“Every child killed is a tragedy and it is utterly unacceptable that children continue to die while the top leadership of the police are fighting instead of fixing this crisis. Communities across the Cape Flats continue to live under siege. While dedicated SAPS officers do all they can under crippling conditions, the national government continues to fail in its constitutional duty to protect South Africa’s children. The result is a generation growing up to the sound of gunfire instead of laughter,” Schickerling said.

The DA is demanding two urgent national interventions. Firstly, a fully resourced, intelligence-led national anti-gang strategy. This strategy must include measurable targets, firearm tracing, gang-network disruption, and prosecution-ready investigations. A critical component of this is the restoration of South Africa’s crime-intelligence capacity, which has deteriorated through years of instability, mismanagement and poor governance, Schickerling said.

Secondly, the DA wants the immediate devolution of key policing powers to capable provinces and cities. Provinces like the Western Cape and metros like the City of Cape Town must be granted operational control over anti-gang units, firearm enforcement, and hotspot crime-prevention deployments. The current centralised policing model is failing, and the consequences are measured in the lives of children who should have been protected, the DA said.

“South Africa cannot accept a future in which children are murdered on our streets while the SAPS remains silent or ineffective. Families deserve justice. Communities deserve peace. And these children deserved the chance to grow up,” Schicklering said.

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This comes after a four-year-old boy died after being wounded in a gang shooting last week. According to reports, this marks the fourth shooting of a child in less than a week across three different communities. Parents, children, and innocent civilians are dying while the machinery of policing appears paralysed by delay and neglect, according to Lisa Schickerling, Democratic Alliance (DA) Spokesperson on Police.

A few weeks ago, Acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia stated that he was working on a plan to curb violence in the Cape Flats. “Yet despite that promise, there is still no publicly released, concrete, and resourced plan to address the crisis. Communities continue to live in fear, and gang violence remains unchecked,” Schickerling state.

“At the same time, the South African Police Service (SAPS) has yet to release the first quarter (Q1) crime statistics for the 2025/26 financial year even though they were due at the end of August. These statistics are vital for understanding where crime is increasing and for targeting police resources effectively. The continued withholding of data only fuels public suspicion and erodes trust at a time when transparency is desperately needed.”

Instead of focusing on essential administrative and operational functions, the SAPS appears to be consumed by internal management crises and time-consuming oversight processes, such as the Madlanga Commission and the proceedings of the ad hoc committee. While SAPS management is consumed by internal issues, crime carries on, the DA said.

“While oversight is important, it cannot come at the cost of day-to-day policing, community protection, and accountability.”

The party urged the Minister to ensure that SAPS’s focus returns to its core responsibilities, preventing and investigating crime, protecting vulnerable communities, and ensuring that transparency and accountability are not lost amid bureaucratic distraction.

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The Minister’s visit forms part of a broader Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) Cluster effort aim to implement practical, community-driven interventions against gang violence and foster safety.

Among the stakeholders attended the engagements included representatives from civic groups, religious leaders and Community Policing Forums (CPFs).

Cachalia said gang violence in the province are as a result of organised transnational crime, stressing the need for a coordinated response.

Cachalia said he requested a briefing from National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola on what the South African Police Service (SAPS) is doing to curb the violence, including the effectiveness of anti-gang units that has been established.

“I am aware of course that some time ago anti-gang units were put in place. There’s been some question about their effectiveness, and I intend to look into that,” he said.

Gang violence in areas like Mitchells Plain and Mfuleni has been going on for some time, with communities experiencing high levels of extortion, shootings and drug-related crimes.

The Cape Flats, including some suburbs, sees frequent clashes between rival gangs such as the Americans and Mongrels, leading to crossfire that endangers innocent residents.

Mitchells Plain residents told Cachalia that they need increased police presence to protect them from gangsters’ violence.

Cachalia pledged to do everything in his power to improve policing and reducing crime in the country.

Cachalia said the provincial commissioner and the head of crime intelligence presented him with a strategy to fight crime in the affected areas.

“They must still implement that plan. They must still resource that plan, that plan 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,” he said.

Cachalia said that they might have to put in place special measures to get rid of gangsterism.

A number of people have died in gang-related violence.

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The community is engulfed in fear, and the loss of life is both tragic and unacceptable.

The recent events have been nothing short of devastating.

The sound of gunfire has become a hauntingly regular occurrence, and the number of casualties continues to rise.

Innocent lives, including those of a two-month-old baby and several teenagers, have been tragically cut short.

This senseless violence must be brought to an end right now!

It is imperative that authorities respond with the urgency it demands.

The Acting Minister of Police, Firoz Cachalia saying the gangs “must stop” is not enough.

