Cape Town gang wars: Should the army be deployed? 'It can be a recipe for disaster' - Gasant Abader, journalist

Sara-Jayne Makwala King (standing in for CapeTalk's Clarence Ford) chats to journalist Gasant Abarder. 

Listen to their conversation in the audio clip below:

"We come from a police state, a military state during apartheid, and I was always of the view that this can't be a solution. It's a temporary stopgap for something that requires a long-term intervention... But I have run out of ideas."

- Gasant Abarder, journalist 

After years of resisting the idea, Abarder writes in his latest Cape {Town} Etc opinion piece that he is running out of ideas and is reluctantly calling for the army to help stabilise Cape Town's gang-ravaged communities.

"Calling in the army is a lazy response."

- Gasant Abarder, journalist 

He reflects on his childhood fear of soldiers during apartheid and his longstanding belief that the military has no place among civilians. 

"... soldiers are not trained to work with civilians. They work in conflict areas. They don't necessarily have the engagement skills to work with a civilian. They are trained for combat. That was always my overriding feeling. So, if you put soldiers in Mannenberg, for example, there's a recipe for disaster there."

- Gasant Abarder, journalist 

The latest stats show that in the last six months, the police have recorded 490 gang-related murders in Cape Town. 

During that same period, nearly 120 young people under 18 were shot, 23 fatally, and five children under 14 lost their lives.

"It's insanity. It's a war - there's no other way of putting it. Unfortunately, it's a very one-sided war because the majority of people getting killed are innocent people."

- Gasant Abarder, journalist 

Abarder stresses that calling in the army is not a real solution, but a desperate stopgap. 

"If calling in the army is the only plan you've got, then we are in deep trouble, 30 years on."

- Gasant Abarder, journalist 

He adds that decades of policy failure, spatial inequality, and poverty have eroded Cape Flats communities. 

Abarder argues that true safety will only come through rebuilding dignity: more jobs, sports fields, schools, and local investment. 

"We can't look to government for solutions, we need to do it ourselves... what we don't need is the rise of vigilantism, because that has been happening over the last few weeks as well."

- Gasant Abarder, journalist

ALSO READ: 

• Casualties of their communities: 63 Western Cape children killed 'not by strangers' in 5 months 
• The white-collar aspect of gang violence: 'We need to disrupt those channelling the guns, funding these crimes' - Caryn Dolley 
• A fortune spent on Anti-Gang Unit, so why is violence still raging? We interview top gang buster Jeremy Vearey... 

Scroll up to listen to the full conversation.