Ian Cameron
'Operasies teiken nie die regte mense nie'
Geen einde aan moorde op Kaapse Vlakte
Daar is steeds geen einde in sig aan die moorde op die Kaapse Vlakte nie.
Dis ten spyte van die Suid-Afrikaanse Naionale Weermag wat in die gebied ontplooi is om bende-geweld te help beveg.
Volgens Ian Cameron, voorsitter van die parlementêre portefeuljekomitee van polisie, het bende-geweld en geweld gekoppel aan afpersing op die Kaapse Vlakte tussen 13 en 19 April 2026 op krisisvlakke gebly.
Gedurende dié tydperk was daar 49 moorde en 32 pogings tot moord gepleeg. Die vorige week is 48 moorde en 35 pogings tot moord aangeteken.
“Dit is almal lewens wat beëindig is deur opsetlike gewelddadige aksies. Gesinne word verpletter en gemeenskappe word gedwing om week na week dieselfde trauma te beleef,” het Cameron in ‘n Facebook-plasing gesê.
“Nege-en-veertig moorde beteken 49 huise waarna iemand nie terug sal kom nie. Dit beteken 49 gesinne wat daardie oproep ontvang, wag by ‘n hospitaal, ‘n lykshuis of ‘n polisiestasie.
“Dit beteken kinders wat na leë stoele staar, ouers wat moeilike vrae moet beantwoord, en gemeenskappe wat die menslike koste moet dra as gevolg van ‘n oneffektiewe reaksie deur die staat.
“Toe ek Ottery verlede week besoek het, het dit gevoel soos ‘n oorlog sone. Dis die realiteit wat die inowners in die gesig staar, die geklap van skote wat deel geword het van hulle daaglikse lewe, terwyl hulle die volste reg tot veiligheid het,” het Cameron gesê.
Die Demokratiese Alliansie LP het ook Operasie Prosper (die ontplooiing van die weermag om die polisie te help om bende geweld op die Kaapse Vlakte) gekritiseer te beveg.
“Die kritiek is nie op soldate op die grond gemik nie. Dit is kritiek op die regering se so-so ingryping. Die SAPD-intelligensie bly ‘n ernstige probleem.
“Die operasies is steeds te reaktief en teiken geensins die bende strukture wat vuurwapens rondskuif, moorde organiseer, gebiede beheer en wins maak uit afpersing en dwelms nie.
“As dit werklik intelligensiegedrewe operaies was wat tot vervolgings gelei het, sou gemeenskappe betekenisvolle ontwrigting van bende- en afpersingsnetwerke sien. Dit is nie wat hierdie syfers weerspieël nie.”
Hy het ‘n beroep daarop gedoen dat polisiëringsmagte, veral vir bendegeweld, uitgebrei word om plaaslike em povinsiale polisie magte in te sluit.
“’n Stad wat hierdie vlak van georganiseerde geweld in die gesig staar, kan nie vasgevang bly in ‘n gesentraliseerde polisiëringsmodel wat dieselfde mense aanhou teleurstel nie.”
49 killed in one week
No end in sight for Cape Flats murders
THE Cape Flats continue to bleed under the relentless onslaught of gangsters and extortionists.
According to Ian Cameron, the Chairperson of parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police, gang and extortion related violence across the Cape Flats remained at crisis levels between 13 and 19 April 2026.
During this period there were 49 murders and 32 attempted murders. The previous week recorded 48 murders and 35 attempted murders.
“These lives were ended by intentional acts of violence. Families are shattered and communities forced to live through the same terror week after week,” said Cameron in a Facebook post this week.
“Forty-nine murders mean 49 homes where someone is not coming back. It means 49 families receiving that call, waiting at a hospital, a mortuary, or a police station. It means children staring at empty chairs, parents trying to answer impossible questions, and communities once again absorbing the human cost of a state response that still looks badly coordinated and painfully ineffective.
When I visited Ottery (on the Cape Flats) last week, the shooting was happening with warzone frequency. That is the reality for residents, the sound of gunfire becoming part of daily life in a community that has every right to expect safety,” said Cameron.
The Democratic Alliance Member of Parliament also criticized Operation Prosper (the deployment of the army to assist the police against gang violence on the Cape Flats).
“This is not criticism of soldiers on the ground. It is criticism of a haphazard intervention with too little measurable impact. SAPS intelligence remains a serious problem.
“We keep seeing operations that look reactive, scattered and shallow, instead of sustained, targeted action against the gang structures that move guns, organise killings, control territory and profit from extortion and narcotics.
“If this were truly intelligence driven and prosecution led, communities would be seeing stronger case building, better targeting, and meaningful disruption of gang and extortion networks. That is not what these numbers reflect.”
He said communities do not need more noise. They need illegal firearms removed, gang bosses targeted, extortion networks dismantled and solid cases prepared for court.
“Cape Town urgently needs expanded policing powers for gang related gun crime to competent local and provincial government, to act as a real force multiplier. A city facing this level of organised violence cannot remain trapped in a centralised policing model that keeps failing the same people.”