‘Operation Fiela’ is no quick fix
25 May 2015
I would like to commend the National Government for the roll-out of ‘Operation Fiela’ which reached Cape Town last week and has been executed in the gang trouble spots of Manenberg and Ottery thus far. The operation is a show of force for which many communities have been appealing, but we need to see the operation for what it is: a short-term stabilisation effort meant to suppress violence in flashpoint areas and which could never rid our communities of gangsters and associated ills on its own.
The reality is that operations like this are required on a daily basis in Cape Town’s gang hotspots in order to stem the violence, together with intelligence-driven and prosecution-orientated specialised units to tackle the more deep-rooted issues that fuel gang violence.
National Police Minister, Nkosinathi Nhleko, admitted this much in a recent press statement when he announced that he would reinstate specialised gang and drug units. I look forward to the re-establishment of these units and I hope that the implementation would include dedicated detectives, crime analysts and prosecutors attached to these units.
From a policing perspective, lasting results in gang-ravaged suburbs like Manenberg, Hanover Park, Mitchells Plain and Lavender Hill can only be achieved through identifying, investigating, arresting, charging and successfully prosecuting the gangsters, and driving up the current 2% conviction rate for gang violence.
The City of Cape Town’s Gang and Drug Task Team has been involved in the suppression of gang violence in areas like Manenberg, but our powers are limited to search and seizure operations and arrests. We do not have the power to investigate cases.
In spite of our limited mandate and resources, the team made 23 arrests for the period 14 – 21 May 2015. The bulk of the arrests were made in Manenberg, as well as Ottery, Hanover Park and Kraaifontein, including:
- 16 arrests for possession of drugs
- Three arrests for possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition
- One arrest for murder
- One arrest for possession of illegal ammunition
- One arrest for resisting arrest
- One arrest for obstructing and interfering with an officer in the execution of their duties
There is already very good cooperation between City staff and the South African Police Service (SAPS) on the ground, but we would like to build on that by inviting the SAPS to discuss how we can share technology and crime intelligence as well as developing a proper protocol of cooperation between Operation Combat and the Gang and Drug Task Team to ensure that we work as a team on targeting the gang bosses as well as the street-level thugs.
Statement issued by Alderman JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, City of Cape Town, May 25 2015
