The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party has launched a scathing attack on President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Government of National Unity (GNU), accusing them of abandoning the Cape Flats region to unchecked violence. 

In a statement released on Wednesday, the party condemned the escalating killings, alleging the area has been “turned into a slaughterhouse while Ramaphosa and the so-called GNU abandon the people.”

Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndlela painted a grim picture of the crisis.

“From Mitchell’s Plain to Manenberg, from Lavender Hill to Delft and Khayelitsha, blood soaks the streets daily. Men, women, children, even babies are gunned down in cold blood, in broad daylight, in classrooms, in courtrooms, even outside police stations.” 

He charged that the Cape Flats has been forsaken to violence, with the government watching “from the safety of their ivory towers in Pretoria.”

Ndlela decried the normalisation of mass killings, calling it “the most damning indictment of President Ramaphosa and his administration,” adding that the frequency of deaths has rendered them nearly routine and no longer newsworthy. 

The party criticised the state’s response as passive and indifferent, describing how officials “shrink from responsibility” while gangs continue their reign of terror. 

“The police hide behind the lazy excuse that killings are ‘gang-related,’ but what is glaringly obvious is that innocent lives are being destroyed,” Ndlela said.

Highlighting the government’s failure, the MK party said the young, poor, and working-class communities of the Cape Flats are “condemned to live and die in terror,” betrayed by leaders who protect only themselves. 

“The state has lost control over the Cape Flats. Drug cartels and warlords rule unchallenged. Parents are terrified to send their children to school.”

Ndlela further lambasted President Ramaphosa for what he described as silence and inaction, pointing out his ongoing global engagements in efforts toward peace abroad, while ignoring the violence at home. 

“He has not issued a single word of condolence. He has not visited a single grieving family. His silence is not just cowardice, it is contempt.”

The party suggested that the violence may be fueled by “a darker hand,” possibly involving foreign intelligence and “third-force elements,” accusing the DA-led GNU of deliberately ignoring these possibilities. 

“Our people are not fooled. There is a growing and justified belief that Ramaphosa and his illegitimate DA-led so-called GNU regard the coloured communities of the Cape Flats with disdain, leaving them to die without protection.”

Ndlela reminded the public that President Jacob Zuma was the last to visit the Cape Flats and engage with communities affected by the violence. Since then, he said, the Anti-Gang Unit has been deliberately underfunded and weakened. 

“This so-called GNU is more invested in protecting elites than safeguarding the lives of ordinary people.”

The party vowed not to remain silent in the face of ongoing killings and demanded immediate government action. 

“If Ramaphosa refuses to use his voice, influence, and constitutional powers to end this carnage, then the people of the Cape Flats must conclude that the DA-led so-called GNU government has declared war on them by neglect.

“If that is the case, then the people must organise, mobilise and prepare to liberate themselves, because this government has already abandoned them,” read the statement.

thabo.makwakwa@inl.co.za

IOL Politics

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