In an attempt to subdue the ongoing gang violence in Cape Town and its surrounds, the City has proposed locking down the targeted areas for a few days.
The Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security expressed frustration with the lack of cooperation from SAPS regarding this proposal.
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The committee member, JP Smith, said that the idea had been proposed in a meeting a while ago.
According to the Citizen, the member stated that the committee had approached a senior official within SAPS to organise lockdowns for certain areas over several days by flooding it with resources.
Smith has said that the intention was to sift though the entire community while trying to pin down all persons who currently had outstanding warrants and clean the area out before moving on to the next location.
Smith further confirmed that the City of Cape Town had offered resources, including drones and an ISR eye-in-the-sky platform.
One of the SAPS generals said that they would consider it.
Last week, the plan was followed up on and was then refused.
Smith further stated that SAPS had simply said ‘no’.
He followed by saying that it angers him when the mayoral committee wants to partner with SAPS and offer resources but is then plainly rejected while communities are left suffering.
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Picture: Zizamele Cebekhulu-Makhaza / Linkedin