama Board Community Guardianship Desk Colonel Dawood Laing and Shaykh Ihsaan Taliep, honorary member of CTUB
Image: Supplied
Community, religious and law enforcement leaders in Cape Town are joining forces in a renewed push to combat crime, with the Cape Town Ulama Board (CTUB) announcing a new initiative aimed at strengthening grassroots safety efforts.
The move will see veteran anti-gang officer Dawood Laing lead a Community Guardianship Desk, bringing together policing expertise and community leadership in what is being positioned as a coordinated response to escalating violence on the Cape Flats.
The desk was announced after the CTUB convened a high-level crime response meeting on Tuesday, attended by stakeholders including Members of Parliament, civic leaders, police, municipal law enforcement and various community safety authorities.
Laing, who retired in 2023 after four decades in the police service, said meaningful change would come through holding government departments accountable.
“We will definitely be able to make a change in our community by forcing government spheres to do what they are supposed to do and implement what the community needs, not what they want,” he said.
He also criticised the R830 million spent on deploying the South African National Defence Force to gang hotspots, describing it as a waste of resources.
“To spend that money on people who don’t have the authority to arrest, search or stop individuals is ridiculous. We could have utilised that money for community projects to improve the circumstances and environment of these communities,” he said.
Born and raised in Bellville, Laing said he was inspired to join the police after meeting a SAPS dog handler at the age of 13. After matriculating in 1981, he enrolled in the police service and completed his training in Pretoria.
Between 1994 and 2010, while operating in Mitchells Plain, he gained a reputation for targeting high-level gang bosses, including figures linked to the Junior Cisco Yakkies. During this time, he also became a vocal critic of police corruption, exposing and helping to secure the arrest of officers involved in illicit activities.
CTUB spokesperson and executive committee member Shaykh Sayed Ridhwaan said the SANDF deployment to the Cape Flats had become a costly “force multiplier” that creates only the illusion of safety while failing to address root causes.
“True success cannot be measured by military visibility, but by the restoration of law and order through effective, intelligence-led policing. Until the state fixes systemic failures in the justice system and equips SAPS with the tools and integrity needed to secure prosecutions, these expensive deployments will remain nothing more than a superficial plaster on a fatal wound,” he said.
Cape Times