A security expert has issued a stark warning that Gauteng is now a “gangland,” with communities left to fend for themselves amid escalating violence, following a mass shooting in Reiger Park, Ekurhuleni, that left six people dead and three seriously wounded.
The shooting, which occurred yesterday, has instilled deep fear in the community and prompted National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola to deploy officers to the area, vowing they would remain.
In a detailed analysis of the situation, Chad Thomas of IRS Forensic Investigations stated that the province is not slowly descending into gangsterism, but that the problem is already entrenched. “It’s here and it’s been here for some time,” Thomas said. He drew direct parallels between the current crisis in Gauteng and the long-standing gang violence of the Cape Flats.
According to Thomas, the situation is a result of a leadership vacuum within criminal syndicates, leading to violent turf wars. He cited several recent assassinations of alleged gang figures, including a hit on a leader known as “Senki” on the Golden Highway and another on a person known as “Blush” at Milpark Hospital, linked to gangsterism in Reiger Park. He also referenced the recent fatal shooting of youngsters in Westbury.
“The unfortunate part is it seems that SAPS is playing catch-up and using what we call the band-aid approach in trying to sort or settle or contain the situation,” Thomas stated.
He explained that police resources are stretched thin, with officers being moved from one hotspot to another. “A lot of the police officers you’re seeing in Reiger Park today were most probably in Westbury a couple of days ago,” he noted. Thomas highlighted a critical shortage of personnel, with an estimated 150,000 operational officers for a population exceeding 62 million.
The expert was highly critical of the current policing model, describing it as ineffective. He called for crime to be declared a national security threat to unlock more funding, and for a decentralisation of policing powers to provincial and local levels to grant them investigative authority.
The problem, Thomas emphasised, extends beyond Gauteng. He listed areas including Riverlea, Eldorado Park, Coronationville, Westbury, and the Pretoria East areas of Eersterus as also grappling with gangsterism and the scourge of “lolly lounges” – informal structures often used for drug dealing.
The threat was further underscored by the revelation that international drug cartels have established a foothold in South Africa. Thomas expressed alarm that the Mexican Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels have set up operations in the country, not only to supply the local market but also for international distribution.
“It’s frightening to think that the Sinaloa cartel have been able to set up shop in South Africa,” he said, referencing a recent police bust of a drug manufacturing plant in Volksrust, Mpumalanga, involving Mexican nationals.
When asked if the rampant gangsterism could be uprooted, Thomas was pessimistic about the short term. “It can’t be uprooted in the short term,” he said, citing a “decimation of intelligence services” and detective services. He warned of a “revolving door” at police stations where suspects are arrested but quickly released due to a lack of court-ready cases.
Instead of disbanding struggling units like Crime Intelligence, as has been suggested by some, Thomas argued for capacitating them. “We can’t just disband if something’s not working. We need to capacitate and find out why it’s not working and make it work,” he said.
The solution, according to Thomas, requires a long-term view of five to ten years, focusing on disruptive and dismantling operations led by an effective Crime Intelligence component. Until then, he suggests, the band-aid approach will continue, and the violence will persist.