South Africa’s Police Minister Firoz Cachalia says security forces are still unable to defeat deadly criminal gangs, in a bold claim that underscores the scale of the country’s crime crisis.
Gang violence, including robberies, is responsible for many murders in South Africa, which has one of the highest homicide rates in the world.
Cachalia said gang violence has become more complex, especially in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces, requiring new strategies beyond the traditional one.
“I don’t believe we are currently in a position to defeat these gangs,” the minister told reporters on Wednesday.
South Africa, the continent’s most industrialized country, has long struggled against entrenched organized crime.
Many people in South Africa own licensed firearms for personal protection, but there are still many illegal guns in circulation.
Police data shows that an average of 63 people were killed every day between April and September last year.
Speaking after his visit to the crime-ridden Nelson Mandela Bay in the Eastern Cape, Cachalia said criminal gangs were “on the kill” in the two provinces.
“We had a discussion about the problem of organized crime in the Eastern Cape, including extortion rackets, gang violence and related issues,” said the minister.
“I mean it’s a serious problem across the country, that these cartels have a lot of wealth and power, and it’s very worrying,” he added.
Despite the creation of an anti-gang unit in 2019, Cachalia said the gangsters seem to be winning the war.
“Establishing gang units from time to time is an ad hoc response to a growing problem. I really don’t think we need to discuss this matter in a point-scoring way.”
He said South African police are doing their best to fight violence “but the problem is growing. That’s my view”.
His visit comes months after Nelson Mandela Bay was hit by a wave of killings.
A deadly surge in violence hit the area late last year, leaving 118 people dead between August and December, a local prevention group said.
The violence continued into the new year, with nearly 40 people killed across the region in January, local media reported.
There are about three million legally held firearms in South Africa, but there are at least the same number of unlicensed weapons in circulation in the country, which has a population of 63 million, according to statistics quoted by Gideon Joubert from the South African Gunowners’ Association.
Last month, 11 people died in a mass shooting involved in illegal mining turf wars near Johannesburg.
The shooting happened just two weeks after another attack at the Saulsville Hostel in the capital Pretoria, where 11 people, including a three-year-old child, were killed.
In another incident in May, gunmen killed eight customers at a tavern in the southeastern city of Durban.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has promised stronger law enforcement action and increased police deployment to tackle gang violence in the country.