MANENBERG cops are ready to come down hard on gunmen in the precinct following a spate of shootings in which several people have been injured and a five-year-old boy killed.
As hundreds of mense gathered in Manenberg on Friday to say farewell to slain five-year-old Ameer Abrahams, cops went on the hunt for skollies in a bid to curb the gang violence which has mense gripped in fear.
Station commander Brigadier Jayce Naidoo says with the support of Provincial Police Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile, the teams commenced with intelligence drive operations targeting gang strongholds.
He says shortly after 7pm, cops pounced on a 32-year-old male found lurking around the abandoned Heideveld railway station.
Naidoo says: “Manenberg SAPS officers have been strategically deployed, and we are focusing on disrupting gang violence and breaking the back of turf wars.
“On Friday, we received information from the community of a suspicious person walking on the railway line and seemed to be lurking around the abandoned Heideveld railway station.
“As they patrolled the area they saw the suspect fitting the description.
“They cornered him and on searching him they found a 9mm pistol with two magazines containing 43 9mm rounds. The serial number on the firearm had been filed off.
"The gunman was arrested and charged for the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition and an additional charge of prohibited firearm will be added.
Naidoo says they have commenced with Operation Lockdown, as cops plan to pak the precinct dik with integrated forces and force multipliers, focusing on intelligence-driven actions.
The top cops adds: "The brutality witnessed in January 2025 will not be tolerated.
“The community must start reporting criminal activities and take full accountability for children in possession of illegal firearms and ammunition.
“We have vowed that gang affiliation and gang territories will be clamped down on.
“Manenberg SAPS and The Community Police Forum calls upon all leadership within the precinct, both political and religious, to unite in eradicating crime and stopping the abuse of women and children.
“We must speak with one voice. Blaming each other, when parents incite violence leading to gang initiation is unacceptable."
He says the start of the year has been a difficult with brutal murder of a mother by her partner, followed by the senseless murder of Ameer.
Manenberg detectives busted two suspects behind Ameer’s murder.
Brendan Jansen and Ikeraam Achilles made their first appearance in the Athlone Magistrates Court on Friday, on charges of murder, two counts of attempted murder and a charge of malicious damage to property for the shooting which rocked Irvine Street last week.
The duo will return to court on 17 January.