A six-year-old girl was shot in Beacon Valley on Friday 29 August.
The girl was among two injured in the incident in Peugeot Crescent, which is considered a gang warfare hotspot.
Mitchell’s Plain Station Commander Brig Brian Muller said a 35-year-old man was shot in the buttock and the girl in her arm.
He said two vehicles drove down the road and started shooting.
Later one of the vehicles was allegedly also used in another shooting in Lightning Street, Rocklands.
Two men were injured in the shooting, one in the buttocks and thigh and the other in the lower back.
All the victims are in a stable condition in hospital and the shooting was gang-related, Muller said.
The shootings happened just hours after Brig Novela Potelwa, of the office of the provincial commissioner, said that integrated operational interventions were continuing at identified crime hotspots in Cape Town with cordon and search, lockdown and tracing operations “gaining momentum”.
“While the areas afflicted by shooting incidents are not out of the woods yet, police continue making their presence felt through targeted deployments,” Potelwa said. “It is envisaged that deployments will remain in identified areas until calm is restored. An earnest plea is made to communities to cooperate with police officials deployed in their areas in the quest to create safer communities.”
The day before manager Solomon Philander told the sub-council 12 meeting that combatting gangsterism requires the cooperation of all spheres of government.
“Mitchell’s Plain has been in the news for the wrong reasons, for murders and gang violence,” Philander said. “Although SAPS is mandated to combat crime, there is a need for all spheres of government to work together to deal with gang violence.”
In his chairman’s report he said that the sub-council’s wards had neighbourhood safety officers (NSOs) and Leap officers.
He said there were five NSOs in one of the wards within sub-council 12 and 120 leap officers on shift rotation in the other four wards.
“Sub-council 12 will work closely with these NSOs and Leap Officers to prioritise the response to gang violence in our wards,” he said.
Devolution
He also expressed sub-council’s support for the City’s motion for the devolution of policing powers. The motion, which was first adopted by the safety and security portfolio committee in June, calls on the national government to: devolve investigative powers to the City for crime categories such as gang-related violence, firearm offences, extortion and drug trafficking, devolve the power of crime intelligence to the City, assign the function of forensic laboratory testing centres for firearms to the City, support the City’s continued participation in the Cooperation Agreement task team and endorse the establishment of a joint technical workstream comprising representatives from various stakeholders
Meanwhile, in Strandfontein, two children were also injured when a drunken taxi driver collided with their vehicle.
Witnesses in the community said that the girls were on foot when they were hit, but according to police they were in a vehicle.
One of the pupils, a high schooler, is reportedly recovering from a broken pelvis while her 10-year-old sister had more minor injuries.
Social media reports say the drunken driver collided with them while on their way to Strandfontein primary and high schools.
The girls’ family posted messages on social media thanking emergency services and the community for helping them during the accident. Both girls are recovering at home, the posts say.
The accident happened in the early hours of Wednesday 27 August on the corners of Spine and Strandfontein road.
WO Joseph Swartbooi, the provincial police media liaison officer, said Strandfontein police were called to the scene.
Arrests
“The driver of the minibus, an adult male, was detained for reckless and negligent driving and driving under the influence of alcohol,” Swartbooi said.
Meanwhile, one man was arrested in connection with the shooting in front of the Mitchell’s Plain Magistrates’ Court last Monday.
Muller said that a 23-year-old man was arrested and was due to appear in court today, Monday 1 September.
Potelwa said that anti-gang unit detectives made the arrest.
The shooting, a video of which was widely circulated on social media, occurred mid-morning on Monday 25 August. Muller said one man died on the scene and the second was taken to hospital. Crime forum chats claim that the men were both gangsters and WO Joseph Swartbooi, the liaison officer for the provincial media office, confirmed that the motive for the shootout is suspected to be gang-related.
Three more people were also arrested in connection with the murder of a woman whose body was found amid the dunes behind Hugeunot Primary School in Tafelsig last weekend.
Crime Watch groups say the woman’s naked body was found in the Wolfgat Nature Reserve dunes. She appeared to be in her late thirties and her throat had been slit.
Police say they are still searching for one more suspect in connection with the case.
