Mkhwanazi: Police tightening grip on gangs in KZN

A renewed police crackdown on gang violence in KwaZulu-Natal is beginning to squeeze criminal networks, with authorities targeting both street-level gangs and rogue elements within the security cluster. Provincial police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi said on Wednesday that the South African Police Service (SAPS) had intensified interventions to curb gang-related crime across the province. Mkhwanazi was speaking during a briefing by top SAPS management to Parliament’s police portfolio committee on efforts to combat gang violence.

He said intelligence-led operations, including the involvement of counter-intelligence, were being used to monitor and dismantle criminal networks, as well as identify internal threats within law enforcement structures. We have since made arrests of gang members who were trying to infiltrate Sydenham. “In general, we are suffocating gangsterism in Sydenham and other areas,” said Mkhwanazi.

Now heading a national task team on gang violence, Mkhwanazi said lessons had also been drawn from operations in the Western Cape. He noted weaknesses in coordinating the deployment of the military alongside police in efforts to curb gang violence in Cape Town. While gang activity remains a concern in parts of KwaZulu-Natal, he said strategies have been activated to disrupt and reduce its impact. Mkhwanazi also raised concerns about why some high-profile cases fail to result in convictions, pointing to the mishandling of evidence within police ranks.