This all-out war requires a coordinated and decisive response.

The police service is under-resourced, which significantly hampers their ability to effectively address the violence.

It is crucial for them to beef up resources to restore peace and safety to the community. This includes not only increasing manpower and equipment but also implementing strategic measures to dismantle the networks perpetuating this violence.

It is also essential to bring together all role players to address this crisis.

Politicians, religious leaders, community activists, and non-governmental organisations must unite to develop and implement a robust plan of action.

We cannot afford to delay any longer while lives continue to be lost.

Affected communities must start taking responsibility for their own actions and complicity, at times, in the ongoing gang and gun violence.

They must stop protecting gangsters and hiding their guns and drugs in return for payment.

More boots on the ground isn’t the only solution.

We must, as communities, take back our streets.

We must stand  together, organised and mobilise.

Stop blaming the police. Stop blaming political parties.

Introspection is needed in our communities.

I was on the Cape Flats last week. I spoke to many residents. Mothers are crying out for help. They are living in fear.

Innocent lives are being lost every day.

Politicians must stop the bickering and work together.

The socio-economic issues need to be address with urgency.

Now is the time!

Cape Town Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis says: “Crime remains SA’s #1 challenge. We urge the Police Minister to allow Cape Town’s Metro Police to investigate gun crime, drugs and extortion. SAPS needs support, we’re ready to make our Cape Town safer.”

Yes, the time is long overdue for all levels of government to work together and fight the common enemy.

These gangster are running amok. National Government, and other levels of government,  need to move with urgency and restore law and order.

It’s a war and we must win it!

Yusuf Abramjee is a leading anti-crime activist and host of Crime Watch on etv and eNCA.

Catch #CrimeWatch this Sunday on eNCA (DSTV 403) at 7.30pm for part 1 on Gang Warfare. Also on etv after the Devi Show.

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The DA expressed grave concern over the current state of forensic backlogs, particularly in ballistic testing. These delays have severely hampered investigations into gang-related gun crimes, allowing suspects to escape justice due to the absence of timely evidence. The party called the situation unacceptable, stressing that local authorities must be empowered to conduct their own forensic investigations, including ballistic testing, rather than relying on overstretched national laboratories. By working directly with relevant prosecutors, municipal and provincial law enforcement can ensure that gangsters and gun traffickers are brought to justice with airtight cases.

To strengthen the fight against gangs, the DA has also proposed the formation of a Joint Task Force aimed at dismantling gang networks and cutting off their power sources. The envisioned task force would unite various government bodies under a single coordinated effort to tackle gang-related crime. This includes investigating tax evasion and illicit financial flows linked to gang leaders, launching intelligence-driven operations to apprehend key players, conducting targeted raids on known gang hotspots, and closely monitoring gang mobility on public roads. Successful prosecutions would be prioritized through collaboration with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

The party also took aim at what it described as the national policing model’s failure in the Cape Flats. Despite numerous operations by the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Government to remove illegal guns from the streets, the conviction rate for these crimes remains below 1%. DA representatives highlighted a recurring issue where SAPS and the NPA fail to follow through effectively after local authorities have made arrests. One of the most frequent complaints concerns delays in ballistic testing—an essential forensic process that could easily be devolved to local authorities.

In addition to forensic backlogs, operational failures at SAPS stations further undermine crime-fighting efforts. The DA cited a recent incident at Grassy Park SAPS, where a lack of evidence bags prevented officers from logging crucial criminal evidence, including imitation firearms and items related to drug crimes. This failure risks contaminating evidence, making it more difficult to secure convictions and sending a troubling signal about the inefficiency of current systems.

The DA is also demanding accountability at the leadership level. The party has called for the immediate implementation of a skills audit for SAPS senior management, a resolution passed by Parliament in 2024 but not yet enforced. The audit is intended to assess whether senior leaders are competent for their roles. Following the audit, the DA insists that integrity testing be conducted to identify and remove any corrupt elements within the SAPS leadership. Removing corrupt officials, the party argues, is essential to restoring public confidence and enabling the police to carry out their duties without internal interference.

While critical of leadership failings, the DA praised the dedication and sacrifices of the many SAPS officers who continue to work tirelessly under difficult conditions. The party emphasized the need to provide better working conditions and resources to these officers, who remain committed to protecting South African communities.

The DA insists national government must either take decisive action or step aside and allow municipal and provincial authorities to assume greater responsibility. With gang violence turning the Cape Flats into a virtual war zone, the DA is determined to keep fighting for a policing model that is proactive, efficient, and accountable. If national authorities refuse to address these challenges meaningfully, the DA believes local law enforcement must be empowered to take the fight directly to the criminals and restore peace to affected communities.

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