South Africa's Police Minister Firoz Cachalia has said that the security forces are not yet able to defeat deadly criminal gangs, in a stark admission that underscores the scale of the country's crime crisis.
Gang violence, alongside robberies, accounts for many murders in South Africa, which has one of the world's highest homicide rates.
Cachalia stated that gang violence had become increasingly complex, especially in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces, requiring new strategies beyond traditional policing.
I do not believe that we are currently in a position to defeat these gangs, the minister told journalists on Wednesday.
South Africa, the continent's most industrialised nation, has long struggled with entrenched organised crime. Many people in South Africa own licensed firearms for personal protection, but there are many more illegal guns in circulation. Police data shows that an average of 63 people were killed each day between April and September last year.
Speaking after his visit to crime-infested Nelson Mandela Bay in Eastern Cape, Cachalia emphasized that criminal gangs were on a killing spree in the two provinces. He pointed out that the problem of organised crime was extensive and that these cartels wield significant wealth and power.
Despite the establishment of an anti-gang unit in 2019, Cachalia expressed that gangsters seemed to be prevailing. He noted the growing problem, indicating that establishing gang units occasionally does not adequately address the issue.
The violence in the area has escalated, with 118 killings reported between August and December last year, followed by around 40 deaths in January alone this year.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has pledged stronger law enforcement measures to tackle the pervasive gang violence wreaking havoc in the nation.
