A coordinated national response underpins new anti-gang plan

The mass shootings of young people in impoverished areas and targeted assassinations of professionals are becoming all too frequent.

- Gareth Newham

In most of these killings, organised criminal networks appear to be at play. Indeed, organised crime has increasingly emerged as an existential threat to the chance of South Africa becoming a successful and prosperous nation.

The Cabinet has determined that extraordinary measures are needed to tackle the many threats posed by organised crime, of which gang violence in the Western Cape is a longstanding example.

Although long linked to drug dealing, illegal gambling and the nightlife economy, Western Cape gangs have branched out to an ever-widening range of criminal activities and are linked to national and transnational organised crime networks.

Gang bosses, their associates and enablers have become increasingly rich and powerful, allowing them to pass themselves off as legitimate business owners, whereas their real objectives are to infiltrate government procurement processes and hijack public infrastructure projects.

The recently announced plan to tackle gang violence in the Western Cape and other provinces is therefore a necessary and important development. The plan, developed under the joint leadership of the ministers of justice and police, recognises that this crisis requires not only national-level resources and coordination, but also a far more targeted and multi-agency approach than has been tried to date.