Mashatile to tap City into Cape anti-gang war

DEPUTY President Paul Mashatile vowed to engage with the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NatJoints) to explore tapping into the City of Cape Town's intelligence capability to strengthen the fight against gang violence.

Mashatile said: “If the Western Cape or the City of Cape Town has got capability to work with NatJoints, I am sure they won't chase you away. I will engage with them because surely that resource is needed, but of course, you know, there are protocols."

Mashatile was responding during a question and answer session in the National Council of Provinces on Tuesday. 

He said that the government was investing in an integrated intelligence-driven approach, adding: “The strategy will ensure that gangs and criminal networks are investigated, neutralised and dismantled."

The deputy president also said apart from Operation Shanela, the SAPS was currently implementing the National Anti-Gang Strategy in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Gauteng, to combat gang terrorism.

Mashatile added that the National Crime Combating Forum has directed provinces to develop and implement annual interventions or other intervention plans and give reasons for non-achievement.

He said: “The government will continue to implement a combination of integrated strategy, operational, prosecutorial and judicial measures to close systemic gaps that have long enabled gang leaders and other perpetrators to evade arrest and evade accountability."

DA MP Nicholas Gotsell said that it was heartwarming to hear the actions taken by the government, but noted that despite Operation Shanela, 400 people were murdered in the Western Cape just last month and 39 people on the Cape Flats just last week.

Gotsell added: “Government still refuses to expand policing powers to enable the City of Cape Town's metro to deploy its investigative and intelligence capacity. ”

Gotsell asked if Mashatile would make an undertaking to urgently consider the offer by the City of Cape Town as part of the measures he had spoken of earlier.

Mashatile said the strategy of NatJoints required integration with provinces, explaining: “Once they go into provinces, obviously they go into municipalities.

“You don't just wake up and say, I've got intelligence here. We will check with them because I agree with you that if there is capacity, let's use it. So we will integrate it into the operations of NatJoints."