Ramaphosa and Cele to launch anti-gang unit in Cape Flats community

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa and Police Minister Bheki Cele are expected to launch the Anti-Gang Unit in Hanover Park tomorrow.

The unit, made up of members from specialised units, has been operational since October 8, sent to Nyanga cluster, Bonteheuwel and Bishop Lavis to curb gang-related violence.

The deployment of the special unit and other initiatives such as Operation Thunder came after Hanover Park, Bonteheuwel, Kensington and Bishop Lavis residents protested under the banner, “Total Shutdown”, for safer communities.

Cele said his aim was to create a society where it would be safe to walk and play in the streets at night.

His spokesperson, Reneilwe Serero, said Ramaphosa would deliver the keynote address. “The president’s participation indicates his commitment and of government at large to ensure that communities are able to live in safety while criminals are subjected to the full weight of the law,” said Serero.

“Its objective is to dislodge and terminally weaken the capacity of the gangs, and to fundamentally disable the criminal economy…

“The unit will continue to be in full operation in the Peninsula area until communities in the greater Western Cape experience a return to normality.”

Hanover Park community police forum chairperson Ebrahim Abrahams said: “We welcome the unit to help us end gang violence in our communities, but we want to know how long will they work in our communities because we don’t need temporary solutions.”

The unit was behind the arrests of the two suspects caught in connection with the shooting and killing of Gift of the Givers worker Ameerodien Noordien in Hanover Park. The unit arrested a 44-year-old suspect for the possession of 10 mandrax tablets in Bonteheuwel last Friday.

Provincial police commissioner Khombinkosi Jula commended the unit after they found an R5 assault rifle with 32 rounds loaded in a magazine with serial number filed off abandoned in a wendy house in Bishop Lavis the same day.