The scale and intensity of gang violence in the Western Cape has once again come under scrutiny following an admission by the Acting Minister of Police, Firoz Cachalia, that the South African Police Service (SAPS) is not adequately equipped to deal with the crisis.

“I do not believe we are currently in a position to defeat gang violence in the Western Cape. The scale and intensity of organised crime here have outpaced the resources and capacity available to SAPS,” said Cachalia, on Wednesday during a crime-focused media briefing at Gqeberha City Hall in Nelson Mandela Bay, Eastern Cape.

Executive Mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, said the minister’s comments confirmed what communities in gang-affected areas have long experienced: an overstretched and under-resourced police service.

He called for greater resourcing of the SAPS and improved coordination with municipal law enforcement to respond effectively to rising levels of organised crime.

According to the latest SAPS crime statistics for July to September 2025, the Western Cape recorded 1,160 murders, which was a 9.1 % increase compared with the same period in the previous year.

Firearms were involved in 60.6 % of these murder cases, and many occurred in public places such as streets and open areas.

Over the first six months of the 2025/26 financial year, the province recorded about 2,308 murders, already 51.6 % of the total murders from the entire previous year, underlining how rapidly the violence was escalating.

On Friday, civil society organisation, Action Society, said the minister’s admission echoed what it has observed on the ground for many years.

“In many high-risk areas, there are simply not enough officers on the ground, not enough visible patrols, and not enough specialised units consistently deployed. Intelligence and investigative capacity is weak,” the organisation said.

Kaylynn Palm, speaking on behalf of Action Society, explained that gang violence is a form of organised crime that cannot be addressed through arrests alone.

“Without strong intelligence gathering and follow-through investigations, arrests do not lead to meaningful disruption of gang structures in communities,” she said.

She added that short-term deployments following spikes in violence often fail to produce lasting results, stressing that high-risk areas require sustained, visible policing.

Palm further highlighted limited integration between the SAPS and capable partners such as municipal law enforcement and private security companies, despite these entities already operating daily in affected communities.

According to Action Society, addressing gang violence requires a structural shift towards local accountability, sustained police presence, and real authority on the ground.

The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) has echoed these concerns.

Provincial secretary Mluleki Mbhele said the SAPS is currently not equipped to deal with gang violence at the scale being experienced in the Western Cape due to severe shortages in both human and physical resources.

“The human resources, as well as the physical resources allocated to SAPS, are just not enough. There is also no synergy between crime intelligence and officers on the ground that can drive operations and ensure SAPS is focused on the areas where crimes are happening.”

Mbhele added that repeated budget cuts over recent years have placed additional strain on the police service, making it increasingly difficult to deliver adequate policing.

He also pointed to historical inequalities rooted in apartheid-era spatial planning, saying policing infrastructure and resources remain disproportionately concentrated in affluent areas, while townships and the Cape Flats continue to be under-resourced.

“While SAPS as a whole is a priority, this specialised unit requires particular attention as it can directly address gang-related issues,” Mbhele said.

“Visible policing is essential, vehicles must be procured, detectives must be employed and properly capacitated to deal with case dockets in preparation for court.”

In response to the criticism, Brigadier Novela Potelwa, spokesperson for the SAPS Western Cape, said the province remains a major contributor to South Africa’s overall crime picture due to high volumes of serious violent crime.

She explained that violent crime is driven largely by the proliferation of illegal firearms and ammunition, which fuel murders, attempted murders, and aggravated robberies.

Serious violent crime is heavily concentrated in the City of Cape Town policing district, which accounts for about 65% of contact crime in the province, despite the district containing only 62 of the Western Cape’s 152 police stations.

Brigadier Potelwa said the SAPS has developed and is currently implementing a Gang Stabilisation Plan at identified hotspots across the province.

“The plan combines intelligence-driven operations, including lockdowns, vehicle checkpoints, raids, disruptive actions, and takedown operations, targeting crime generators such as illegal firearms, ammunition, and drugs,” she said.

Armed with the provincial Gang Stabilisation Plan, Brigadier Potelwa stated that the SAPS WC has successfully apprehended key gang leaders. Their cases are currently before courts and the arrested remain in custody.

Examples of these include high-profile cases of gang leaders Ralph Stanfield and Jerome Booysen. However, the vacuum in leadership created by the arrests also inadvertently becomes the source of conflict resulting in the ongoing violent gang violence.

“Through the deployment of local station members, provincial units, Anti-Gang Unit members, Shanela II, and Lockdown III police, focused operational activities are undertaken regularly at identified locations.”

She added that the strategy has already achieved significant results.

“Gang members are becoming younger, more dangerous, daring, and fearless. There can never be enough resources to police communities, but we continue to replenish human resources lost through attrition,” Brigadier Potelwa said.

lilita.gcwabe@inl.co.za

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