Shootings continue in the area despite a gunfire detection system, known as ShotSpotter, having become fully operational again in Hanover Park in December.
Cape Town recorded another week of bloodshed on the peninsula while the use of the city’s gunfire detection system ShotSpotter stalled because of “administrative processes”.
The first week of October saw nearly 50 deaths in Capricorn, Ocean View, Hanover Park, Bonteheuwel, Mitchells Plain and Delft, according to data published by Western Cape GangWatch social media groups. The groups work with medical and policing teams.
From 1 to 8 October, 45 confirmed deaths were reported and confirmed on the social media groups. This excludes attempted and unreported murders.
On Sunday, the police service in the Western Cape said in a media statement that it had confiscated 35 firearms and “a large quantity of various calibre ammunition” last week, and 25 in the previous week. Forty-five suspects were arrested and detained on charges of possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition.
Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi, the spokesperson for the provincial police, said the confiscations and arrests “come in the wake of several shootings incidents reported, that occurred in the City of Cape Town district”.
Most fatalities relate to taxi violence and gang-related shootings and stabbings.
In just three days from 1 to 3 October, 10 people were reportedly gunned down in Capricorn in taxi violence, allegedly fuelled by the JFK gang.
Hanover Park is considered a red zone given the number of shootings and gang-related incidents in the area.
“It is a normal turf war,” said Shafieka Mohammed, spokesperson for the Community Policing Forum (CPF) in Hanover Park. “The shootings happen everyday, whether it is during the day or night. It is constantly just shootings.”
Last week, police were called when the Inglorious Bastards, a relatively new gang established in 2020, fought the suburb’s residents.
Hanover Park is at the top of the list to receive the ShotSpotter, a multi-million rand project spearheaded by the City of Cape Town. It detects gunshots, locates where shooting has occurred and sends out an alert within seconds to law enforcers, helping them to respond to such incidents more rapidly and effectively.
But the system, whose reinstatement had been expected on the Cape Flats in late July or August after a three-year absence, remains non-operational.
In June Cape Town mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith told the Mail & Guardian that “it has taken a long time but it is there now.”
But Smith said last Friday that the system would now only be operational “as soon as all applications required [have] been approved”.
“The city is also finalising the administrative processes in order to award an order number for the contract,” he said. “The contractor has to work with other departments for authority to install on city infrastructure. So they are dependent on authorisation from these city departments and will move as swiftly as the paperwork for approval is finalised.”
He added that the three-year contract with ShotSpotter would only start on the actual date of installation.
The Hanover Park Community Policing Forum says it will reject the ShotSpotter because the money being pumped into security should rather be invested in the suburb’s youth.
“We don’t want ShotSpotter. We will refuse ShotSpotter,” said Mohammed. “ShotSpotter was never beneficial to our people. Invest in the unemployment and in the youth of this community. Our youth is turning into gangsters. That is our major problem in Hanover Park.”
She said the multi-million gunfire detection system — R30-million for the three-year contract — had never led to any convictions and murderers still roamed the streets.
Yaseen Johaar, who serves as the executive of the CPF, agreed with Mohammed. He said if money could be invested in infrastructure, youth and social upliftment it would cut gangsterism and crime by half.
Ian Cameron, the director of community-based organisation ActionSociety SA, is however a staunch supporter of the gunfire detection system.
“It is an incredible type of technology. It makes a significant difference. Especially in terms of reaction. It means [law enforcers] can be proactive” he said after attending the funeral of four-year-old Tamia Botha in Paarl East, whose body was found a day after she went missing.
He said ShotSpotter was a “no brainer” for areas on the Cape Flats such as Delft, Manenberg, Hanover Park and The Farm.
Cameron expressed his frustration with the national government for its “absolute silence” and poor effort to intervene in criminal activities on the Cape Flats.
“In 24 hours five people were gunned down in Delft, this cannot be considered as normal,” he said.
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