Cape Town is reeling from a surge in violence, with nearly 30 murders recorded in just 72 hours, according to the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO). The organisation's alarming figures paint a picture of a province consumed by fear, where communities are left to fend for themselves amidst a relentless crime wave.
SANCO has described the situation in the Western Cape as "a human catastrophe," highlighting the devastating impact on residents. "Children grow up recognising the sound of gunfire more than they recognise hope, while women are hunted by predators as the system meant to protect them continues to fail," the organisation stated.
The surge in violence has prompted growing calls for President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare a state of disaster in Cape Town, a plea that has so far been dismissed by the Presidency. Opposition parties and members of the Western Cape legislature are demanding urgent intervention, citing the traumatised communities and the escalating loss of life.
Adding to the grim statistics, more than 50 people, including several children, were killed in October and November alone. In a recent attack in Nyanga, ten people were shot, resulting in the deaths of two women and injuries to eight others, all members of the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association.
Wendy Kaizer-Philander, DA deputy chief whip, tabled a motion in the Western Cape legislature calling for urgent reforms to protect children, who are increasingly becoming both victims and perpetrators of violence. She criticised the national government for allegedly starving the Western Cape of policing resources and ignoring the escalating crisis.
"Detectives are overworked, intelligence is absent, and communities are left exposed," Kaizer-Philander said. "Is this political spite because the DA governs this province? Where are the national interventions? Where is the urgency to save our children?"
Her comments followed a News24 investigation that revealed the alarming trend of teenagers being recruited into gangs, armed, and killed, with some as young as 14 involved in serious crimes such as murder, robbery, and extortion.
SANCO has highlighted the alarming levels of gender-based violence in the province, stating that "Women are murdered inside taxis, assaulted in homes, raped on their way to work, and terrorised in areas where policing is thin and help arrives too late."
Children are also caught in the crossfire, recruited into gangs, trafficked, sexually violated, or caught in the crossfire while walking to school.
SANCO has said that the combination of mass shootings, youth assassins, extortion, gang wars, rural robberies, and drug-related violence is unique to the Western Cape. "We are experiencing every category of violent crime at once, with communities abandoned to face the ambush alone," SANCO stated.
The organisation has pointed to illegal firearms as a major factor fuelling the surge in violence. Parliamentary reports confirm that 193 firearms, including AK-47s, traced back to Namibia, have been recovered from crime scenes in the province. SANCO warned that "the N1 and N2 strips, the R60, coastal routes, and border linked smuggling networks have turned our province into an arms importing hub," supplying weapons to gangs, extortion networks, and organised crime.
SANCO has also criticised the provincial leadership for failing to act on warnings about crime, referring to a Police Ombudsman report received by the Premier in November 2022 but allegedly kept hidden for three years. "Political leadership chose silence, and that silence has cost lives," SANCO stated. "A province in crisis was denied the truth."
Communities are increasingly left to fend for themselves, a sign that government oversight has collapsed. "When mothers form patrols to escort children to school, when neighbourhoods sleep in shifts to guard their streets, when rural families arm themselves with makeshift weapons, when businesses negotiate with extortionists to stay alive, it is a sign that government oversight has collapsed," SANCO stated.
While the organisation does not advocate vigilantism, it warned that the province is being pushed to the edge.
The ANC’s Benson Ngqentsu countered that the debate is being fuelled by political dishonesty. He said the DA must accept responsibility for “the explosion of violent crime under their watch”, insisting the crisis is rooted in deeper issues of inequality, poverty and systemic underdevelopment.
Ngqentsu urged Ramaphosa to declare violent crime in Cape Town a state of disaster to unlock emergency funds.
ACDP provincial leader Ferlon Christians echoed the sentiment: “Every day we read about killings and killings. Has the premier asked the president to declare a state of emergency? These killings cannot continue.”
GOOD party member of the provincial legislature Brett Herron criticised the DA for blaming the national government despite having governed the Western Cape for nearly 20 years. He said that children on the Cape Flats have been failed by all spheres of government, including national, provincial and local.
“Besides which, perhaps the news hasn’t filtered down to the Western Cape; the DA is in national government. This debate was called to create a platform for its members to absolve themselves of responsibility for the lawless environment they govern by repeating their call for the devolution of policing powers.”
Despite the growing calls for intervention, the Presidency maintains that the national security cluster is already implementing a coordinated anti-gang strategy and must be given time to execute it.
Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya stated that the violence in Cape Town is part of a broader national crisis affecting four provinces. "All four provinces, Western Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape, have major gang problems. The security cluster has finalised a comprehensive plan and has begun working on it. More work is being done to improve this plan, while the police have started the execution of the plan," he said. "So we need to give the cluster the opportunity to execute this plan."
SANCO has called on the Premier, the Police Ombudsman, and the Police Commissioner to make full submissions to the Madlanga Commission, and demanded coordinated national and provincial action to dismantle firearm smuggling networks, restore drug-prevention structures, and rebuild community safety systems.
"Women must not continue to die in silence. Children must not grow up in war zones. SANCO will continue to raise its voice, mobilise its structures, and challenge the silence of those in power," SANCO stated, vowing to continue fighting for the safety and well-being of the communities in the Western Cape.
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