Organised crime networks armed with a steady supply of illegal firearms continue to terrorise communities across the Western Cape, operating with near impunity as murder figures surge and arrests lag far behind. Political parties and police oversight bodies are now warning that the growing gap between government promises and the lived reality on the streets has become deadly. The GOOD Party has called for urgent accountability, pointing to what it describes as a catastrophic failure of policing in gang-affected areas.
According to the party, 84 people were murdered in the province over the past two weeks — yet only two arrests were made. The DA paints an equally grim picture. Seventeen days into the new year, 195 homicide cases had already been recorded in the Western Cape, an average of 11 people murdered every single day, according to figures from the party’s police oversight and community safety desk.
GOOD secretary and Unite for Change Leadership Council member Brett Herron said violent crime continues to surge, particularly in poorer communities where gangsters operate with almost complete impunity. “Instead of a safer city, we are seeing escalating violence. Even the anti-gang unit appears largely reactive, often deployed only after lives have already been lost,” Herron said.
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Behind these numbers are families torn apart, communities traumatised, and residents living in constant fear At the heart of this failure is what can only be described as policing apartheid, he said, where resources are systematically skewed in favour of wealthy suburbs at the expense of working-class and township communities. DA Western Cape spokesperson on police oversight and community safety, Benedicta van Minnen, said the province cannot combat the crime crisis alone. “The failure of SAPS, a national competency, to adequately resource and prioritise gang-affected areas directly undermines community safety.
Behind these numbers are families torn apart, communities traumatised, and residents living in constant fear,” she said. Van Minnen said it has been four months since acting minister of policeFiroz Cachaliarequested a comprehensive strategy to address violent crime, illegal firearms and gangsterism in the province. “To date SAPS has still not produced an updated resourcing plan, operational plan, or any clear physical deployment strategy to support the Western Cape.” In an interview with the SABC last week, Cachalia acknowledged the scale of the challenge, saying police are still struggling to confront organised crime in both the Western and Eastern Cape.
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