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The Democratic Alliance (DA) challenges Deputy President Paul Mashatile to use his visit to the Cape Flats today to account for the ongoing failure of Operation Prosper and present tangible solutions to communities living under daily siege from gang violence.

Paul Mashatile’s visit to the Cape Flats means very little unless he arrives with real answers for the hundreds of grieving families and communities devastated by shootings, gang wars and violent crime every day.

Contrary to expectations, since the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) arrived in identified hotspots on the Cape Flats and surrounds, gang violence has continued unabated, with several areas experiencing increased bloodshed despite the military deployment.

This past week alone, gang-related violence resulted in close to 40 murders across the Cape Metro.

Operation Prosper was meant to restore order, disrupt organised criminal networks and give communities hope that the state was regaining control. Instead, communities continue to witness brazen shootings, escalating gang wars and persistent lawlessness.

While the SANDF deployment may have provided some limited moments of visible relief, the operation has not been properly intelligence-led or prosecution-guided. There is also little evidence that the deployment is delivering value for the estimated R823 million cost attached to the 13-month operation.

The promised operational footprint has not materialised at the scale communities were led to expect, while SAPS crime intelligence failures, weak detective capacity and poor prosecutorial coordination continue to undermine any sustainable anti-gang intervention.

Today, the Portfolio Committee on Police adopted the Terms of Reference for the gang inquiry, further underscoring the urgent need for accountability and effective interventions instead of expensive military deployments that are failing to produce lasting results.

No military deployment can succeed where SAPS leadership structures are weak, compromised or incapable of building prosecutable cases against organised criminal networks.

The DA maintains that South Africa needs a coherent, accountable and results-driven anti-gang strategy focused on arrests, successful prosecutions and dismantling criminal syndicates permanently.

This must include expanding investigative powers to capable provinces and municipalities to enable local law enforcement to build court-ready dockets and secure convictions. It must also include mandatory lifestyle audits for senior SAPS management to root out corruption and syndicate collusion within the police service. There is also far too little use being made of South Africa’s specialised policing capacity, including units such as the Tactical Response Team (TRT), National Intervention Unit (NIU) and Special Task Force, all of which should form part of a properly coordinated anti-gang strategy.

The people of the Cape Flats do not need another political walkabout or empty promises. They need safety, functioning policing that is capable of defeating organised crime.

Issued by Ian Cameron MP DA Deputy Spokesperson on Police