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Members of the South African National Defence Force are stationed in the Cape Flats on 03 April 2026.
The community of Kalkesteenfontein in Bishop Lavis on the Cape Flats has called for urgent intervention as gang violence and crime continues to claim lives in the area.
This comes after the deployment of the army in crime-ridden areas on the Cape Flats.
Operation Prosper, as it is called, aims to clamp down on violent crime and gangsterism through search operations.
A group of young people gathered with placards at a park in the area, chanting and calling for peace and for an alleged known gang in the area to stop the killings.
Residents say the selling of drugs, which leads to violence, has spiralled out of control. They say this has led to the killing of several people in the past few weeks, including children caught in the crossfire.
The latest shootings involved two elderly people, a young girl and a 21-year-old man.
A 19-year-old, who preferred to remain anonymous, says, “It’s horrifying to experience because me, myself I’ve been shot before. I have seen people being shot in front of me – people being killed and I don’t want that for the next person because growing up in this area is very harsh; it’s very hard. It’s either you become a gangster, you do the living of the poor, collect bottles or you die by the number or by natural causes.”
Kalkesteenfontein resdients have labelled the area as a “safe haven” for gangsters as they move from other areas around the Cape Flats to hide out.
Now, a known gang is alleged to be operating in the area, contributing to ongoing tensions and violence.
Another community member, who also did not want to be named, alleges that between R50,000 to R80,000 a week is generated by the gang.
She says they have lost hope in law enforcement, claiming that repeated pleas for help have gone unanswered.
She says the deployment of the army is now the last resort.
“We are at the present moment feeling like hostages in our own homes, not just in the community because this thing has been going on for so long, but in this short period of time, lives have been lost and the perpetrators are still out there and it seems as those people deaths are going in vain and we don’t have any other platform or resources to assist us apart from the police in whom we have no faith. It’s our last hope to have the army here,” she says.
Residents say the situation they are living under has become unbearable and believe that the army can bring much-needed stability.
They have, however, warned that without long-term solutions, the cycle of violence will continue.
Army deployment | Joint operation by police and the army and SANDF in the Western Cape:
