Cape Town - Police have warned gangs terrorising communities in Cape Town that more raids are on the cards.
Shootings in Manenberg flared up again at the weekend after the SANDF joined specialised police forces in a targeted raid called Operation Fiela (Clean Up) last week.
Provincial commander for Operation Combat (OC) Andre Lincoln said the specialised anti-gang policing unit would be doing “a lot more raids in future”.
Lincoln recently took over the OC reins from General Jeremy Vearey, who is now deputy provincial commissioner, and spoke to the Cape Times after a surge in gang violence in Manenberg at the weekend.
Reliable police sources in Manenberg confirmed that gangs started firing at each other immediately after the operation on Thursday.
Police spokesperson Noloyiso Rwexana said: “On Saturday at about 9am a man aged about 52 was walking in the street when he was shot in both legs by unidentified suspects in Manenberg Avenue.
“Later that day, at 7.35pm, an unidentified suspect shot a woman in her left arm. A case of attempted murder is being investigated. No arrests have been made at this stage.”
Lincoln rejected claims that the shootings were a sign that Operation Fiela had backfired.
“The operation has not backfired at all. Operation Fiela is not crime prevention, it’s a targeted raid aimed in this case at extracting guns and drugs and in terms of that it has been a success.
“One gun taken out of the hands of a gangster is a success because one gun can do lots of damage,” he said.
Asked what he would attribute the shootings to, Lincoln said: “ That is the nature of the beast we are dealing with. Gangsters operate that way, but we are not standing back. There will definitely be more of these raids in future.”
Manenberg Safety Forum spokesperson Ronald Skipper said the raid had given the community false hope.
“It was a political ploy,” Skipper said.
“They come in, make one or two arrests and look good on camera, but when they left nothing had changed.
“We need them to stay for at least two to three months at a time,” he said.
On Friday, the same operation moved in on a gang stronghold in Ottery.
Rwexana said so far 35 arrests have been made in Manenberg and Ottery.
“The arrests are mostly drug-related and for illegal firearms and ammunition,” she said.
Cape Times