CAPE TOWN – Three men and a child were shot dead in Delft on Wednesday night 15 April, in what police described as a gang-related execution-style killing, prompting renewed criticism from the Democratic Alliance over the effectiveness of military deployment on the Cape Flats.
According to police Colonel Andrè Traut, the murders occurred at approximately 19:20 in Voorbrug, Delft. “The police responded to a shooting at a premises in Zandkloof Street, where the bodies of four victims, aged 13, 28, 40 and 41, were found inside a granny flat. All four sustained gunshot wounds to the head in what appears to be an execution-style killing.”
Traut said preliminary information indicated two unknown men entered the dwelling on foot, opened fire, and fled the scene on foot. The motive is believed to be gang-related. The Anti-Gang Unit is investigating and efforts are under way to trace and arrest the suspects.
The Delft shooting followed a double murder in Elsies River earlier on Wednesday, where a young couple was shot dead in a wendy house. The incident happened at 04:00 in Hazel Street when two gunmen shot and killed Michealla March (27) and Bailey Coetzee (30), the parents of two minor children.
Police spokesperson Constable Ndakhe Gwala said the motive for the murder is not yet known.
DA demands answers
The latest killings have intensified calls from the Democratic Alliance for accountability over the South African National Defence Force deployment to crime hotspots, which the party claims is failing Cape Flats communities.
DA Western Cape spokesperson on police oversight and community safety, Benedicta van Minnen MPP, said the continued bloodshed raised serious questions about what the SANDF deployment had achieved.
“Children are being shot dead in their homes on a Friday night. Families are being gunned down in the street. And the national government’s answer is to deploy soldiers who have no clear mandate, no measurable goals, and apparently no accountability,” Van Minnen said.
She said the Cape Flats needed “a government that treats gang violence as the national emergency it is” rather than “another press conference”.
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Recent violence
The latest incidents follow a weekend of deadly violence in Manenberg, which left three men dead and one injured in two separate incidents. On Saturday night, two men were shot dead in what police believe to be a gang-related attack when occupants of a Toyota Quantum opened fire before fleeing.
In a separate incident in Delft on Friday night, a mother (38) and her son (12) were shot and killed in a mass shooting on Leiden Avenue, which also left four others wounded. Reports indicated an unknown suspect knocked on the door and began shooting indiscriminately when it was opened.
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Van Minnen said these incidents were happening despite the SANDF deployment, which was meant to act as a force multiplier supporting South African Police Service operations.
“SAPS still seem to have no clear plan to effectively curb crime on the Cape Flats. Communities cannot continue to endure reactive policing and short-term interventions that fail to remove the criminals who commit these atrocities from our streets,” she said.
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Parliamentary debate
The Western Cape Provincial Parliament is scheduled to debate both the chronic under-resourcing of SAPS and the effectiveness of the SANDF deployment this week.
The DA is calling on acting minister Prof. Firoz Cachalia and Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile to appear before the Standing Committee on Police Oversight and Community Safety to justify why communities are still experiencing violence while military deployment is supposedly in effect.
Van Minnen said formal invitations would be sent to the minister and lieutenant general, with the DA expecting a response within two weeks given the urgency of the matter.
“A month is a lifetime in our most violent neighbourhoods, and two weeks is plenty of time to confirm attendance at the committee,” she said.
Anyone with information about the Delft shooting is urged to contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111 or use the MySAPS mobile application anonymously.
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