In most countries, calling the troops into suburbs will not be met with shouts of approval. But in Philippi and Hanover on the Cape Flats, where gang violence has turned the lives of so many people into misery, the local residents and community policing forums have asked the SANDF to intervene as it became clear that the police have lost control over such areas. The Daily Maverick reports that “mortuary statistics suggest that 900 people” have died in gang violence in the first six months of the year. Johan Burger from the Institute of Security Studies say it was clear that the police were not functioning properly in the area, but he cautioned that the troops should only be there to enable the police to do their work; they have not been trained to act as policemen. – Linda van Tilburg
Johan Burger of the Institute for Security Studies says the situation on the Cape Flats has been a flash point for many years and gangs have acted as if they own the place; they became a law unto themselves. It had become evident that the Police increasingly lost the ability to deal with the gangsters. He said last weekend 13 people were killed in at least three or four incidents in Philippi and Phillipi East. The local community have increasingly called on the Government to send troops into the area to take over the functions of the police.
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The reason for the collapse of law and order in the area, can among other factors be ascribed to the situation at the local police station where the station commander had been on sick leave for a number of months, while his deputy was nowhere to be seen. The community complained that they were never able to see or talk to him; there was effectively no real leadership.
Burger said, what is astonishing, is that the Western Cape command structure appear to be oblivious to what is happening in Philippi. Following a public outcry and increased media attention, the National Commissioner announced that a new station commander will be appointed and that specialised police units will be deployed in the area.
Other contributing factors for the proliferation of gang violence, according to Burger, were increasing levels of unemployment and poverty in the area, which lead to an increased reliance on illegal businesses including the selling and dealing in drugs. Increased competition with limited business opportunities between the various gangs and group, led to a volatile situation with an increased risk of civilians that could be killed an injured.
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Burger says the military should ideally not be deployed in any democracy, but when a situation is as far out of control as happened in many places on the Cape Flats, the government is forced to deploy the military, because it is what the community asked for. The communities were feeling unsafe; they felt threatened about the high levels of violence around them and many have become innocent victims of gang rivalries in those areas. “You not only have to stabilise the situation as far as possible, but you have to do it in a way that you feel you are not being left all to yourself with the threats and dangers around you.” He says although it is only for three months, which could be extended, the troops would hopefully be enough to stabilise the area.
Deploying the army, means that there is a visible presence not only from the military, but from the state; it brings some calm and reassurance to the local communities in the affected areas and it will give the police the space they need to fix the problems in the leadership. The aim would be to re-organise and re-establish the police and to reassert the authority of the police.
Burger says there are dangers in deploying the military amongst the civilian population, because they are trained to a different doctrine. He says he has been told that the military would have machine guns mounted on armoured vehicles. Although the Defense Act provides for prior training of troops when they are deployed in civilian situations, he doubts whether this has happened. There would simply not have been time to train them prior to deployment. In the areas where the military is deployed, he believes there should be at least one or more police officer with them. The task of the military should be to give protection to the police to enable them to carry out their job.
