NO PLAN YET

ACTING Police Minister Professor Firoz Cachalia has admitted that there is no concrete plan to stop the wave of gang violence devastating the Cape Flats. 

Addressing concerned Mitchells Plain residents that while a strategy had been presented to him by provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile, it has not been resourced or implemented.

Cachalia said during a community engagement on Tuesday: “The provincial commissioner and the head of crime intelligence presented me with a plan. 

“They must still implement that plan. They must still resource that plan, that plan that is needed. So we need a stabilisation plan.

"We need to go on the offensive against the drug lords, stabilise our communities, make sure that we are in charge, not the criminals. But the truth is, I don’t believe that plan is yet in place.”

But residents and crime fighters were unconvinced by the lack of a concrete plan, after Portfolio Committee on Police chairperson Ian Cameron claimed that there were 39 gang-related murders innie Kaap since the start of month.

Pushing for the Democratic Alliance-led provincial government to be granted more policing powers, he said: “From 1 to 9 September, there were 34 murders across just 13 so-called gang stations. We must target kingpins. Why not allow competent local and provincial governments to take on more policing powers? Legislation already allows for this.”

Abie Isaacs, founder of the Cape Flats Safety Forum, said: “We were seriously surprised to hear that there is no gang plan, no real strategy, while people are still dying in our streets. 

“How many more lives must be lost before this plan is finalised? 

“We asked directly about intelligence in this province, and there was no answer. The minister himself said that most of these problems must be addressed through intelligence. 

“That does not give us confidence that the killings are being fought in the right way."

Resident Mark Buckenjohn likened the Plain to a war zone.

He added: “We live in what feels like a war zone, like Gaza. Who is protecting us? We need peace. 

“Detectives are overwhelmed; they investigate one shooting only for another to happen. The system is overloaded, and cases often go nowhere. The courts are too small and backlogged to handle the scale of crime we face.”

A Tafelsig High School learner appealed directly to Cachalia, saying schools were no longer safe. “We have gangsters coming into our schools. We have drugs that have made their way into our school. Is there a plan to protect us?”