CAPE TOWN – The Western Cape has recorded 195 homicides in the first 17 days of 2026, averaging 11 murders per day, as a wave of mass shootings on the Cape Flats has left communities devastated and the Democratic Alliance calling for immediate intervention from national police.
The violence has included multiple mass shootings in Cape Town, with at least 21 people killed in separate incidents between 17 and 20 January alone.
On the evening of 17 January, seven people were shot dead at the Marikana informal settlement in Philippi. One woman and six men, aged between 30 and 50, were killed shortly after midnight, whilst three others were wounded. Police said preliminary investigations indicated the attack may be extortion-related.
The following day, 18 January, eight people were killed and three injured in another shooting at the same Marikana informal settlement in Philippi East. Six victims died at the scene, one died en route to a medical facility, and one died later in hospital. Authorities believe the incident is linked to local extortion syndicates.
In the early hours of 20 January, six people were killed in two separate shootings in Cape Town. Four people – three women aged between 20 and 52, and one man – were found dead with gunshot wounds inside an informal dwelling on Melck Street in Ndabeni. At the Maitland cemetery in Kensington, two men were found dead and two others were injured in what police believe was a gang-related attack.
A 15-year-old boy was also shot dead in Seawinds, Muizenberg, with a fatal gunshot wound to the back of his head during the same period.
In a statement DA spokesperson on police oversight and community safety Benedicta van Minnen condemned the outbreak of violence and said the province cannot fight the battle alone.
“The failure of SAPS, a national competency, to adequately resource and prioritise gang-affected areas directly undermines community safety,” Van Minnen said.
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The DA noted that it has been four months since acting minister of police Prof. Cachalia requested a comprehensive strategy to deal with violent crime, illegal firearms and gangsterism, but SAPS has still not produced an updated resourcing plan, operational plan, or any clear physical deployment strategy to support the Western Cape.
Van Minnen said the DA-led Western Cape government continues to invest in Law Enforcement Advancement Plan officers, violence prevention programmes, and intelligence-driven policing support, but these efforts are being hampered by SAPS’s lack of leadership and urgency.
The DA has called on SAPS to finalise and implement a clear, time-bound strategy to combat gang violence and illegal firearms, provide a detailed resourcing and deployment plan for the Western Cape, intensify intelligence-led operations targeting gang leaders and gun supply chains, and work collaboratively with competent provincial and local law enforcement agencies.
