Cape Town's escalating crime crisis: Nearly 30 murders in just 72 hours

The Western Cape is grappling with a mounting crime crisis, with nearly 30 murders recorded in Cape Town alone over just 72 hours, according to South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO).

The organisation says the figures reveal a province where fear has become a permanent reality.

“The Western Cape is not merely experiencing high crime. It is living through a human catastrophe,” SANCO said.

"Children grow up recognising the sound of gunfire more than they recognise hope, while women are hunted by predators as the system meant to protect them continues to fail"

SANCO highlighted the alarming levels of gender-based violence in the province.

“Women are murdered inside taxis, assaulted in homes, raped on their way to work, and terrorised in areas where policing is thin and help arrives too late,” SANCO said.

Children, too, are caught in the crisis, being recruited into gangs, trafficked, sexually violated, or caught in the crossfire while walking to school.

The organisation said the combination of mass shootings, youth assassins, extortion, gang wars, rural robberies, and drug-related violence is unique to the Western Cape.

“We are experiencing every category of violent crime at once, with communities abandoned to face the ambush alone,” SANCO said.

Illegal firearms are fuelling the surge in violence. Parliamentary reports confirm that 193 firearms, including AK-47s, traced back to Namibia, have been recovered from crime scenes in the province. SANCO warned that “the N1 and N2 strips, the R60, coastal routes, and border linked smuggling networks have turned our province into an arms importing hub,” supplying weapons to gangs, extortion networks, and organised crime.

SANCO also criticised provincial leadership for failing to act on warnings about crime.

“A province in crisis was denied the truth,” SANCO said, referring to a Police Ombudsman report received by the Premier in November 2022 but kept hidden for three years.

“Political leadership chose silence, and that silence has cost lives.”

Communities are increasingly left to fend for themselves.

“When mothers form patrols to escort children to school, when neighbourhoods sleep in shifts to guard their streets, when rural families arm themselves with makeshift weapons, when businesses negotiate with extortionists to stay alive, it is a sign that government oversight has collapsed,” SANCO said.

While the organisation does not advocate vigilantism, it warned that the province is being pushed to the edge.

SANCO called on the Premier, the Police Ombudsman, and the Police Commissioner to make full submissions to the Madlanga Commission, and demanded coordinated national and provincial action to dismantle firearm smuggling networks, restore drug-prevention structures, and rebuild community safety systems.

“Women must not continue to die in silence. Children must not grow up in war zones. SANCO will continue to raise its voice, mobilise its structures, and challenge the silence of those in power,” SANCO said.

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