Western Cape police are planning to set up a unit to tackle the gang violence that has flared up in Scottsdene in recent months, according to Kraaifontein CPF spokesman Giovanni Pasquallie.
He said Kraaifontein police met with provincial top brass on Thursday August 11 to discuss the plan.
But Mr Pasquallie wouldn’t talk about the unit’s staff complement, why it was only being set up now, its name, how it would function and other questions posed by Northern News.
Mr Pasquallie said: “The recent spike in killings of late did not go unnoticed. The police and the City’s law enforcement have been responding positively to the crime.”
He said he had noted law enforcement’s successful operations in Scottsdene in the last few weeks. The CPF, he added, supported any policy strategy to quell gun violence in the community.
A police source said provincial police had also had a follow-up meeting to discuss the intervention team with the Kraaifontein police management on Thursday August 18, but by the time of going to print, Kraaifontein and provincial police spokesmen had not responded to questions we sent them on Friday August 12 and again on Monday August 22.
Leon Walkers, a traffic pointsman at the circle between Wallacedene and Scottsdene on Botfontein Road, hears gunshots regularly. He said the area is plagued by a vicious cycle of revenge killings.
“It’s getting worse every day. Every day, someone dies, there is a revenge being plotted. There are drug merchants everywhere.
“People get robbed, and I see it all.” He said he had intervened in a few cases where people had been robbed and called the police. He feels they are working hard to curb gun violence and he doesn’t know why it continues. He believes Carmen Street is the most dangerous in the area.
Scottsdene resident Poppie August said the killings usually happened at night and were mostly confined to Carmen Street, the flats and the backyards near Botfontein Road.
“We hear gunshots all the time. At least two people per week die here,” Ms August said.
Acting Metro police chief, Yolanda Faro, said the City’s gang and drug task team would continue to carry out interventions in Scottsdene for as long as resources allowed. She said law enforcement regularly held joint operations with the Kraaifontein police in Scottsdene.
