In the middle of May, over the course of 24 hours, three people were killed in gang-related violence in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town. The violence is believed to be linked to the killing of former American gang boss, Mogamat Sadeka Madatt, who was assassinated by members of the Fancy Boys in April.
Residents claim that all the violence is retaliatory. Teenagers were murdered over a weekend by the Americans, and the Fancy Boys retaliated by killing even more people. One of the killings was of a non-gangster, whose only crime is having a gangster for a brother. The shooting was conducted in broad daylight by the railway line.
No arrests have been made. And there is fear that an all-out gang war will erupt between these two gangs: a tit-for-tat struggle over petty vendettas, poverty-stricken turf, and meaningless gang affiliation.
Suffering
All that these gang wars and petty acts of revenge against children accomplish is more and more innocents suffering. The Cape Flats has become a war zone, where very few individuals can escape the scourge of gangsterism. Stray bullets fly, and a slight association with a gang can result in your being murdered. Business cannot even hope to flourish in such an environment.
Abie Isaacs, Chairperson of the Cape Flats Safety Forum, has asked for the military to be deployed to put a stop to the war.
While I can understand the desperate desire to have armed soldiers on the ground, it doesn’t solve the underlying issues that have allowed these wars to become so devastating, and for gangsterism to continue to flourish. If anything, the introduction of often underequipped, undertrained, and even corrupt soldiers only serves to fan the flames of violence.
The SANDF is not equipped to deal with gang violence. It is equipped to fight a conventional military force away from civilians. The best-case scenario for military deployment in the Cape Flats is that it becomes just a waste of money. The worst-case scenario? Soldiers join the gang war, adding more innocents to the body count.
The military is not the solution to this problem. Law enforcement exists to combat crime and should be receiving the training and equipment necessary to enter a civilian area, track down criminals, and neutralise them – all while minimising civilian casualties.
A heavy-handed approach to gangsterism won’t work. For one, SAPS lacks the manpower and tactical sophistication. But even if they did have enough police (even with military back-up) to flood the Cape Flats with personnel, the gangs only need to go to ground until the army and police leave.
To solve gangsterism, we need decentralised policing, with a focus on intelligence-gathering, investigation, informant networks, and removing the incentives to join and operate a gang.
Decentralising the Police
Police departments should be administered directly by provincial governments, municipalities, and local communities. This will ensure efficiency and accountability. Being disconnected from the national hierarchy will allow police on the ground to act more efficiently according to their contexts, and not be infected by corruption higher up the chain of command.
Local governments can also use these decentralised police departments to form specialised agencies to combat particular problems. A proper anti-gang unit needs to be established for the Cape Flats, equipped with well-trained detectives and tactical personnel who are focused on ridding the Cape Flats of gangsterism.
Knowledge is power
The key to eliminating gangsterism in the Cape Flats is collecting intelligence and acting on it appropriately. Well-trained detectives need to become experts on Cape gangs, using informants, turncoats, and undercover operatives to infiltrate the gang hierarchies and discover everything about their operations. The gangs can then be destroyed.
Gangsters can always hide from police patrols. So, what’s important is infiltrating their networks with as many informants as possible. This will erode trust in their own ranks, while also feeding valuable information to law enforcement.
Remove the Incentives
Gangsterism flourishes because it provides money for leaders and social ‘belonging’ for the young, and there is little ultimate risk involved compared to the benefits.
Firstly, drugs should be decriminalised, with production being taken over by legitimate businesses that are accountable to their consumers and to health standards. This will not only serve to help addicts, as they will no longer need to fear drugs being cut with dangerous substances, but will also remove the gangs’ main source of income.
Without that income, they will not be able to bribe law enforcement or purchase firearms. This will also reduce the incentive to become a gangster in the first place.
On top of that, communities need to work towards providing positive male role models, social clubs, and better alternatives to gangs for local youths.
Coupling this removal of incentives with increased risk, through a more intelligent war against the gangs, will see many gangsters leave the lifestyle due to lack of incentive combined with increased risk of arrest or death.
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR.
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