A Cape Flats organisation says it does not support the call for the army to fight crime as they believe it is a political ploy.
The Bishop Lavis Action Committee (Blac) says while politicians are embroiled in bekgevegte over whether or not to deploy soldiers, they are failing to provide long-term solutions.
This follows a march hosted by the DA leader, Mmusi Maimane, from Manenberg to Nyanga, last week where he argued with Deputy Police Minister, Bongani Mkongi, when the minister refused to accept
his memorandum.
The plan to deploy the army was first announced by former Police Minister, Fikile Mbalula, late last year, but newly appointed minister, Bheki Cele, says the army is not needed.
Blac spokesperson, Charl Davids, says when Operation Fiela was brought to Cape Town in 2015, the gangs still remained and shootings flared up shortly after soldiers left.
“In 2015, the army came in and the community was stabilised but when they left there were gang shootings again, so we are saying there needs to be a long-term solution,” he says.
“Both the ANC and the DA will have posters up next year saying they are going to fix crime, but what is the plan? We are not seeing a plan.”
ANC Provincial Secretary, Faiez Jacobs, says good policing and not the army will solve crime.
“There is no evidence, anywhere in the world, that shows that deploying the military to fight crime works. In most cases, the longer the military stays, they become part of the problem, with a contest between deaths by gangs and deaths by military.”
Maimane’s spokesperson, Portia Adams, says the march had “nothing to do” with garnering votes: “It has everything to do with the fact that the former minister of police had indicated that he will be deploying soldiers and to date he has not done anything about that.”