By Lesedi Sibiya-Diplomatic Insider
South African Police Services (SAPS) and the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) have begun their operations since 1 April as announced at the State of the Nation Address (SONA) earlier this year and already they have managed to crack down hotspots for gang activity in Gqeberha on Friday as suspects are behind bars and drugs were seized in a day.
Between the hours of 6am and 12pm, officers had raided several properties in Gelvandale, as three search warrants were executed as one arrest was made for possession of mandrax.
“Officers responded to one report of pointing a firearm and one report of shots fired in the Gelvandale area; both complaints were investigated and found to be negative” said Police Spokesperson Nobuntu Gatana when addressing the false shots fired in the area.
The Anti-gang unit led a suspect tracing operation which was backed by SANDF soldiers as well as local crime prevention teams as a result three more suspects were cornered and detained on heavy charges.
“Three suspects were located and detained on murder and abduction charges”. Reports say that by 3pm four arrests had been made with one being linked to drugs and three being linked to violent crimes, police have tightened their grip on gang activity in the metro.
Meanwhile community members in the Cape Flats have shown their support for the SAPS-SANDF operation since they were deployed on Wednesday, however still have mixed feelings over whether or not this operation will have a lasting impact.
The City’s Mayco Member for safety and security, JP Smith, had joined the operation team in Mitchell’s Plain on Saturday evening in order to assess the integration process thoroughly as the first batch of soldiers being deployed for additional support in 17 identified areas in Cape Town.
“Already the units are working well together. Years ago, we saw how these areas were struggling with rising gangsterism but the national government refused to give our SAPS the required resources” said Smith.
“Our Western Cape government helped us by partnering to create the leap program, where we were able to deploy over 1,000 Law Enforcement Officers to assist these SAPS precincts” said Smith further.