Engaging with gangs for peace

IN RESPONSE to the Cape Argus article, “Dan’s gang plan slammed” (January 18), the peace agreement signed by the gangs in Hanover Park in November 2011 has seen a significant drop in gang-related violence.

In my visit to Hanover Park on Tuesday, January 17, residents told me, although they still had concerns about the gangsters, that since the peace treaty was signed it has been the quietest three months they have witnessed in the area.

They said that they enjoyed a relatively peaceful festive season for the first time in a long time.

I met Hanif Loonat, the chairman of the Provincial Community Police Forum (CPF) last month.

At this meeting he told me how his previous gang intervention strategies had failed, but he proposed no solutions on the way forward.

The people who claim to be at the so called “coalface” are not the residents whom I encounter in Hanover Park, Lavender Hill and so many other areas.

I have fought very hard to bring peace to gang-affected areas in the Western Cape.

I have repeatedly called for specialised police gang and drug units, a request that has fallen on deaf ears at national government.

More worryingly, provincial SAPS have said that the current situation is under control. I beg to differ. Aside from this, more needs to be done to get to the root of the problem and this is why I have taken the decision to engage with gangs.

While I have been criticised for my approach, I believe that engaging with the gangsters is one of the ways in which we can bring peace to crimeaffected areas and change the mindset of those involved in criminal activity.

This is just one of the numerous initiatives that my department is undertaking to make our communi- ties safer.

The department’s gang prevention strategy is one that is run in conjunction with the community and other criminal justice and social departments, while at the same time we run programmes to divert youth away from crime.

At the end of February, I am hosting a career workshop in Hanover Park to this effect, and will be rolling this out to other communities.

Although our pilot project, Ceasefire, an initiative aimed at interrupting gang violence, is not yet fully operational, it is well under way.

This programme has had major successes in several countries and there is every reason that it should work in the Western Cape.

There will always be criticism for any type of gang initiative as there is no clean, quick fix for a problem so entrenched in our communities, and brought about by so many social ills.

I have the full support of local community structures in Hanover Park and will continue working with them.

At the end of the day I am willing to do whatever is necessary to make the Western Cape a safer place for all.