Africa-Press – South-Africa. A criminologist and gang expert is advising the national government to turn to seasoned police detectives—instead of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF)—to tackle gang violence in the Western Cape.
Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa used his State of the Nation Address to announce that the army would be deployed in the province to assist police in gang-riddled areas.
The President’s announcement comes as various areas in the province continue to experience a surge in gang violence, which has left communities gripped in fear, and hundreds of people dead in the last year.
Crime and gang expert Professor Irvin Kinnes believes law enforcement agencies lack the willpower to fight gangsterism and organised crime in the Western Cape.
“You have highly-skilled detectives that have done this previously and they are demoralised,” Kinnes said. “Even the army themselves, I don’t think they have the appetite for this type of deployment.”
Kinnes says he also has concerns about the army being deployed to densely populated areas.
“You know all that it takes in a community where there are hundreds of people on the street is for somebody to stone the soldiers,” Kinnes noted. “How are they going to respond? With live ammunition?”
Kinnes says a long-term solution is for highly skilled police officers to systematically target gangs in the province.
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