Police have arrested 722 gang members and seized more than 1,500 illegal firearms in the Western Cape over the past seven months.
National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said the arrests and seizures were part of intensified operations targeting crime hotspots across the province.
The arrests were part of a multi-stakeholder effort including the SAPS, City of Cape Town’s metro police and other law enforcement agencies, Mathe said in a statement on Saturday.
The crackdown targeted areas including Mitchell’s Plain, Mfuleni, Delft, Bishop Lavis, Tafelsig, Muizenberg, Grassy Park, and Manenberg.
THE CRACKDOWN IN NUMBERS
Other crime-frighting efforts have achieved these results:
- 1,565 firearms and 39,371 rounds of ammunition confiscated;
- 54,947 suspects arrested for drug possession;
- 2,296 suspects charged with drug dealing;
- 96 arrests for gang-related murders and;
- 60 arrests for attempted murders
National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola welcomed the arrests and confiscations, saying they were a result of years of deploying law enforcement agencies in their fight against crime.
“We have since 2021 deployed 2408 newly trained officers to various units and stations across the Western Cape to bolster our fight against crime and we will continue to prioritise and capacitate the Western Cape province,” said Masemola.
He also commended community policing and other crime-fighting structures for supporting law enforcement.
“The support and collaboration of the community play a major role in ensuring that we put an end to gang violence. Through Community Policing Forums(CPF) and other safety and security structures, the SAPS remains committed to forging solid partnerships to end ongoing killings,” he said.
GANG VIOLENCE IN CAPE TOWN
Meanwhile, City of Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis lamented the declining SAPS deployment in the city despite its growing population and gang-crime rates, saying the service was failing to “turn the tide on crime.”
Between 2021 and 2025, the city deployed more law enforcement than the SAPS did, Hill-Lewis told the provincial legislature on Thursday.
He said the city deployed 1,263 metro police officers while the SAPS removed 1,300, leaving the city to “fill the gaps”. Hill-Lewis said the SAPS not only lacked manpower, but also lacked critical crime fighting resources
What does this mean for the future of Cape Town, according to the mayor?
“We are edging closer and closer to a bizarre scenario in which South Africa’s lead crime fighting agency has fewer resources than a subsidiary support agency like the city of cape town metro police and law enforcement,” he said.
Hill-Lewis called on acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia to expand the scope of the City’s Metro Police to allow them to take statements, investigate cases, and compile case dockets.
