EFF pushes for parliamentary inquiry into Cape Flats gang killings

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has tabled a motion in the National Assembly for the creation of an Ad Hoc Committee to investigate the surge of gang-related killings in the Western Cape, particularly on the Cape Flats.

Crucially, it would also take Parliament directly into affected communities through public hearings.

EFF MP Nazier Paulsen says the hearings will likely be held in four of the country’s five most violent precincts, namely Mfuleni, Kraaifontein, Delft and Gugulethu, areas he describes as living 'in constant tension' due to entrenched gang activity.

Paulsen argues that unemployment, a lack of youth opportunities, and an entrenched illicit drug economy continue to fuel gang rivalries, leaving innocent residents as the most frequent victims.

"The EFF have always maintained that crime cannot be policed away. You need to address the root causes of crime. If you look at those areas, what are the root causes there? High unemployment, very few opportunities for young people.

"When you say unemployment and joblessness, then automatically it creates an opportunity for that alternative economy of moving drugs through communities. Where that alternative economy enters a community, so do the gangs to come and protect the gang turf. When there' a gang, there's always a rival gang. There's always a rival business wanting to move their drugs through the community, and there's a fight between the two for drug turf. It is innocent bystanders who are most likely victims of the gang fights.

"So, when we say that we want to address the root causes, we want to address those systemic issues like unemployment, joblessness, lack of recreational facilities, lack of youth development in those communities."

He also echoed concerns raised in previous inquiries about alleged police corruption and gang access to classified information, warning that communities cannot be protected by a police service seen to serve criminal interests.

"Here in the Western Cape, gang leaders have access to classified information found by the Commissioner of Police. This cannot be that we have a police service that does not serve the communities of Cape Town, but rather serves the gangs."

Once Parliament adopts the Ad Hoc Committee’s recommendations, Paulsen says they become binding on the executive and could force redirection of resources to the areas experiencing the highest levels of trauma.

To listen to Paulsen in conversation with CapeTalk's Lester Kiewit, click below: