Anti-crime groups to meet acting Police Minister over SAPS' plan to quash CT's gangsterism

Anti-crime organisations will be meeting the acting Police Minister, Firoz Cachalia, on Thursday to discuss the South African Police Service (SAPS)' plan to deal with gangsterism in Cape Town.

On Wednesday, Cachalia presented the plan to the Select Committee on Security and Justice in Parliament.

A statistic shared in Parliament shows gang-related murders are up by 18% in the Western Cape compared to the same time last year.

As shootings continue unabated in Cape Town, with 490 gang-related deaths recorded since April, the Cape Crime Crisis Coalition said it's looking forward to meeting with Cachalia.

Members of the group met Cachalia two weeks ago to provide input on the plan to tackle the ongoing flare-up of gang violence in the province.

The coalition's David Abrahams said: "There's an online meeting with the minister and he's going to be reporting back on... Two weeks ago, he was here in Cape Town. So, this is an online report-back meeting. It's not only with us, it's with broader stakeholders. Then we'll give feedback."

The plan includesbolstering policing, increasing crime intelligence, and strengthening community policing in gang hotspots.

GANGSTERISM MUST FALL SPEAKS OUT

Anti-gang movement Gangsterism Must Fall believes the SAPS' new plan to tackle gang violence in Cape Town won't be enough to curb the ongoing shootings.

Gangsterism Must Fall convenor Roscoe Jacobs said that SAPS' new plan to tackle gang violence in Cape Town is nothing new.

“Every time when there's a new minister or new administration, there comes a new plan, and while the bureaucracy shuffles its papers, our communities continue to bleed."

While the plan includes bolstering policing, increasing crime intelligence and strengthening community policing, Jacobs said it fails to tackle the root causes of gangsterism.

"The plan pays lip service to integration and partnership, but in truth it remains an enforcement-heavy, reactive approach that does little to address to socio-economic conditions that breed gangsterism and violence."