Western Cape police claim calm after dozens murdered over several days

South African Police Service (SAPS) Western Cape spokesperson André Traut says that authorities have the raging violence in the Cape Flats under control.

This comes after more than 30 people were murdered over the past few days across parts of Cape Town, where residents are calling for gang violence to be declared a national emergency.

“We have the situation under control and have the necessary resources to curb the crime in the Western Cape,” Traut said.

“We are deploying high numbers of police officers on the streets through numerous crime prevention operations, including Operation Shanela II and Operation Lockdown III, to curb the violence,” Traut said.

“Our operations are directed at firearms-related crime, as this is the weapon of choice in the Western Cape.”

Traut explained that while there is a gang situation in the province, SAPS has a “very successful” Anti-Gang Unit, which is fighting gangsterism with all its might.

According to National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola, SAPS have arrested 722 gangsters and confiscated 1,500 weapons and 39,371 rounds of ammunition since the beginning of April 2025.

However, only 96 of these arrests are for gang-related murders and 60 for gang-related attempted murders.

Traut added that not all murders in these areas are gang-related, with many being the result of ongoing taxi violence and robberies.

On Wednesday, two women were killed and another eight people were injured at a taxi rank in Nyanga after taxi owners were ambushed and shot at.

The victims were seated inside a minibus taxi when the shooting took place and were caught in the crossfire.

A witness told News24 that three men appeared “out of nowhere” and began shooting, forcing her to take cover under another taxi.

She added that it was clear the perpetrators were after that specific taxi.

Earlier that day, the bodies of two men and a woman were found inside a VW Polo in Lentegeur, all of whom had sustained fatal gunshot wounds.

Police say that preliminary information suggests the shooting was gang-related.

Traut has called on communities not to withhold intelligence about these crimes and not to “harbour these criminals.”

South Africa’s policing and intelligence system has collapsed

DA MP and chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police has said that the situation in the Western Cape demands urgent and decisive action.

He argues that nowhere else is it more evident that South Africa’s policing and intelligence system has collapsed than in the Western Cape.

“Gang violence, extortion networks, kidnappings, and targeted assassinations have turned neighbourhoods into war zones,” he said.

Cameron highlighted how the ongoing Parliamentary Ad Hoc Inquiry has exposed the rot within the South African Police Service’s Crime Intelligence, where factional battles, leadership failures, and compromised personnel have caused paralysis.

“Instead of infiltrating criminal networks, Crime Intelligence has been infiltrated by dysfunction. This breakdown directly enables the brazen killings now devastating communities.”

Cameron argued that the City of Cape Town’s Metro Police are among the few trusted and functional law enforcement structures in the province.

However, it does not have the same policing powers as SAPS.

“They are already on the frontlines, but without the legal powers to investigate gang-related gun crime, conduct ballistic testing, or gather intelligence on organised criminal networks, their ability to respond remains constrained.”

“The DA therefore calls for the immediate authorisation for the City of Cape Town’s Metro Police to assume expanded policing powers so they can act decisively against gang violence and restore safety to communities abandoned by SAPS.”

Capabilities not yet in place

In early September, Acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia said that the capabilities to combat the wave of gang violence in the province are not in place.

“The country is under siege by criminals and gangs. They are the ones who are selling drugs, making a fortune,” he said after a meeting with Mfuleni and Mitchells Plain stakeholders.

“The truth is that the capabilities required for intelligence-driven operations to defeat the scourge of gang violence and organised crime are still not fully in place.”

“What we need is enhanced policing. We have a plan to achieve this, but over time, the focus must be on intelligence-driven policing.”