By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) in the Western Cape has launched an intensive manhunt for the suspects following a brutal mass shooting that claimed three lives including that of a nine-year-old boy and left two others wounded in Mitchells Plain.
According to a preliminary investigation, a group of four gunmen believed to be linked to a gang stormed into the house before unleashing a hail of bullets inside the house.
Detectives from the Anti-Gang Unit have been assigned to the case and are following several strong leads as they work to track down those responsible, said the Western Cape Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile
Patekile condemned the attack, saying gang violence will not be allowed to hold communities hostage.
“Gangsterism has no place in our society. We will tighten the net around these criminal elements and ensure they face the full might of the law,” he said.
Police have urged anyone with information to come forward, stressing that tip-offs can be provided anonymously via #CrimeStop on 08600 10111 or through the #MySAPSApp.
In a recent parliamentary reply, Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia revealed that between the 2020/2021 and 2024/2025 financial years, 472 children under the age of 17 years were murdered on the Cape Flats.
Of that figure, 157 were gang-related murders. Cachalia didn’t detail the reasons for the other 315 murders.
According to the parliamentary reply, most of the gang-related murders were recorded at the Delft, Elsies River, Kleinvlei and Mitchells Plain police stations.
In the space of one financial year, the number of gang-related murders more than doubled, with 27 recorded in 2023/24 and 59 in 2024/25.
At the same time, over the course of five financial years, 3,335 illegal firearms were seized across the Cape Flats.
Most of the firearms seized were reported at Bishop Lavis (271), Delft (471), Manenberg (255), Mitchells Plain (345), Nyanga (206) and Philippi (260) police stations.