“It would have been better for them to do the right thing for the right reason when the crisis first started and not after hundreds and hundreds of unnecessary deaths before action is taken.”
The comment by JP Smith, the mayoral committee member for safety and security, followed Thursday night’s announcement by police minister Bheki Cele that SANDF personnel would be sent to gang-ravaged communities to keep the peace.
Smith’s party, the DA, has been calling for the deployment of troops on the Cape Flats for more than a year, and last July Cele said it was out of the question. Smith said on Friday: “Finally the national minister and state president have heard us and are deploying the military to stabilise the worst-affected communities, but it took threats of court action and community shutdowns to get them to respond.
“In other words, the bullets must stop flying before clinics and libraries can stay open, social housing can be improved and the important normal functioning of the community can resume and investment and jobs can be attracted.”
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
WATCH: What Joburgers had to say about the Cape Flats violence | Saturday Star‘Selective’ media coverage of the Philippi murders left many Joburgers in the dark.
Read more »
Bloodbath on Cape Flats should make us worried | IOL NewsWhat has been allowed to develop on the forgotten and dumped communities of the Cape Flats has to be a crime against humanity, writes Kevin Ritchie.
Read more »
Cape Flats: ‘It took 11 innocent lives for the government to finally listen to our pleas’“Too little, too late.” That’s what residents of Philippi East in Cape Town say about the placement of additional police officers and the imminent deployment of the army to their neighbourhood this week
Read more »
Community police break ranks in FlatsA surge of intensified gang violence over the past two months has shaken the people of Lavender Hill.
Read more »
THE WORST YEAR IN THE CAPE FLATS: Army deployed as gang violence escalates to unprecedented levels and residents cry out for helpBloodshed on the Cape Flats has reached crisis proportions. It’s being called ‘the worst year in history’ — and not by grieving communities, but by the Western Cape government itself. Mortuary statistics suggest that 900 people were murdered in gang violence between January and June 2019, figures which are almost double the previous year’s. Residents say enough is enough — while the army is being deployed in a desperate attempt to seize control.
Read more »
Police offer substantial rewards to help trace Philippi killersWestern Cape police are offering substantial rewards for any information that can help them trace six “people of interest” being sought in connection with the recent spate of murders in Philippi East on the Cape Flats.
Read more »