Cape Town – While Police Minister Bheki Cele was singing the praises of the Anti-Gang Unit after its deployment in the Western Cape on November 2, provincial Minister of Community Safety Alan Winde accused him of "politicising" the unit.
Cele lauded the arrest of "high-flying gangsters" such as alleged 28s gang leader Ralph Stanfield and six members of the Fancy Boys gang for the possession of illegal firearms. He said bail has been opposed in most of the cases
Addressing the media in Tafelsig, Mitchells Plain, on Thursday, Cele said 35 prominent gang members have been arrested and 266 gang strongholds searched since the launch of the unit.
In total, the Anti-Gang Unit has made 119 arrests and at least 10 investigations have been opened for crimes related to the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (Poca).
"The SAPS is coming up with new and unconventional ways to combat crime within the ambit of the law," Cele said.
"The objective is to create a new normal, where children are allowed to be children, where women are respected."
In a statement issued by Winde's spokesperson, Marcellino Martin, Winde said: "Today, minister Cele briefed the media in Mitchells Plain on the recent developments and successes of the Anti-Gang Unit.
“It is incomprehensible that the national minister, who claims he wants to fight crime together, chooses to exclude the provincial government from this vital engagement.
"This clearly demonstrates that this event is being used for political gain and nothing else. I will engage Minister Cele to enquire why we were not informed of or invited to today’s media briefing, as we included the minister in our recently held #SaferWesternCape conference.
"The reintroduction and successes of this unit is a victory for us and all residents of this province, as we have been calling on its re-establishment for a number of years.
"I commend the unit for the continued successes they are achieving. It is for this reason that we cannot allow the national minister to diminish its worth by using it as a political football, blatantly excluding the role of the provincial department, community safety structures and other stakeholders’, all of whom are in the fight against crime."
Winde said to further demonstrate the province's willingness to work with the national government, he will make a substantial offer during his budget speech in the provincial parliament on Friday, designed to reignite the reservist programme in this province.