New police minister Senzo Mchunu is ready to tackle gangsters and has called for a meeting with local authorities amid a spate of shootings in various hotspots.
Mchunu took to the stage at Voorspoed Primary School in Hanover Park on Saturday where he held an imbizo just a day after Law Enforcement officers came under attack while executing the arrest of a gunman in the area.
Videos of the vicious attack went viral on social media showing the officer being struck with a brick in the head.
Mayco member for safety and security, JP Smith, says the ShotSpotter system detected over 30 shots being fired and officers were deployed to the battle zone.
Smith reports: “One of the gunmen ran directly past our officers, who began chasing him.
“He opened up fire on the officers, who returned fire and hit the suspect.
“After arresting the suspect and securing the firearm, a large part of the community turned on the officers and began assaulting them, including throwing bricks at them.
“The gunman managed to get away and bystanders grabbed the firearm and disposed of it.
“Officers were forced to flee the scene, with several of our vehicles severely damaged in the escape.”
He says the officer was seriously injured and is recovering in hospital.
At the Imbizo, Mchunu called for a meeting with the City and provincial government to address gang violence.
The minister says: “By Thursday [I want to meet] and if I have to extend my stay [in Cape Town] to Friday [I will].”
The minister also demanded the retrieval of the gunman’s illegal firearm taken in the attack on Friday saying: “We want that firearm.
“That firearm is part of the firearms we are complaining about where more than half of the murders are being committed with firearms that are illegal.
“Who took it and where it is now, the people of Hanover Park will have to tell us.”
Smith says after the attack, he cleared his schedule and embarked on a door-to-door campaign in Hanover Park where the City offered a R20 000 reward for information.
He says within hours he received information from a concerned resident who did not want a reward, but provided information and this led to the arrest of four people including a woman.
Smith adds: “Under cover of darkness, our teams returned along with SAPS Flying Squad and the National Intervention Unit. Four suspects were identified and taken into custody. And we are not done yet.”
While he is willing to attend the meeting with Mchunu, Smith believes the minister is three months too late.
He says: “Three months ago myself and [former Community Safetey MEC] Reagen Allen called for a meeting with SAPS amid the rising gang violence in the city.
“We offered all our resources as well as the Eye in the Sky to tackle the growing problem as we had eight gang stations with an increased amount of violence and this included Hanover Park, Nyanga, Grassy Park, Kleinvlei and others.
“Each time we asked for a strategy to be devised, there were delays and after the elections the matter was again raised by the new Community Safety MEC.
“We proposed putting a lockdown on all these communities where we do thorough sweeps of gang strongholds.”