As gang-ridden communities mark one week since the deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to the Cape Flats, it is becoming increasingly clear that this deployment began without a credible operational plan, without measurable goals and without the full mobilisation of resources promised to Parliament and communities.
Yesterday, nine people were shot in Mitchell’s Plain. Four persons died, whilst three children aged six, 13 and 14 were injured in a brazen attack at the Hazeldene taxi rank, while another young male was killed in Merrydale. These shootings occurred despite the presence of soldiers in the area and underscore the reality that the deployment is not intelligence driven and is not covering large parts of ganglands simultaneously.
The statistics for the past week confirm the scale of the crisis. Between 30 March and 5 April 2026, the Cape Flats recorded 36 murders and 47 attempted murders. These are not just statistics. These are 36 families who now have to bury loved ones.
From the outset, the Joint Standing Committee on Defence was repeatedly told that there was a plan and that 800 soldiers would be deployed. That number was later reduced to 547 and today it appears that not even 250 soldiers have arrived in Cape Town – one of the worst affected gang hotspots in South Africa. After a full week, there have been no notable arrests, drug busts or operational breakthroughs to demonstrate measurable success.
While coordination between SAPS and the SANDF on the ground appears workable, the central problem remains a failure of planning and preparedness. Deployments of this nature must be disciplined, intelligence-driven and properly resourced. If soldiers are arriving late to high-risk areas, if vehicles remain broken and if resources are missing, it points to one conclusion: leadership assured Parliament that they were ready when they were not.
It is equally concerning that basic policing resources remain unavailable. At Mitchell’s Plain alone, 12 visible policing vehicles and eight detective vehicles have been sitting out of service. A deployment cannot succeed if police cannot respond quickly or investigate cases properly.
The DA supports a short term deployment to support stabilisation, but only one that is matched with results – and by transparency. To date, the Minister of Defence has still not provided Parliament with a clear breakdown of how the R823 million allocated to this deployment will be spent, even while planning continues for a R2 million Army golf day which the Chief of the Army will host on Friday.
The solution is clear. Government must fully mobilise the promised troop numbers, fix critical policing resources and immediately expand policing powers to capable governments such as the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Provincial Government. This is a great opportunity for SAPS to up their game, restructure and plan for when the SANDF withdraws.
On Sunday evening, members of the City of Cape Town’s Metro Police Philippi East Bravo Shift acted on intelligence received from the community in Lower Crossroads. Through proactive policing and rapid response, officers recovered multiple illegal firearms, magazines and significant quantities of ammunition linked to gang activity – including a rifle, two pistols, six rifle magazines, seven pistol magazines and over 170 rounds of ammunition.
This is what effective policing looks like: intelligence-driven operations, decisive action and tangible results that remove weapons from our streets.
The people of the Cape Flats do not need partial deployments or shifting numbers. They need a real plan, full mobilisation and leadership that matches the urgency of the crisis.