Cape Town - Efforts similar to that of “Operation Fiela” recently executed on the Cape Flats were required more frequently, the City of Cape Town’s mayoral committee (Mayco) member for safety and security JP Smith, said on Monday.
“The reality is that operations like this are required on a daily basis in Cape Town’s gang hotspots in order to stem the violence, together with intelligence-driven and prosecution-orientated specialised units to tackle the more deep-rooted issues that fuel gang violence,” said Smith.
Smith commended national government on Operation Fiela, a joint operation by the South African Police Service (SAPS), South African National Defence Force (SANDF), the Department of Home Affairs, and, in this case, the City of Cape Town Metro Police. Operations began on Freedom Day 2015.
Last week, the Western Cape arm of Operation Fiela conducted operations in Manenberg, Lotus River, and Ottery.
Smith said the Operation was but a “short-term stabilisation effort”, “which could never rid our communities of gangsters and associated ills on its own”.
“From a policing perspective, lasting results in gang-ravaged suburbs like Manenberg, Hanover Park, Mitchells Plain and Lavender Hill can only be achieved through identifying, investigating, arresting, charging and successfully prosecuting the gangsters, and driving up the current 2% conviction rate for gang violence,” said Smith.
Smith added that despite the City’s Gang and Drug Task Team’s activities being limited to search and seizure operations and arrests, they had made 23 arrests in one week.
The arrest charges included one for murder, 16 for possession of drugs, and three for possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition.
Smith added that relations between the SAPS and the City were good, extending an invitation to the SAPS to better efforts targetted at curbing gangsterism.
“We would like to build on that by inviting the SAPS to discuss how we can share technology and crime intelligence as well as developing a proper protocol of cooperation between Operation Combat (WC’s SAPS specialised anti-gang strategy unit) and the (City’s) Gang and Drug Task Team to ensure that we work as a team on targeting the gang bosses as well as the street-level thugs,” he added.
ANA