The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has already been deployed in parts of Gauteng, but in Cape Town, the expected boots on the ground haven’t arrived.
The provincial cabinet recently received a briefing from the South African Police Service (SAPS) about plans to deploy the army to several gang-affected hotspots across the Western Cape.
Together, these areas account for about 55% of violent crime in the province.
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“I specifically said I would like General Phatakile to come and tell us what is happening because we were expecting to have this force multiplier on the ground already,” Western Cape Premier Alan Winde told CapeTalk on Monday.
“The big problem that I have is there’s not a lot of certainty, it’s getting watered down… what are we going to get, 300 or 400? We don’t know, and it’s a drop in the ocean actually,” he added.
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During his State of the Nation Address last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa called organised crime the biggest threat to South Africa’s democracy, announcing that, in a bid to tackle gangsterism and related crime, troops would go to parts of the Western Cape and Gauteng.
Winde says it’s crucial that for the deployment to be effective, lessons are learned from previous deployments of the military, like the one in 2019.
“We can’t have the same lessons. Those lessons showed a bit of a reprieve in the initial deployment, but then it was the same old, same old,” he says.
Officials say the operation must be carefully planned and guided by intelligence.
“The gangsters seem to have more intelligence than the police,” notes Winde.
He’s also calling for cooperation between not only SAPS and the SANDF, but also Metro police, LEAP officers, traffic officers and K9 units.
“We need to bring them together. What about CPS and Neighbourhood Watches? They’re great references for intelligence on the ground?.
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To listen to Winde in conversation with CapeTalk’s Lester Kiewit, use the audio player below:
Sara-Jayne Makwala King
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