Include us in Fiela 2, urge willing civilians

Cape Flats communities want to join crime-fighting operation

COMMUNITY groups on the Cape Flats have urged Police Minister Fikile Mbalula to include them in crime-fighting programmes. Their appeal came in the wake of Mbulala’s launch of Operation Fiela 2 in Joburg this week.

Fiela 2 is a second joint operation by law enforcement agencies and includes Home Affairs, metro police, Defence, Justice and Correctional Services and other institutions that are mandated to enforce the law.

Manenberg Community Safety Forum chairperson Roegshanda Pascoe said that hopefully there would be lessons learnt from the first joint operation on the Cape Flats.

“The first one backfired as the moment they left we had a big gang fight in Manenberg. They must take a different approach and have a lock-down, nobody coming in or out of the area. Search every house, not just go to suspicious homes, and bring sniffer dogs. The reality is they will not be able to do this alone. They need to be escorted by the army,” Pascoe said.

She said a once-off blitz would not stop gang violence. The police needed longterm solutions, she said.

“What will be the plan after Fiela? We need stability. I have also handed a proposal on what we would like to see being done in our communities. Hopefully they will consider it,” Pascoe said.

Forum of Cape Flats Civics steering committee chairperson Lester September said real integrated policing was needed. “We shouldn’t be using peace officers to do the work of police officers, especially those who are civilian volunteers for two days of firearms training. We also need visible policing that will quell gang violence. Social workers must engage with all problem households where gangsters are residing to make sure any vulnerable individuals in the home are protected,” September said.

About Fiela 2, Mbalula’s spokesperson, Vuyo Mhaga said: “This will pick up from where Operation Fiela 1 left off in implementing the National Development Plan’s vision 2030, to ensure that ‘all people living in South Africa are and feel safe at home, at school and at work’. We are going to intensify things.”

The first operation was launched in 2015 as an anti-xenophobia effort and involved the defence force in some operations.

Later, the broader anti-crime initiative saw raids and searches for drugs and ammunition in various areas across the country.

Last October, Mbalula announced that soldiers would be on the ground in gang-infested areas across Cape Town before Christmas. But new Police Commissioner Khehla Sithole then asked him to hold off on the plan in order to try his own approach to fighting crime.