Police Minister Firoz Cachalia yesterday acknowledged that the South African Police Service (SAPS) is “not equipped” to combat gang violence and extortion in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape.
“I do not believe we are currently in a position to defeat this crime. They are on a killing spree in the Western Cape, with a similar pattern in the Eastern Cape,” Cachalia said.
“The issue of anti-gang units, and how they are used, remains a concern. I have made some observations, and I have indicated the challenge of organised crime in the Western and Eastern Cape is one we still have to confront.”
More than 30 people have been killed in gang-violence in the Cape Flats alone since last Friday.
The minister’s admission during a visit to Nelson Mandela Bay, which is also grappling with rampant crime, has drawn sharp criticism from the Democratic Alliance, which described the statement as a “surrender of the state’s constitutional duty to protect its people”. Cachalia also spoke of “capacity gaps” within SAPS whilst discussing the escalating gang violence that has plagued communities.
The DA condemned what it termed the minister’s “narrative of helplessness”, arguing that successive ANC police ministers have had years to prepare and resource the fight against organised crime.
“While the Minister speaks of ‘capacity gaps’, communities are burying loved ones, children are being caught in crossfire, businesses are being extorted into closure, and entire neighbourhoods are living under gangster rule,” said DA spokesperson on Police Lisa Schickerling.
The opposition party pointed to underfunded specialised units, poor intelligence capacity, weak prosecution outcomes and reactive policing approaches as factors allowing criminal syndicates to flourish.
Shickerling added that the Western Cape government has spent more than R3 billion of its own budget on safety interventions, including the deployment of Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP) officers, according to the DA.
She said that parliament however established an ad hoc committee through the Portfolio Committee on Police to investigate gang violence, but this has not translated into decisive national action or improved policing outcomes.
The DA has called for a dramatic expansion and permanent resourcing of the Anti-Gang Unit, dedicated national extortion task teams, intelligence-driven operations targeting gang leadership and financial networks, proper protection for witnesses and whistleblowers, and emergency inter-provincial coordination structures.
The party also questioned why a comprehensive anti-gang strategy that SAPS confirmed it was developing last year has not yet been implemented.
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