Premier Helen Zille is giving Lavender Hill residents R3 million to combat gangsters, who have been waging gun battles in the area for weeks.
The gang violence caused four schools and a local clinic to be shut down last week, after parents and teachers refused to let their children attend school out of fear that they will be caught in crossfire.
On Friday, Zille announced plans to divert R3m from a provincial government project to assist in the deployment of a stabilisation unit in Lavender Hill.
She made the commitment at a meeting between SAPS, law enforcement agencies, the Western Cape Education Department and school principals from the greater Steenberg area, to discuss a “specified, detailed strategy” for the safety of children in the community.
“Though it is not the province’s mandate at all, I have taken R3m from a provincial project to transfer to the City, so director Robbie Robberts can deploy a stabilisation unit,” Zille told the Weekend Argus.
Zille did not go into detail about the deployment strategy “because there is a great risk that it could be reported in the media or reported directly to gang members”.
Police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk confirmed that “extra forces are being deployed in the Steenberg precinct and members will stay in the area to monitor the situation”.
Yesterday, JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, confirmed the money will be used to “boost” the stabilisation unit of the Metro Police.
“[The SU] project started two years ago and has now received a boost in funding,” he tells Daily Voice.
“We will be able to focus on hotspots and be able to deploy more of our teams to areas affected by the gang violence.”
Parents of pupils who attend the four affected schools - Levana, Prince George and Hillwood primary schools and Lavender Hill High - also attended the meeting.
Esethu Hasane, spokesperson for Police Minister Fikile Mbalula, told the Weekend Argus, “cabinet has approved an anti-gang strategy but the minister is still ironing out the finer details”.
He added Mbalula had also deployed a 60-member task team to crime hotspot Nyanga.
MEC for Education in the Western Cape, Debbie Schäfer, this week called on Mbalula to fulfil his promise to reinstate specialised gang units within the police to address the ongoing violence on the Cape Flats.
Four gangs - the Junky Funky Kids, the Mongrels, the Fast Guns and the Corner Boys - have been involved in “turf wars” in Lavender Hill, which have resulted in several shootouts during school hours.
Schools in the area reopened last Wednesday while the clinic reopened on Friday.
Police cluster commander Major-General Greg Goss said 10 gangsters had been arrested since the beginning of May, while 57 remained on a most wanted list.