Dozens of people, including a 3-month-old baby, have lost their lives in the Western Cape over the past few weeks due to gang violence, with multiple shootings reported daily.

While police are scrambling to quell the gun violence, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has urged the Acting National Police Minister Prof Firoz Cachalia to immediately direct emergency resources to SAPS’ Anti-Gang Unit.

Hill-Lewis says it had come to his attention that the Anti-Gang Unit has just five working vehicles and a shortage of bulletproof vests and firearms, with officers who submit their guns for ballistics forced to go unarmed due to no additional stock.

“I call on the Acting Police Minister to urgently direct resources to this unit, given the ongoing gang violence plaguing our city’s most vulnerable communities.”

Hill-Lewis adds that it has also become increasingly irrational for the SAPS to resist the City’s request for Metro and Law Enforcement officers to be granted criminal investigative powers. This is as the City pushes ahead with its police devolution

“We absolutely must improve conviction rates for gang, gun, and drug crime in Cape Town. This is the only way to remove more criminals from the streets of long-suffering communities, where the poorest and most vulnerable are hardest hit.”

While gang violence continues to plague communities, taxi violence has also, again, reared its ugly head.

Yesterday, several people were shot and killed in Philippi East and Khayelitsha, and this morning, another fatal shooting occurred in Macassar and Strand.

READ: Two killed and two bystanders injured in latest taxi-related shooting

The Western Cape Mobility MEC, Isaac Sileku, and Western Cape Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC, Anroux Marais, have expressed their deep concern and condemned these incidents.

Marais says these acts of terror have no place in our communities and only serve to spread fear, instability, and suffering among innocent residents.

“The perpetrators of these heinous crimes must be brought to book. I urge anyone with information to come forward and assist the South African Police Service (SAPS) in their investigations. Your cooperation could be the key to holding those responsible to account and restoring peace.”

Sileku added that peace efforts in the taxi industry cannot be allowed to collapse.

“The safety of commuters, operators, and the broader public is non-negotiable. At the recent Taxi Peace Summit, SANTACO Western Cape and its eight regional structures committed to prioritising peace, stability, and the safety of commuters. The current escalation of tensions between CATA and CODETA, the two largest taxi groupings in this province, and the violence that followed, shows that some in the industry are acting in bad faith and undermining the commitments they made to government and to the people of the Western Cape.”

All relevant authorities are on high alert amid the terrifying spate of gang and taxi violence currently unfolding.