Image Source: Bloomberg News
Local – Despite the deployment of the South African National Defence Force on the Cape Flats, gang violence in affected areas has persisted, with more than 170 people killed in recent months across communities including Ravensmead, Hanover Park and Manenberg.
Residents who hoped the military presence would stabilise the situation said the reality on the ground told a starkly different story.
Community activist and Ravensmead Development Action Group NPC coordinator, Mrs Dawn Marcus, said the deployment was driven by political pressure rather than genuine intent.
She argued that authorities already knew who the perpetrators were and where they operated, yet meaningful action had not followed.
“There is absolutely no political will. The outcry for the army, the SANDF, was merely, to me, my personal opinion, a tick box because there was too much pressure put on by the community, by community leaders, some political parties, for the army to be deployed.”
Parade, Not Patrol
Marcus said the army’s visible presence had amounted to little more than routine patrols, falling far short of what communities had hoped for. Having grown up during the 1980s with the military on Cape Flats streets, she had expected a zero-tolerance approach backed by real operational force.
“All I can see is they cruising past. They are cruising past, waving. More like, to me, it’s like a parade. And to me, this is wasteful expenditure.”
Justice System Under Scrutiny
A deeper problem, Marcus said, lay within the criminal justice system, where poor detective work and information leaks from police stations allowed suspects to walk free. Residents had lost confidence in local law enforcement, leaving communities feeling exposed.
“Our community don’t have faith in our local police precincts, in our local stations. Information leaks out. Within an hour of an arrest, there will be a photo circulating, which one of the members will take in the police holding cells, and it will be circulating around in our community.”
Marcus called for community-centred solutions, arguing that approaches needed to be tailored to each area’s unique dynamics, and that social decay, not policing alone, sat at the root of gangsterism.
