Zille asks Zuma to deploy defence force to gang-ridden areas

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Cape Town - Western Cape Premier Helen Zille has asked President Jacob Zuma to deploy defence force members to gang-ridden areas, she said on Tuesday.

In a letter sent to the presidency on Monday, she asked for troops to be sent at once to Lavender Hill and Hanover Park on the Cape Flats, which had both seen a "serious spike" in gang-related deaths.

"While the SA police service have deployed extra resources to these areas, gang violence has continued unabated. It is clear that the current situation is beyond the capacity of the SAPS to control," she said.

"They need the support of the SA National Defence Force to restore order in these suburbs while they proceed with the task of investigative policing."

At least 23 people, including seven children, had died as a result of gangs in recent months.

In her letter, Zille said the deployment of the SANDF in gang hotspots over December had seen a marked improvement in safety levels.

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula were sent copies of the letter.

'Police-bashing'

Some organisations however questioned Zille's plan. The Provincial Community Policing Forum Board told the Cape Times Zille had been politicising gang violence and "police-bashing" for the last two weeks, which showed gangsters that there was no unity.

"Police should not always be blamed. There are residents protecting gangsters. I don't think we are here to show the world we have bad policing, something Zille seemingly wants to show. It undermines policing in the country," chairperson Hanif Loonat said.

The Institute for Security Studies was quoted in the newspaper as saying the army could be sent in only under exceptional circumstances, such as when public order broke down, or state security was threatened.

Senior researcher Johan Burger said provincial police should be dealing with the gangs. If they struggled, they should ask national police commissioner Riah Phiyega to have resources called in from other provinces.


- SAPA
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http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/Zille-politicising-gang-violence-20120710
 
Cannot see it happening because it is not in ANC interests to allow anything good to happen in any DA areas.
The ANC goes out of its way to sabotage, damage or destroy anything that the DA tries to do.
Additionally, the SANDF is not much more than sheltered employment for otherwise useless cadres and many of the force (mob might be a better word) are HIV/AIDS sufferers.
They can't do any more than visit the local shabeens.
 
nightjar said:
Cannot see it happening because it is not in ANC interests to allow anything good to happen in any DA areas.
The ANC goes out of its way to sabotage, damage or destroy anything that the DA tries to do.
Additionally, the SANDF is not much more than sheltered employment for otherwise useless cadres and many of the force (mob might be a better word) are HIV/AIDS sufferers.
They can't do any more than visit the local shabeens.
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Thus why it was good that Zille did this publicly. Now it is shifted onto Mr Zuma.

Hopefully Zuma does the right thing because the "army" is doing fsck all.
 
Devill said:
Thus why it was good that Zille did this publicly. Now it is shifted onto Mr Zuma.

Hopefully Zuma does the right thing because the "army" is doing fsck all.
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Judging by the last time we saw our ''army'' in action - that botch-job in Lesotho - it will get a snotklap from the gangsters.
 
thestaggy said:
Judging by the last time we saw our ''army'' in action - that botch-job in Lesotho - it will get a snotklap from the gangsters.
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Probably another good reason why it won't happen.
They don't want to see the army get a hiding from the gangsters.
 
nightjar said:
Cannot see it happening because it is not in ANC interests to allow anything good to happen in any DA areas.
The ANC goes out of its way to sabotage, damage or destroy anything that the DA tries to do.
Additionally, the SANDF is not much more than sheltered employment for otherwise useless cadres and many of the force (mob might be a better word) are HIV/AIDS sufferers.
They can't do any more than visit the local shabeens.
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Well, that is clearly not true. Massive hyperbole on your part.
The army has been deployed here before. And the ANC and DA often work on things together
 
The army has been deployed here before.
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But not with any great impact.

They need house to house searches, rip up the floor boards and ceilings, control all roads into the suburbs. Put the area under curfew. Search everyone.

If not the gangsters will just lay low and wait till they go away.
 
thestaggy said:
Judging by the last time we saw our ''army'' in action - that botch-job in Lesotho - it will get a snotklap from the gangsters.
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While I also still cringe at just the thought of that "raid", it is unfair to compare that debacle to everything our SANDF has done recently and to all units within the SANDF.

There were plenty of mishaps (in training and in action) in the so-called "good old days". The Nat propaganda machine did a very good job of suppressing any negative SADF reporting.
 
Gangs in Cape Town is nothing compared to the gangs in America, when I was there I was scared to death whenever I walked in the streets cause they are everywhere.
 
MickeyD said:
While I also still cringe at just the thought of that "raid", it is unfair to compare that debacle to everything our SANDF has done recently and to all units within the SANDF.

There were plenty of mishaps (in training and in action) in the so-called "good old days". The Nat propaganda machine did a very good job of suppressing any negative SADF reporting.
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Please note, this not a politically motivated criticism of the SANDF, just that military history and military issues in general are an interest of mine.

The SANDF does not have the proven combat structures of the SADF. The SADF, through two World Wars and the Border Wars was a proven and effective combat force. The one and only time the SANDF went into action it was humiliated and characterised by incompetent bumbling from the top. Did the SADF make boo-boos? Highly likely, as every army has the world over, but the SADF also proved itself capable in action.
 
werny said:
Gangs in Cape Town is nothing compared to the gangs in America, when I was there I was scared to death whenever I walked in the streets cause they are everywhere.
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Ross Kemp disagrees. His show Ross Kemp on Gangs takes him across the world, from America, to Central America, to Eastern Europe to Africa, visiting some of the most notorious gangs. After spending time with the guys from the Cape's Numbers Gang he felt they were some of the most violently inclined people he ever met. And one of their senior leaders, whom he spoke with in prison, was labelled as quite possibly the most evil man he has ever met. Kemp said the Cape gangs and the way they impact Capetonian society was genuinely disturbing.

Personal opinion but when spoken by someone that has been around the Bloods, Crips and the MS-13 claims to be unsettled by another gang, I'd stand up and take note.
 
Are these gangs still fighting each other? I understand them killing people who try to interfere with the drug trade as that's to be expected.

daveza said:
But not with any great impact.

They need house to house searches, rip up the floor boards and ceilings, control all roads into the suburbs. Put the area under curfew. Search everyone.

If not the gangsters will just lay low and wait till they go away.
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Sounds very expensive. Lot's of jobs though I suppose as the government pays for all the repairs. The gangsters though will just move, hide anything that can be used against them or engage in open combat with the soldiers. Be interesting to see who can hold out longest in that fight.
 
thestaggy said:
Please note, this not a politically motivated criticism of the SANDF, just that military history and military issues in general are an interest of mine.

The SANDF does not have the proven combat structures of the SADF. The SADF, through two World Wars and the Border Wars was a proven and effective combat force. The one and only time the SANDF went into action it was humiliated and characterised by incompetent bumbling from the top. Did the SADF make boo-boos? Highly likely, as every army has the world over, but the SADF also proved itself capable in action.
Click to expand...

Note that I am not comparing the two, only saying that it is unfair to always use the 1998 SNAFU.

Here's a good read... http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.p...ss&catid=32:military-art-a-science&Itemid=112
 
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