THURSDAY, 4.00PM
PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela on Thursday ordered the chiefs of the police and army to to refine security measures already in place to combat crime and gang violence on the Cape Flats.
The order follows a special security meeting involving security chiefs and Cabinet ministers called by the president at his Cape Town residence Tuynhuys after earlier touring the Cape Flats and meeting community leaders.
Residents of the Cape Flats can expect an increase in visible policing and the carrying out of special security operations, in response to their demands that government protect the lives of innocent people, Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufanmadi said after the meeting.
Mandela met Cape Flats community leaders in response to an open letter from the Western Cape Anti-Crime Forum, which said people in the province are at war. The forum members said they had lost confidence in Mufamadi, his provincial counterpart Gerald Morkel, as well as in Premier Hernus Kriel, to protect innocent residents of the Cape Flats.
Thursday’s meeting, chaired by Defence Minister Joe Modise, was attended by Deputy Defence Minister Ronnie Kasrils, Mufamadi, his deputy Joe Matthews, Fivaz, his provincial counterpart Leon Wessels, and SA National Defence Force chief General Georg Meiring. Justice Minister Dullah Omar, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and Deputy Intelligence Minister Joe Nhlanhla were also present for part of the talks.
Meanwhile, members of the police special task team probing gang violence on the Cape Flats arrested two men when they searched a house in Lansdowne on Thursday. One of the suspects is to be charged with the illegal possession of a firearm and the other on a charge of attempted murder that occurred in Athlone in July. Two illegal firearms were seized in the search at 3am.
Police also arrested a man when they searched a house in Hanover Park, on the Cape Flats, and seized four illegal firearms and three legal firearms. A third house in Hanover Park was searched but nothing was uncovered.
And, in the continuing violence between gangsters and vigilantes, two houses on the Cape Flats came under attack late on Wednesday night and early on Thursday. Pipe bombs were thrown at a house in Eersterivier and another in Mitchell’s Plain. Nobody was injured, but damage was extensive.