CAPE FLATS DEFENCELESS AGAINST GANG VIOLENCE - CACHALIA

'We need a stabilisation plan. The truth is, I don't believe that plan is yet in place'

- MANDILAKHE TSHWETE

ACTING Police Minister Professor Firoz Cachalia has admitted that he does not believe there is yet a concrete plan to stop the wave of gang violence devastating the Cape Flats, telling Mitchells Plain residents that while a strategy had been presented to him, it has not been resourced or implemented.

"The provincial commissioner and the head of crime intelligence presented me with a plan. They must still implement that plan. They must still resource that plan, that plan that is needed. So we need a stabilisation plan.

"We need to go on the offensive against the drug lords, stabilise our communities, make sure that we are in charge, not the criminals. But the truth is, I don't believe that plan is yet in place," Cachalia said during a community engagement yesterday.

The minister described his appointment as a "burden and a responsibility" that he carried heavily, but also one that allowed him to serve.

Reflecting on his past as an activist, he told residents that gangs had long existed in communities, but that their reach and wealth now placed them in a new category.

"These gangs are evolving into organised crime, transnational crime. You see how rich these people are becoming. They can recruit people and pay them. I understand they are paying R2500, more than many young people can earn in employment," he said.